In the final round of the 42nd national competition of Secondary School Professional Activities (SOČ), which took place last weekend, students who prepared under the guidance of our faculty achieved excellent results. Hana Bernhardová won in the field of Chemistry and Martin Havlásek took third place. Martin Švejnoha won in the field of Environmental Protection and Creation, and Čeněk Motyčka took 3rd place in the Agriculture, Food, Forestry and Water Management category.
Hana Bernhardová excelled with her work on structural and biochemical analysis of haloalkane dehalogenase DmmA. In addition to her victory in the Chemistry category, she also received a wider nomination for participation in a foreign competition, a proposal for the Award of the Learned Society of the Czech Republic and the J. Heyrovsky Endowment Fund Award. Hana’s supervisor was Dr. Martin Marek from Loschmidt's protein engineering laboratories. Hana is currently graduating from the František Palacký Grammar School in Valašské Meziříčí and will be heading to Oxford University (UK) in September.
Martin Havlásek received the bronze prize with his work Study of the molecular basis of protein stability. He also received a wider nomination for participation in a foreign competition. Martin’s supervisor was Antonín Kunka, also from Loschmidt's protein engineering laboratories. Martin will graduate from the Brno-Řečkovice Grammar School this year and has already been accepted at the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University in the Biochemistry program.
Martin Švejnoha from the Brno-Řečkovice Grammar School won with his work on the Community of Night Butterflies (Macrolepidoptera) in the eastern part of the Bílý potok Valley Nature Park near Veverská Bítýška. Martin’s supervisor was Dr. Igor Malenovský from the Department of Botany and Zoology of the Faculty of Science, Masaryk University.
Čeněk Motyčka from the Brno Gymnázium (Slovanské náměstí) won third place with his work Occurrence of Fasciola hepatica in cattle and small ruminants in the Czech Republic. Čeněk also received a wider nomination for participation in a foreign competition. Čeněk ‘s supervisor was Lucie Škorpíková, also from the Institute of Botany and Zoology of the Faculty of Science, Masaryk University.
We cordially congratulate all the winners and wish them much success!
SOČ is a competition organised by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic and is organized under the auspices of the National Pedagogical Institute of the Czech Republic (NPI CR).
This year, the national presentation and most of the previous rounds of SOČ took place in an unconventional manner using online information technology. Almost 900 competitors took part in the regional rounds, with 274 entries from 294 authors advancing to the finals in 18 competition disciplines.
Students who are considering applying to SOČ and would like to make use of experts from Masaryk University as consultants can find the necessary information at https://prostredoskolaky.muni.cz/soc/.
On September 27, 2024, over two hundred enthusiastic scientists, teachers and students prepared 62 stands on the theme ‘Transformations in the natural sciences and mathematics’, attracting more than 4,500 visitors to both SCI MUNI campuses.
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