Last Friday, 25 exceptional doctoral students received their financial awards in a special presentation ceremony in the New Town Hall. Photo credit: MMB.
Brno, Feb 17 (BD) – The Brno PhD Talent competition, in its tenth year in 2019, invites the brightest and best of Brno’s first year doctoral students in the technical or natural sciences to apply for financial support from the city, allowing them to carry out their research without jeopardising their financial situation. This year, 127 students from participating universities applied, with the successful 25 being chosen by a committee of scientists from the Czech Republic and abroad. The contest is in English and is intended for applicants under the age of 30, and since 2009 has been funded by the City of Brno and organised by the South Moravian Center for International Mobility (JCMM).
The presentation ceremony for the winners took place in the Knights’ Hall at the New Town Hall at 1pm on Friday. The winners will receive CZK 300,000 over the next three years, to support them financially through their studies. The prizewinners study at Masaryk University, the Brno University of Technology, or the University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and include students from Colombia, Croatia, and Slovakia, as well as the Czech Republic.
Brno Mayor Markéta Vaňková (ODS) explained the problem the competition hopes to solve: “It has been proven that Czech doctoral students have lower financial remuneration than doctoral students in developed EU countries, which influences their decisions about whether to continue their studies, but also whether to change their place of study during or after their studies. Through Brno PhD Talent, we are trying to reduce this difference.”
For Miloš Šifalda, director of JCMM, the benefits of the contest are not just felt by the students, but the whole city: “Supporting education in technical and natural sciences forms part of a comprehensive effort to create a suitable environment for the knowledge economy to develop, alongside the high concentration of corporate development centers and public research institutions in Brno and the South Moravian Region.”
Tomáš Koláčný (Pirati), Deputy Mayor for Strategic Development, concurred, highlighting the importance of the contest for the city’s human resources: “This program is unique, and no other cities are doing it. We hope to keep young scientists in our universities, while also attracting talented students from other universities or from abroad.”
The Brno PhD Talent project is a part of the Regional Innovation Strategy, and is implemented under the auspices of JCMM. For more information, see the JCMM website.
