On November 4, 2025, a meeting of the working group of project and financial managers of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS) was held at the Institute of Thermomechanics of the CAS as part of the JAKNAJAK communication platform. The event focused on sharing current information on the implementation and administration of projects under the Jan Amos Komenský Operational Program (OP JAK), exchanging experiences between research teams, and deepening cooperation between individual workplaces of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The ROBOPROX project also played a significant role at the event. Its Principal Investigator, Professor Zdeněk Hanzálek, delivered a practical contribution focused on leading large research consortia and managing top-level scientific projects. His experience from implementing the ROBOPROX project provided participants with a unique, first-hand perspective on managing demanding projects within the OP JAK framework.
The opening remarks were given by Prof. RNDr. Marcela Buchtová, Ph.D., who also moderated the meeting. Prof. Buchtová is responsible for addressing conceptual issues of program and project cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, universities, and support providers on behalf of the CAS, including the coordination of activities related to structural fund operational programs.
The first part of the program, devoted to the issue of open access to research results Open Access, featured presentations by representatives of OP JAK – Top Research project investigators:
- Prof. Ing. Hanuš Seiner, Ph.D., DSc. (Institute of Thermomechanics, CAS),
- Prof. Dr. Ing. Zdeněk Hanzálek (CTU in Prague),
- Mgr. Michal Trčka, Ph.D. (J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, CAS).
The discussion focused on the recognition of publications, obligations in the area of open access, but also on sanctions for failure to meet indicators and possible ways of remedying them. Representatives of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MŠMT), led by Ing. Jakub Uchytil, also joined the debate, during which the OP JAK calls – Top-level Research, Research Environment, and Returns – were also discussed.
The topic of open access and the principles of Open Science in the environment of the Academy of Sciences was supplemented by RNDr. Patrik Španěl, Dr. Rer. Nat., who coordinates the activities of the Czech Academy of Sciences in the field of open science and advocates the implementation of transparent and shared access to research results.
The most enthusiastic response from participants was to the inspiring lecture by Prof. Zdeněk Hanzálek, who shared his experiences of leading a large-scale cutting-edge research project at the Czech Technical University in Prague and offered valuable insights into the effective management of research teams.
The lunch break in the Slovanka cafeteria provided an opportunity for informal exchange of experiences and establishing new contacts between participants from various institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
The afternoon part of the program was devoted to reporting indicators and administrative processes when submitting requests for project changes. Representatives of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports provided detailed information on the requirements of the managing authority, pointed out the most common mistakes, and presented recommendations for preventing them. They focused primarily on answering questions submitted in advance by the participants. Ing. Miroslav Uchytil from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports presented the development of structural fund utilization over the past 15 years.
The final part of the meeting brought up-to-date information from the JAKNAJAK communication platform, including the presentation of a new online tool for sharing information and an overview of planned events for project and financial managers of the Czech Academy of Sciences.