The 2024 Martina Roeselová Memorial Fellowship grants have been awarded. Ten young scientists will receive a total of 1.5 million Czech crowns

A grant of 150,000 Czech crowns is awarded to postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers working in the field of natural sciences at universities and non-university research institutions in the Czech Republic who are simultaneously caring for a preschool-aged child. The financial support is intended to cover childcare services, allowing scientists to continue their studies or research at the beginning of parenthood without losing touch with global science.

“Successful juggling of cutting-edge science and parenthood is the dream of many, but only a few achieve it. To increase the chances of making this dream a reality, we provide grants to young researchers to help them remain excellent parents while continuing to actively pursue their own research,” explains Barbara Eignerová, chairwoman of the IOCB Tech Foundation managing board.

The Martina Roeselová Memorial Fellowship commemorates the memory of internationally recognized scientist Martina Roeselová of the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, which is where the fellowship was established. It has been awarded since 2016, and to date thirty-five young researchers from various Czech universities and research institutions have received it, including Dr. Kateřina Sam of Biology Centre CAS, a later recipient of an ERC Starting Grant, and Dr. Lenka Gahurová, the recently appointed head of the Developmental Epigenetics and Bioinformatics Laboratory at the Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia.

“It kind of takes my breath away to see how, thanks to the support of the foundation, the Martina Roeselová Memorial Fellowship has gone from humble beginnings to something that helps dozens of young researchers combine scientific work with care for preschool children,” says the fellowship’s founder and coordinator of the evaluation committee, Prof. Pavel Jungwirth. "I’m thrilled that the recipients are not only mothers but also fathers and that the quality of the applications is getting better and better, even though that does, of course, make it harder for us to choose. I believe Martina is looking down on our efforts from her scientific heaven with a compassionate smile and is, perhaps, pleased.”

The recipients of the 2024 Martina Roeselová Memorial Fellowship are:

• Eva Bártová (Faculty of Science, University of Ostrava)
• Michaela Capandová (Faculty of Medicine / Institute of Computer Science, Masaryk University)
• Suada Djukaj (Faculty of Chemical Engineering, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague)
• Martina Greplová Žáková, Ph.D. (ELI Beamlines)
• Jana Junová (Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University)
• Mykhailo Khytko (Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University / Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences)
• Ali Masihi (Faculty of Science, Charles University)
• Tereza Novotná Jaroměřská (Faculty of Science, Charles University)
• Veronika Prozorova (Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering, Czech Technical University)
• Waheed Ur Rahman, Ph.D. (Institute of Microbiology, Czech Academy of Sciences)

Martina Roeselová (1965–2015) was a Czech scientist working in the field of physical chemistry at IOCB Prague. 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. Martina, who was not only an internationally acclaimed scientist but also a popular lecturer, mentor, and well-liked colleague, died of cancer in February 2015 shortly before her fiftieth birthday. 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 first fellowship was awarded for 2016 and was financially supported by Martina Roeselová’s family and a number of other donors. Since 2022, the fellowship is organized and financed by IOCB Tech Foundation.

The IOCB Tech Foundation was established in 2022 by IOCB Tech, a company of the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAS, which focuses on transferring basic research findings into practice and utilising intellectual property for commercial and industrial purposes. Its mission is to contribute to the development of science and the practical application of its results in daily life. It also strengthens public awareness of the fundamental contribution made by scientific research.