Academic Senate Elects New Rector
The candidate for the position of the University of Pardubice Rector for the forthcoming four- year term of office has become the current Vice-Rector for Research and Development Prof. Ing. Libor Čapek, Ph.D., from the Faculty of Chemical Technology. In a secret ballot he received the majority of votes from the 39 members of the University of Pardubice Academic Senate. The former graduate of the University of Pardubice should take the helm of the university in February next year. He will replace Prof. Ing. Jiří Málek, DrSc., who decided not to run for re-election.
‘I sincerely appreciate the academia`s trust and confidence in me. It will be an honour for me to lead the University of Pardubice in the following period. The University of Pardubice ranks among multidisciplinary universities. Therefore, using the potential of mutual cooperation of our seven faculties shall be one of its priorities. I would like to follow in footsteps of Prof. Málek, the current Rector, and reinforce the position of the university as a modern education and research institution’, says the newly elected candidate to the Rector`s Office, Prof. Libor Čapek.
The proposal for appointment as Rector shall be submitted by the Chair of the University of Pardubice Academic Senate through the Minister of Education to the President of the Czech Republic. The President shall appoint the new Rector of the University of Pardubice with the effect from 1 February 2022. In the Rector`s seat Professor Libor Čapek will replace Prof. Jiří Málek, who was the head of the university in years 2006 – 2010 and 2018 – 2022.
‘I would like to congratulate the newly elected candidate for the Rector, Prof. Čapek. I wish him a lot of success in the management and strategic control of our institution, which has in the last quarter of a century earned a significant position among universities in the Czech Republic as well as abroad. I am convinced that under his leadership the synergy of our seven faculties will continue to positively influence the cultivation of a creative environment for our current as well as future students, academic employees and other staff’, says the current Rector, Prof. Málek.
Prof. Ing. Libor Čapek, Ph.D. (1975) obtained his MSc degree in 1998 in the field of Physical Chemistry at the Faculty of Chemical Technology (FChT) of the University of Pardubice (UPCE). He wrote his dissertation thesis at Jaroslav Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He defended the dissertation with the title Structure of Co sites in beta zeolites. Selective catalytic reduction of NO with propane under water vapor presence over Co-zeolites in 2004 at the University of Pardubice in the field of Physical Chemistry. For excellent study results in the doctoral study programme, he was awarded the Prize of the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports. He believes that a crucial impact on his career had his doctoral study in the research group of Mrs Blanka Wichterle, where besides other things he had an opportunity to participate in research of catalysers for transport means. In 2009 he obtained the title of Associate Professor and in 2017 became Professor in the field of Physical Chemistry at the University of Pardubice. In the long term he has pursued research in the area of heterogenous catalysis and photocatalysis. One of the objectives of the research is to shed light on the type of active centres responsible for the process of chemical reactions.
Since 2007 Prof. Čapek has partaken in solving important projects, held the office of a Chair of the Academic Senate at FChT, he is a member of scientific boards of universities and of the National Accreditation Bureau for Higher Education. During the years 2019-2020 he acted as the Vice-Dean for Science at FChT and in 2020 he became the Vice-Rector for Research and Development of UPCE. At the same time, he is the Head of the Department of Physical Chemistry at the Faculty of Chemical Technology.
