Meeting of the Scientific Council
On September 14–15, a meeting of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Technical and Experimental Physics of the Czech Technical University in Prague (IEAP CTU) took place in the conference hall of the Institute. Members of the Council from the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Australia participated in the annual meeting.
The Scientific Council meets regularly to review the progress and results of IEAP CTU’s scientific work over the past period. Its members, who represent the forefront of contemporary world science, also provide recommendations on how to maintain or further enhance the institute’s scientific excellence—an excellence that the Council has long guaranteed through its international composition and the renown of its members.
This year, the Scientific Council convened in a renewed composition. The IEAP management bid farewell to its former members and expressed gratitude for their contributions.
As of January 1, 2025, the following members concluded their work in the Scientific Council:
Prof. MUDr. Michal Anděl, CSc., from the Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University (Czech Republic); Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ing. Vlajčeslav Georgiev from the University of West Bohemia in Plzeň (Czech Republic); Prof. Dr. Claude Leroy from the University of Montreal (Canada); and
Dr. Pier Giorgio Rancoita from the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Milan-Bicocca, and the Italian Space Agency (Italy).
The new members are Prof. Michael Campbell from CERN (Switzerland), Prof. Dr. Alejandro Ibarra from the Technical University of Munich (Germany), Ing. Jan Jakůbek, Ph.D., from ADVACAM (Czech Republic), Prof. Nikolaos Mavromatos from King’s College London (United Kingdom), and Prof. Anatoly Rozenfeld from the University of Wollongong (Australia).
The meeting of the Scientific Council was opened by the Director of IEAP, Ivan Štekl. In his opening address, he introduced the newly elected members of the Scientific Council to the development of IEAP from a historical perspective and explained its position within the structures of CTU and, more broadly, within the Czech Republic. He also spoke about its organizational structure, funding, main research directions, and infrastructures—both those operated by the Institute itself and those it helps operate in collaboration with domestic and international partners.
He emphasized the international character of the Institute as well as its focus on the development of national research infrastructures, university education, and direct cooperation with industrial partners. Special attention was given to the Institute’s educational programs and activities (EuCAPT, MEDEX, IEEE, support for Physics Olympiad winners, etc.) and its involvement in organizing international conferences (RADECS 2026, ANNIMA 2027, MPGD 2026).
In conclusion, he highlighted that IEAP is preparing for the evaluation of large research infrastructures in the Czech Republic, announced by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS). Based on this evaluation, the Ministry will request targeted financial support from the Government of the Czech Republic for large research infrastructures for the period 2027–2034. He stressed that the recommendations of the IEAP Scientific Council can play a crucial role in this process.
Following the Director’s opening remarks, the IEAP Secretary, Jaroslava Merunková, presented the Scientific Council with personnel and financial statistics on the Institute’s operations.
During the morning session of the Scientific Council meeting, several presentations were given on the scientific activities of IEAP, in which the Institute’s researchers provided detailed overviews of the objectives achieved in individual research areas and shared their plans for the future.
Rastislav Hodák spoke about the participation of IEAP and other Czech institutions in research conducted at the underground laboratory LSM in Modane, France (SuperNEMO, OBELIX, etc.), and about possible extensions of this collaboration within joint projects with underground laboratories in Italy (LNSG) and Spain (LSC). These initiatives could be financed through government support for large research infrastructures in the Czech Republic.
Karel Smolek informed the Scientific Council about the activities of IEAP researchers at CERN and the results of their scientific work within the ATLAS, MoEDAL, ISOLDE, and AEGIS experiments during the years 2022–2025. Benedikt Bergman presented the work of the IEAP Department of Electronics and Software and the results achieved in developing pixel detector systems and their applications in physics experiments.
The Head of the Space Technologies Department, Robert Filgas, emphasized in his presentation the rapid growth of IEAP’s cooperation with the European Space Agency and its participation in a number of space projects. He also discussed a new generation of HardPix radiation monitors developed at IEAP and adapted for use in space. In conclusion, he reminded the audience that two HardPix detectors were launched into Earth orbit in 2023 and 2025 as part of the UK’s SWIMMR program monitoring space weather.
The work of the IEAP Imaging Laboratory in the field of micro-CT and X-ray imaging was presented by Jan Žemlička, who focused in detail on the latest advances in developing methods and devices for specialized applications of 3D imaging.
Hugo Natal de Luz introduced the latest developments in gas detector technology at IEAP and reminded the audience that the Institute will organize the 9th International Conference on Micropattern Gaseous Detectors in 2026.
Adam Smetana presented the research results of the international team of the IEAP Department of Theory and Modeling in areas such as the foundations of quantum field theory, neutrino theory, astroparticle physics, and investigations beyond the Standard Model. He also noted that the department collaborates within international projects with scientists from Japan, South Korea, Chile, Russia, Slovakia, Germany, the United States, and Colombia.
The work of young researchers at IEAP was presented to the Scientific Council by Catalina Rezmes Ramirez and Petr Mánek.
Finally, Rudolf Sýkora concluded the morning session with a presentation on the work of the Van de Graaff Laboratory. In his talk, he also mentioned that the facility will apply for expansion as part of the upcoming evaluation of large research infrastructures in the Czech Republic.
The afternoon session was dedicated to discussions about the goals and perspectives of IEAP, as well as to the recommendations of the Scientific Council for the upcoming period.
The Scientific Council reviewed the Institute’s financial report for the period 2022–2025 and concluded that the IEAP CTU budget had been used efficiently. It was also acquainted with the preliminary financial plan for 2026 and 2027.
Furthermore, the projects of the LSM and Van de Graaff laboratory teams, aimed at expanding their scientific activities within the government program supporting large research infrastructures, were assessed.
This was followed by a broader evaluation of IEAP’s scientific results and a discussion on its future activities. At the end of the meeting, members of the Scientific Council met with the CTU Rector, Jiří Špelina, and had the opportunity to tour the IEAP laboratories.