IOCB Tech Foundation accepts applications for the Martina Roeselová Memorial Fellowship
The Martina Roeselová Memorial Fellowship, commemorating a successful and popular scientist from IOCB Prague, will be newly awarded by the IOCB Tech Foundation, which was founded this year by IOCB Tech, a subsidiary of IOCB Prague.
Stipends in the amount of CZK 150,000 for one year are dedicated to PhD students and postdoctoral fellows conducting competitive research in the field of natural sciences at universities or research institutes in the Czech Republic who are the primary caregiver of a preschool child.
The funds are intended to cover childcare services and can be used to pay for preschool education, a child’s play area, private babysitting, etc.
The fellowship was originally awarded by the Martina Roeselová Foundation. Since this year, in connection with the planned merger of the two funds, it is newly awarded by the IOCB Tech Foundation and increases from 120,000 to 150,000 CZK.
Applications for 2023 can be submitted until 15 October 2022 to info@nfiocbtech.cz. You can learn more about the conditions for awarding the stipend and submitting applications here: nf-iocbtech.cz/en/fellowship.
Who was Martina Roeselová
Martina Roeselová (1965–2015) was a Czech scientist working in the field of physical chemistry. She graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, in 1990, earning a RNDr degree in biophysics and chemical physics. She completed her doctoral studies in biophysical chemistry and chemical and macromolecular physics at the Jaroslav Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry and at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics under Prof. Pavel Jungwirth’s supervision. Her dissertation thesis was defended in 2003.
Martina then completed a post-doctoral program at the University of California, Irvine, and a year later she joined IOCB Prague, where she worked till her untimely death. In February 2015 she died of cancer shortly before her fiftieth birthday.
In the course of her prolific scientific career, Martina and her husband Marek raised three children. In addition, she encouraged junior researchers and strived to create conditions in the academic environment to facilitate a reasonable balance between family life and scientific work. For all this, Martina was a popular lecturer, mentor, and well-liked colleague.
History of the fellowship
After Martina’s death, Pavel Jungwirth and a number of other friends and colleagues initiated the establishment of the Martina Roeselová Memorial Fellowship with IOCB Prague as a fellowship for PhD and post-doctorate students who look after young children while actively pursuing scientific research. The fellowship aims to provide financial support to students and junior researchers–parents to cover child care services. The fellowship received financial support from Martina Roeselová’s family and a number of other donors.
In February 2017, Martina’s husband Marek Roesel and IOCB Prague Director Zdeněk Hostomský initiated the establishment of the Martina Roeselová Foundation to oversee the future development of the fellowship. Until 2022, the foundation supported 24 scientists with a total of CZK 2,880,000.
Beginning in 2022, the fellowship is organized and financed by IOCB Tech Foundation established by the tech transfer company IOCB Tech, a subsidiary of IOCB Prague.
