Professor Milena Rychnovská wins the Milada Paulová Award, MŠMT ČR

Minister Kopicová awards the Milada Paulová Award to the Professor Milena Rychnovská.

The Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, in collaboration with the National Contact Centre - Women in Science at the Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences, organised the first annual gala presentation of the Milada Paulová Award for Life-long Scientific Achievement by a Female Scientist. This year, the award was presented for the field of sustainable development and ecology.

The purpose of the award, that bears the name of the first woman to win the right to lecture at a university (1925) and who also became the first female Professor (1939) in the Czech Republic, historian Milada Paulová, is to highlight the excellent scientific achievements of Czech women researchers, to show general support for women in science, and to inspire junior women researchers or students who are considering a career in science.

Each year the award will be presented for a different field of science. The area selected for 2009 was sustainable development and ecology, which is also one of the cross-sectoral themes of the National Research, Development and Innovation Policy for the period 2009-2013. This theme is fundamentally important for our society, and also has a vital political impact.

The first winner of the award is prof. RNDr. Milena Rychnovská, DrSc., emeritus professor at Palacký University in Olomouc. Her research primarily focuses on rural ecology. Her work has made an important contribution to the identification of the function of meadow plants in the landscape and she has conceived an ecosystem approach, which views plant ecology within the wider context of aquatic and agricultural management. Professor Rychnovská is the founder of the Department of Ecology at Palacký University in Olomouc and has written a number of specialised articles, procedures and textbooks.

The winner receives 150,000 CZK and an artistically decorated diploma. The first ever Milada Paulová Award was presented by Czech Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Miroslava Kopicová on the occasion of the opening of the conference "Changing research landscapes to make the most of human potential" organised by the Czech Presidency and the European Commission in the National Building at Smíchov in Prague. The conference also addressed the role played by schools in the efforts to make science an attractive career prospect.

Speech by Minister Kopicové: Speech_by_Minister_Kopicova.doc Speech_Kopicova.doc (99,00 KB)