Home About IBP HR AWARD Implementation phase Actions 2024-2026

Actions

Action 1. (text from the Revised Action Plan)
Title: Support of mobility, particularly, for PhD students employed at the IBP – a career improvement. A new institutional regulation will be established. 
GAP Principles: 18, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29
Timing: Preparation of the regulation in 2021-2022. The call for the Internal support of mobility will be announced in december for the next year and evaluated by the end of January the next year. 
New Due Dates: reports on 4.Q 24-26
Responsible Unit: HR Award Team, Director of the IBP
Indicator(s)/Targets: Up to 10 supported PhD students and scientists per year. Supported R1-R4 categories in percentage: 25/40/25/10. Measurable indicator will be the number of supported PhD students/the number of students that applied for this type of support. Action 1. has high priority for both institutional strategy and HRS4R.
Current Status: In progress.
Remarks: We focused on the support of working conditions and mobility of PhD students employed at the IBP. The work at the institute before and after the internship is thematically related to the work done during the internship and is financed by the institute. During the internship, the salary of the students is maintained by the institute. In addition, we have prepared a regulation (see the enclosed file: „Internal_Support_of_Mobility_Program“) to provide some financial support from the Institute for longer stays abroad of PhD students (at least 30 days). The competition has been announced by the Director of the Institute on December 1, 2022.
    In 2022 year 12 PhD students stayed abroad, 4 students stayed abroad for at least one month (see Action 1 in Actions 2022-2023).  In January, 2023, the mobility has been supported based on the regulation for 2 students: R. Mikesova and O. Hesko. 6 Ph.D. students visited laboratories abroad for more than one month without requesting finacial support from the Institute based on the regulation: M. Kratka, I. Indu, J. Rudolf, Mgr. A. Rudolf, T. Staronova and L. Sislerova (Action 1 in Actions 2022-2023). In December, 2023, a four-month stay of Mgr. J. Červinka has been supported at University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Measurable indicator (the number of students supported/the number of students requesting for the support) has been fulfilled to 100%. High priority for both institutional strategy and HRS4R.
    We will continue with this Action in the next period (2024-2026) in order to further improve working conditions of our Ph.D. students and optimize the support of the mobility in an appropriate form corresponding to the needs of students and scientists. The students will be also better informed about possible financial support from the Institute. 

Sub-Action 1.1
Title: The first application has been approved for Mgr. Marcela Hrušková.
Detailed information: The stay of Dzmitry Pruchkousky will be realized in the School of Biological Sciences, University of East England, Norwich, United Kingdom. The call for the Internal support of mobility has been announced in December for the next year and the first application has been evaluated in January. The next applications will be evaluated during 2024. 
GAP Principles: 18, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29
Timing: March 9, 2024 - June 4, 2024
Responsible Unit: HR Award Team, Director of the IBP
Indicator(s)/Targets: Up to 10 supported PhD students and scientists per year. Supported R1-R4 categories in percentage: 25/40/25/10. Measurable indicator will be the number of supported PhD students/the number of students that applied for this type of support. Action 1.1 has high priority for both institutional strategy and HRS4R.

Sub-Action 1.2
Title: The second application has been approved for Dmitry Pruchkousky.
Detailed information: The stay of Mgr. M. Hrušková will be realized in the Analytical chemistry laboratory, National Institute of Chemistry in Lublaň, Slovenia. The second application has been evaluated by our Collegium in March, 2024. The main goal of the stay will be the production of expression vectors encoding the fluorescent protein fused to one of the structural genes of the light-harvesting complex.
GAP Principles: 18, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29
Timing: March 9, 2024 - June 4, 2024
Responsible Unit: HR Award Team, Director of the IBP
Indicator(s)/Targets: We will cover in part travel expenses, local transport and dietary expenses, in total approximately 20000 Kč. Measurable indicator will be the number of supported PhD students/the number of students that applied for this type of support. Action 1.2 has high priority for both institutional strategy and HRS4R.

Action 2. (text from the Revised Action Plan - Action 4)
Title: Evaluation of departments (bibliometric analyses of scientific results). Evaluation of departments and their leader is performed using two independent systems.
Detailed information: Evaluation of departments and their leaders is performed using two independent systems. One is based on scientometry and the other is based on peer-review performed by the ISAB. Individual researchers of all categories are evaluated regularly using panels consisting of both internal and external experts. All these procedures are mostly transparent (accessible to all scientists of the Institute).  During the on-site visit, ISAB evaluates all teams according to their publications, presentations and visits to their workplaces. ISAB provides independent evaluation/appraisal of all departments and their leaders and nomination of the best PhD students for the ISAB-president award. Members of ISAB provide recommendations of the best outputs for national evaluation. 
    Internal evaluation by means of scientometry is performed each year using a 5-year period window. This evaluation procedure is organized by the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. All outputs of the Institute are categorized using journal quality (journals are divided into quartiles and top decile according to the Article Influence Score). In addition, citations are also taken into consideration in a similar way (quartiles and top decile are calculated for each year, the field of science, and type of publication). These analyses are enclosed with the materials submitted to ISAB for consideration.
    Also, an independent evaluation is performed by the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in the 5-year interval. 
GAP Principles: 4, 10, 11, 15, 23
Timing: Improvement of science evaluation, implementation in 2021, and 2022 (the last quarter of 2022 is the deadline). Bibliometric evaluation of departments will occur at the end of each year; evaluation by International Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB will be performed biannually. According to the results of the evaluation, provided by management, and every 2nd year by ISAB, the budget for the departments will be modified.
New Due Dates: reports on 4.Q 24-26
Responsible Unit: HR Award Team and Deputy Director
Indicator(s)/Targets: Measurable indicators: number of outputs for each team divided into quartiles according to journal quality (and by the number of citations), comparison to EU and world standard. Support of individul teams by ISAB evaluation in terms of "increase support of the team", "continue support of the team", "there are problems (suggestions to solve them). Action 2 has high priority for institutional strategy average priority for and HRS4R. Indicators: ISAB meeting documents, evaluation protocols. All categories R1-R4 will be acquainted with the results of the evaluation procedure.
    The Action will be continued and focused to the new EU ARRA document. A new measurable indicator will be the number of bibliometric documents evaluated by the Council (ISAB)/number of documents created.
Current Status: In progress
Remarks: The evaluation of departments and the Institute using bibliometry is performed each year using both own method (see Sub-Action 4.4), using outputs provided by the Czech Academy of Sciences (ASEP system, see Sub-Action 4.2 in Actions 2022-2023) and using bibliometric part of the M17+ methodology of the national evaluation (see. Sub-Action 4.1 in Actions 2022-2023). These results are used to check the performance of individual departments as well as the performance of the Institute in the meantime between regular evaluations.
    In addition, each year national evaluation is performed, in which the Institute is in the latest years marked "A" (the best ranking). Owing to the fact, that there are no pronounced problems in our departments or in the Institute and in agreement with ARRA (Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment), we postponed the possible budget adjustments in 2023 to more complex evaluation by the CAS or recommendations by ISAB. In 2022, ISAB evaluated young scientists and students (see Actions 5.1, 13.1 and 13.2 in Actions 2022-2023). Therefore, we decided to organize the next ISAB meeting in 2024. A number of prizes (for the best publication, for collaboration between departments, for best application etc., have been awarded).  
    Measurable indicators: number of outputs for each team divided into quartiles according to journal quality, comparison to EU and world standards. The results can be seen in Sub-Action 4.1 in Actions 2022-2023. and 4.2 in Actions 2022-2023. This step has high priority for both institutional strategy and for HRS4R.
    Owing to the new document accepted by the EU (ARRA- Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment), the action will be continued in the next period 2024-2026 with focus to ARRA, particularly to pay more attention to peer-review evaluation. All bibliometric data obtained will be carefully judged by the Council of the Institute (or by ISAB) or other competent committee.

Sub-Action 2.1
Title: Participation at the conference "Implementation of the Methodology M17+"
Detailed Information: The conference was held in the Great Conference Hall of the Faculty of Sciences of the Charles University. Conference started by the contribution of the vice-minister of the CR, Pavel Doleček, and continued by several contributions about recent state of the M17+ evaluation methodoly. Final contribution by Tomaš Polivka was focused to the improvement of M17+  (distribution of evaluation in 5-year interval, changes in scales for the peer-review evaluation of results, improvements of bibliometry in M2 module. Stanislav Kozubek prezented contribution on "Problems in the evaluation of natural sciences".
Timing: February 14,2024 13-18 h
Responsible Unit: HR Award Team and Deputy Director
Indicator(s)/Targets: The conference focused to the evaluation of research in natural sciences, which represents the main focus of our Institute. Therefore, the outcomes of the conference can be applied in the evaluation of our departments and the Institute as a whole. The Action 2.1 ha high priority for both institutional strategy and HRS4R.

Sub-Action 2.2
Title: Evaluation of the departments of IBP for 2023 (table) 
Detailed Information: The best publications of IBP selected by the Council of the Institute are provided to M17+ national evaluation. The main role in the selection is the quality of the paper and decisive contribution of the institute authors (corresponding author should be from the Institute). The selected publications were evaluated using peer-review by remote evaluators and (with 2 exceptions) they were marked 1-3, which is considered to be internationally recognized paper (with good position in the frame of M17+). The numbers of these publications from 5-year period (N) have been used to evaluate the departments. The ratio N/FTE has been calculated and 3 best departments were awarded. The 2 exceptions do not influence the results of our evaluation of the departments.
Timing: January 2,2024 
Responsible Unit: Council of the Institute, Director of the Institute 
Indicator(s)/Targets: According to the new Charter the evaluation of the Institute should take into account Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment where bibliometric parameters such as impact factor should be used carefully or avoided. Instead of it, peer-review should be used. In the evaluation of our departments, papers have been evaluated by the Council and the best papers (7-9) have been selected. The Sub-Action 2.2 has high priority for both institutional strategy and HRS4R.

Action 3. (text from the Revised Action Plan - Action 5)
Title: The best PhD student award, Application Award, Internal cooperation Award, Methodology Award, and The scientific paper of the year.
GAP Principles: 4, 8, 11, 15, 16
Timing: According to the recommendation of the supervisor and based on the evaluation of the Director's Collegium, the above mentioned awards will be implemented and the winning scientists will be awarded (at the end of each year). Director may also select the paper of the year with the highest contribution of IBP-employees (own "know-how"). These employees will be awarded a financial bonus (also at the end of each year). 
New Due Dates: 4.Q 24-26
Responsible Unit: HR Award Team Advisory board (Collegium of the Director), Head of the Institutional Council
Indicator(s)/Targets: Indicators: diploma and financial bonus for Awards. Awards in all categories will be selected by WG.
These awards are open for all categories R1-R4 that have a chance to be annually awarded. Measurable indicators: % of awarded scientist from the maximum available.  Action 3. has high priority for both institutional strategy and HRS4R. 
Current Status: In progress
Remarks: In 2022, the following prizes have been awarded (see Action 5 in Actions 2022-2023): Awards for the best postdoc research results (2 prizes), Awards for the best publications (2 prizes), Award for young scientists, Award for the best application, Award for internationalization, and Cooperation Award. The awarded employees have also obtained financial bonuses. The prize for the best methodology have not been awarded.
    In 2023 the selection of prizes has been performed by means of more transparent approach - using the Collegium of the director. The nominated  publications have been evaluated by the Collegium and suggested to the director for the corresponding category of prizes. The following prizes have been awarded: Award for the best publication, Award for the best application, Award for the collaboration among departments of IBP CAS, Award for the best publication obtained in international collaboration, Award for the best methodology, and Award for internationalization. The prizes have been awarded on December 15, 2023.
    These awards are open for all categories R1-R4 that have a chance to be annually awarded. Measurable indicator: number of awards from the maximum possible (4/5=80% for 2022 and 100% for 2023). This step has high priority for both institutional strategy and for HRS4R.
    The types of awards as well as the selection procedure have not been so far finally established and, therefore, we decided to continue this activity for the next 3 years. 

Sub-Action 3.1
Title: The "Letter of Acknowledgement of the Czech Academy of Sciences (LoA of the CAS)" is to be awarded to 4 IBP workers
Detailed Information: Since 2007, the LoA of the CAS has been used to award particularly deserving professional, organizational, administrative and technical staff of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic's workplaces, who have contributed to the successful operation of their workplace and thus the Academy of Sciences as a whole. The LoA of the CAS is awarded on the occasion of a significant life anniversary of the proposed worker, upon his retirement or on a similar significant occasion. Proposals for the awarding of LoA are usually submitted by the directors of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic by December 31 of the relevant calendar year to the address of the President of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic via the data box of the Office of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. In 2024, the following employees of our Institute were nominated to be awarded by the LoA of the CAS: Ivan Čeloud, Hana Křivánková, DiS, Ivana Látalová, and Xenie Pavlíčková.
Timing: January 2,2024 
Responsible Unit: Council of the Institute, Director of the Institute 
Indicator(s)/Targets: In agreement with our HR activities, we decided to give awards not only to the researchers (it will take place at the end of the year) but also to the other staff of our Institute. The Sub-Action 3.1 has average priority for institutional strategy but high priority for HRS4R.

Action 4. (text from the Revised Action Plan - Action 6)
Title: An improvement of attestation rules
Detailed description: The Attestation Commission works per roll or during the on-place meetings. Commission provides R1-R4 categorization, based on the suggestion of the department leaders. The minutes of the Attestation Commission will be translated into English. All categories R1-R4 will be evaluated by the Attestation Commission,
GAP Principles: 11, 12, 21, 24, 26, 28, 30, 35, 36, 40
Timing: Regulation will be adapted at the last quarter of 2022, attestation will be performed continually per roll and on-site at the end of each year.
New due dates: reports on 4.Q 24-26
Responsible Unit: HR Award Team, Attestation Commission
Indicator(s)/Targets: The Attestation Commission works per roll or during the on-place meetings. Commission provides R1-R4 categorization, based on the suggestion of the department leaders. The minutes of the Attestation Commission will be translated into English. All categories R1-R4 will be evaluated by the Attestation Commission, all employee has a chance to discuss his/her position and salary with the Attestation Commission, held every year. All employees will be acquainted with the OTM-R document. A new possibility: an employee, who is not satisfied with their salary, can apply for a salary improvement and can defend their scientific quality before the Attestation Commission. Measurable indicator: number of cases with improved salaries/number of employees required the improvement. Action 4. has high priority for HRS4R, average priority for institutional strategy. 
Current Status: In progress
Remarks: The attestation rules have been improved by the new regulation „Career rules“. In 2022, positions have been improved for 33 employees during the per-roll attestations. Regulation has been adapted in 2022, attestations have been performed continually per roll in 2022 and on-site at the end of the year (December 6-7, 2022). In 2023, positions have been improved for 13 employees (up to November, 2023) during the per-roll attestations. The on-site attestation will be performed at the end of the year.
    Attestation Commission provided R1-R4 categorization, working hours and salaries, based on the suggestions of the department leaders and in agreement with the career rules.  All employees had a chance to discuss his/her position and salary with the Attestation Commission. All employees have been acquainted with the OTM-R document as well as with Career rules. An employee, who is not satisfied with his salary, can apply for a salary improvement and can defend his scientific quality before the Attestation Commission. The minutes of the Attestation Commission have standard form; the template is translated into English (the template as well as all minutes are stored). Measurable indicator: number of cases with improved salaries/number of employees required the improvement (in 2022-23 there are no such cases). This reflects the fact that the employees are not sufficiently aware of such possibility. Therefore, we will continue this activity in order to achieve realistic results. Action 4 has high priority for HRS4R, average priority for institutional strategy.
    The activity will be continued in order to improve the self-confidence of our employees to properly check their positions in the Institute and require improvement. Some selected employees will be invited to the on-site attestation together with their leaders and their possible position improvements will be considered in detail. Increased involvement of young scientists into career rules will be stimulated.

Sub-Action 4.1
Title: Attestation of Mgr. Veronika Skočková
Detailed description: The Attestation Commission considered reassignment of Mgr. Veronika Skočková to V3 category. Mgr V. Skočková defended her Ph.D. theses, which was prepared at a very good level. Her superviser and department leader, prof. J. Vondraček proposed a reassignment to V3 cathegory. Prof. J. Vondracek proposed that as a postdoc, Mgr. Veronika Skočková will deal with independent scientific work (including design and evaluation of experiments) in the field of in vitro study of the effect of selective inhibitors of haspin kinase. New work activities will include protein activity and expression analyses, cell response analyzes using flow cytometry, and corresponding data processing as well as participation in the preparation of publications.The attestation commission recommended the reassignment of Mgr. Veronika Skočková to V3.
GAP Principles: 11, 12, 21, 24, 26, 28, 30, 35, 36, 40
Timing: January 31, 2024
Responsible Unit: HR Award Team, Attestation Commission
Indicator(s)/Targets:  Mgr. Veronika Skočková discussed her position and salary with the Attestation Commission in detail. The attestation contributed to the improvement of the self-confdence of our employees to properly check their positions. Measurable indicator: number of cases with improved salaries/number of employees required the improvement (1/1). Action 4.1 has high priority for HRS4R, average priority for institutional strategy. 

Action 5. (text from the Revised Action Plan - Action 8)
Title: Education courses
Detailed information: Leadership and management skills are critical for a successful career in science. Employees of our Institute will be educated on how to be group leaders. The aim is to explore attendees' approaches to leadership. Negotiation skills in science: This workshop will focus on negotiation. Participants will gain understanding and mastery of the negotiation process, which will support them in reaching their professional goals. Workshop for female scientists: both professional and personal aspects of employment will be discussed. This course, however, is tailored specifically to women scientists to facilitate sharing experiences and insights. Language courses in Czech and English: the Academy of Sciences organizes many language courses specializing especially in English. Within HR Award implementation, we are going to hire an English-speaking lector who will be available for department and group leaders. This lector will provide language consultations including written and spoken language. Course on intelectual Property Rights. In order to improve the knowledge o scientists in this area, course on IPR will be organized. Course of biostatistics and bioinformatics: Employees of the Institute of Biophysics are interested in the course of biostatistics and bioinformatics that will help them to perform appropriate statistical analysis of their scientific results. A course in graphics or alternatively ad hoc specialist in graphics. This specialist will be helpful for graphical illustrations used for scientific papers and oral presentations in PowerPoint. 
GAP Principles: 2, 4, 7, 28, 30, 31, 33, 38, 39
Timing: We aim to organize the following courses: biostatistics, ethics in science, rhetoric, management of science, academic writing and lecturing, eLearning, knowledge on graphical software, language courses, GDPR course, ERC project application, science evaluation, etc. These courses will be organized gradually during 2022-2023, the exact data will be given for each sub-action.
New Due Dates: 4.Q 24-26
Responsible Unit: Steering Committee
Indicator(s)/Targets: These courses will be available for all R1-R4 categories, indicators are provided in a Table summarizing IBP activities - see Strategy document on IBP web page for HRS4R. This table is showing the number of participants in the individual course. Indicators and measurable indicators will be given for each sub-action as follow. High priority for HES4R, average priority for institutional strategy. These courses will be continued in 2024-26. They will be available for all R1-R4 categories, indicators will be given for each sub-Action. Measurable indicator: number of employees participating/number of employees interested. Action 5 has high priority for HRS4R, however, it strongly contributes to the institutional strategy.
Current Status: In progress
Remarks:  In 2022, eight courses have been organized for the employees of our Institute in 2022 and additional 8 courses (the language course continued)  in 2023 in order to improve their abilities in various aspects.  The ability of cultivated speech, the art of expressing oneself well, formulating one‘s opinion, presenting oneself, and the ability to respond well to questions was presented at the course on rhetoric by V. Hagenová. Biostatistics was comprehensively presented by M. Svoboda in a very intensive way (3 days course) starting from the theory up to practical training, the evaluation of science and its problems was introduced in the presentation of S. Kozubek. ERC grants (types of projects, criteria, evaluation, financial aspects, example of successful application) were presented by P. Fedorova (NCP for ERC), language courses are continuously provided by R. Vogel, M. LeBlanc and E. Škarková, Computer graphics (Adobe Photoshop, Corel Draw, MS PowerPoint) was comprehensively presented by V. Zelený.
    Management and Leadeship in a nutshell has been presented by Dr. Zdeňka Brázdová. Gender problems were introduced in the lecture by P. Špondrová „Gender in leadership“ and continued by "Equality between women and men" in 2023. Writing of scientific publication was introduced by Céline Carret from EMBO (2023). Introduction to Excel basic functions was presented by S. Kozubek (2023) and Seminar on Cybersecurity was presented by D. Král from our IT department (2023). We have organized 8 courses in 2022 and 7 courses in 2023, including the course on „Physiotherapy at Working Conditions“ provided by Mgr. A. Tomáš. Measureable indicator: number of participants/number of participants supposed was between 80-100%. There are further courses remaining for the next years: GDPR course, course on intellectual properties and patent applications, continuation of language courses. We plan to arrange course on Excell (statistical functions and programming) and continuation of EMBO courses. Educational courses are highly popular among employees of the Institute.

Sub-Action 5.1
Title: Course on the first aid I (see photos here 2, 3)
Detailed information: The first aid course took place in our club room and relaxation room. It included basic training that have taught us how to respond to possible emergency situations while working in the institution (general first aid procedure, cardiopulmonary resuscitation procedure, where and how to call an ambulance), the training was also expanded to include the following topics: foreign body in respiratory system, whole-body convulsions, possible spinal injury, transport, side position, isothermal volition. Furthermore, situations with a masked injury will be simulated. Thanks to the emotions experienced in the training situation, the stress created in the event of an acute intervention is better managed and first aid is more effective.
GAP Principles: 2, 4, 7, 28, 30, 31, 33, 38, 39
Timing: February 14, 2024 the next course will take place on February 28, 2024
Responsible Unit: Steering Committee, director of the Institute
Indicator(s)/Targets: The course was/is available for all R1-R4 categories, measurable indicator: number of emploeyees interested/number of trained employees: so far 16/35. High priority for HRS4R, average priority for institutional strategy. The courses will be continued in 2024. They will be available for all R1-R4 categories.

Sub-Action 5.2
Title: Course on the first aid II (see photos here 1, 2)
Detailed information: The first aid course took place in our club room and relaxation room. It included basic training that have taught us how to respond to possible emergency situations while working in the institution (general first aid procedure, cardiopulmonary resuscitation procedure, where and how to call an ambulance), the training was also expanded to include the following topics: foreign body in respiratory system, whole-body convulsions, possible spinal injury, transport, side position, isothermal volition. Furthermore, situations with a masked injury will be simulated. Thanks to the emotions experienced in the training situation, the stress created in the event of an acute intervention is better managed and first aid is more effective.
GAP Principles: 2, 4, 7, 28, 30, 31, 33, 38, 39
Timing: February 28, 2024
Responsible Unit: Steering Committee, director of the Institute
Indicator(s)/Targets: The course was/is available for all R1-R4 categories, measurable indicator: number of emploeyees interested/number of trained employees: so far 32/35. High priority for HRS4R, average priority for institutional strategy. 

Sub-Action 5.3
Title: Course on physiotherapy (see photo)
Detailed information: The course started with a short warm-up and repetition of the exercises from the previous courses. The course continued with new exercises focused to reinforcement of body areas that are under stress when working on a computer (hand, neck and back muscles).
GAP Principles: 2, 4, 7, 28, 30, 31, 33, 38, 39
Timing: March 6, 2024
Responsible Unit: Working Group, Steering Committee, director of the Institute
Indicator(s)/Targets: The course was/is available for all R1-R4 categories, measurable indicator: number of emploeyees interested/number of trained employees: so far 16/16. High priority for HRS4R, average priority for institutional strategy. 

Sub-Action 5.4
Title: Course on AI (see photo)
Detailed information:
Theoretical part: Introduction 1) A brief mention of the transformational role of artificial intelligence in different sectors that paved the way for its impact on academia. 2) Introduction to artificial intelligence a) What is AI? b) How can artificial intelligence help in academic work? 3) AI Chatbots in an academic environment a) Introduction to Chatbots b) Definition and basic principle of operation of chatbots c) Abilities and limitations d) Discussion of what chatbots can do, focusing on theirs the ability to process inquiries, provide information and help during research. e) Limitations and challenges facing chatbots in academia. 4) The main representatives of chatbots, their possibilities and how to use them a) OpenAI ChatGPT - GPT-4 - Overview of features and options b) Microsoft Copilot c) Google Gemini 4) Usage examples 5) Ethical considerations - privacy, security, ethical use
Practical part: 1) Introduction to practical prompt engineering for optimization interactions and chatbots. 2) Overview of tools such as Scite, Consensus, Evidence Hunt, researchrabbit.ai, Litmaps, lateral and typeset.io and how they can improve academic research and productivity.
GAP Principles: 2, 4, 7, 28, 30, 31, 33, 38, 39
Timing: April 8, 2024
Responsible Unit: Working Group, Steering Committee, director of the Institute
Indicator(s)/Targets: The course was available for all categories, women (w) and men (m): number of participants: 36 (R1: 4w/2m, R2: 6w/6m, R3: 2w/7m, R4: 1w/2m, other: 2w/2. Mmeasurable indicator: number of emploeyees interested/number of trained employees: approximately 36/40. High priority for HRS4R, high priority for institutional strategy. 

Action 6. (text from the Revised Action Plan - Action 10)
Title: Lectures provided by foreign scientists will be selected by young scientists working at the IBP and by PhD students. We will also organize director's collegium, meeting of researchers, meetings of WG and SC, meetings of parents in science
Detailed information: It is essential to organize lectures, institutional seminars, meetings and discussion clubs. Minutes of meetings will be archived and translated into English.
GAP Principles: 23, 38, 39
Timing: The call for nominations of speakers will be made at the beginning of every new year (I. quarter). Students will select 2-3 foreign speakers that will be invited for a lecture. A discussion on the scientific results and career possibilities will be organized annually since 2021. Also, several times a year, we will organize director's collegium, meeting of researchers, meeting of WG and SC, meeting of parents in science. Exact dates will be shown during the implementation phase.
New Due Dates: lectures 3.Q 24-26; lectures and conferences 4.Q 24-26
Responsible Unit:  Steering Commitee, WG
Indicator(s)/Targets: It is essential to organize lectures, institutional seminars, meetings and discussion clubs. Minutes of meetings will be archived and translated into English. Meetings will be open for R1-R4 categories and will be organized according to the schedule published in the table, in the Strategy document of the IBP. The participation of scientists in these activities will be properly described in the Minutes of the meeting. Measureable indicators: number of participants/number of available employes at given category (e.g. number of participants at the directors collegium/number of members of the collegium). Action 6 has high priority for institutional strategy, average priority for HRS4R..
Current Status: Extended
Remarks: In 2022, we organized 4 lectures by foreign scientists (K. Makova, H. Fulkova, P. Kumar, P. Kania), 2 Methodological Symposia, 2 times Director’s Collegium, a meeting to establish „Czech Biophysical Association“, one ISAB meeting, IBP Career Day (organized by Hana Polášek-Sedláčková) where a discussion on career possibilities has been arranged and International meeting on Extracellular Vesicles organized by L. Kubala. In addition meeting with parents in science has been organized during the Summer schools (Action 14).
    In 2023, further lectures were organized in the Institute (L. Čermák, J. Vorel and J. Benada); Meeting of the Czech Biophysical Association: "Focused on Microscopic and Biophysical Techniques" was organized in Nové Hrady including 11 top lectures and 18 posters (see Action 10.16 in Actions 2022-2023).
    The Czech Biophysical Association (CBA) has been founded on April 7, 2022 in order to provide information, arrange workshops and meetings in biophysics in the Czech Republic as well as keep the link to the International Union for Biophysics (IUPAB). The CBA was admitted to the Council of the Czech Biophysical Associations on April 24, 2023. In 2023, the Director's Collegium has been called with standard program (see Action 10.16, 10.22 and 10.28 in Actions 2022-2023). During the first period (2022-2023) we have organized 6 meetings of the Working Group and 3 meetings of the Steering Committee.
    Invitations and Minutes of these meetings have been archived and translated into English.
    The Action will be continued in the next period in order to develop the activity of the Czech  Biophysical Association. More famous scientists will be invited to give lectures in the Institute, particularly EMBO memebers will be invited.

Sub-Action 6.1
Title: Lecture on "The bright and the dark sides of DNA replication stress in human cell physiology and cancer
Lecturer: Assoc. Prof. Kumar Somyajit
Detailed information: DNA replication is critical for the maintenance of genomic integrity. Although DNA replication machinery is highly accurate, the process of DNA replication is constantly challenged by DNA damage. A variety of cellular stresses interfering with DNA replication, which are collectively termed replication stress, pose a threat to genomic stability. To cope with replication stress and maintain genomic stability, cells have evolved a complex network of cellular responses to alleviate replication problems.
GAP Principles: 2, 4, 7, 28, 30, 31, 33, 38, 39
Timing: March 14, 2024, 13:30 Lecture Hall
Responsible Unit: Steering Committee, director of the Institute
Indicator(s)/Targets: The lecture was available for all R1-R4 categories, measurable indicator: number of emploeyees participating/number of employees interested in DNA replication: . High priority for HRS4R, average priority for institutional strategy. 

Action 7. (text from the Revised Action Plan - Action 11)
Title: Increased PR activities
Detailed information: The PR manager provides activities related to PR (“public relations”). These activities will lead to the promotion of IBP research and its reputation in the public eyes.
GAP Principles: (+/-) 9. Public engagement, (++) 22. Recognition of the profession
Timing: We are going to present research results in media and popular science journals (report will be given at the last quarter each year). Within PR activities we will also organize the IBP Open House Days (4. quarter, each year) . We will also introduce the Institute at the Science Fair (2. quarter, each year). Also, we will participate in Mendel Festival in Brno (3. quarter, each year). We will coordinate updating of the IBP website; improvements must be made in the English version (end of this year). PR activities will be mediated through public journals and social media annually (report will be given at the end of each year).
New Due Dates: 4.Q 24-26
Responsible Unit: Steering Commitee, WG
Indicator(s)/Targets: The PR manager provides activities related to PR (“public relations”). These activities will lead to the promotion of IBP research and its reputation in the public eyes. Advertisement on the IBP web page, social media, including Facebook, and Twitter. PR activity will be open for all categories, including students of all degrees, and secondary school students. At this point, 10-12 researchers will be engaged to organize PR activities each year. The percentage of categories involved in this activity is the following: 40/30/20/10. We will address the following principles: 9, 22 and this activity will be directed to students of all categories and the public. Measurable indicator: number of researchers involved in PR activities (% from all researchers). Action 7 has high priority for HRS4R, average priority for institutional strategy.
Current Status: In progress
Remarks:  In 2022, we have presented research results in media and our web pages (series on „How radioactivity damages our cells“ by M. Falk, information about the project „Structural gymnastics of nucleic acids“ by M. Fojta and "New achievements in the research of anti-cancer drugs" by V. Brabec).
    These activities were continued in 2023 (Variability of "Inverted Repeats in All Available Genomes of Bacteria" by V. Brázda, "Banning plant DNA editing is evolutionary suicide" by R. Hobza and "G-quadruplexses in the evolution of hepatitis B virus" by J.L. Mergny, new "Radiobiology textbook" by Martin Falk, "Publication in the Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation" by Jiri Sponer and "A new paper from the Department of Biophysics of the Immune System" by Lukas Kubala).
    Regular information has been presented at Facebook (at least 75 contributions in 2022 and 99 contributions up to October 2023), Twitter or Youtube (series of lectures covering genetics and evolution. 30 lectures in 2022 and 28 lectures in 2023).
    Within PR activities we also organized the IBP Open Days, Spring Concert, Nights of Scientists. We have taken part in the Science Fairs in both years (see Sub-Actions 11.5 and 11.15) We also participated in a large international actions "Mendel Festival in Brno" (see Sub-Actions 11.6 and 11.19 in Actions 2022-2023).
    We updated some parts of the IBP website (further improvements are needed). Measurable indicator: number of employees participating/ number of all employees fluctuated between 10-90%. 
    The Action will be continued owing to increasing PR activities of our employees and interest to provide information about our results to the public. We also improve the website in order to become more attractive. PR manager will be involved in these activities as well as in the development of a new web page of the Institute.

Sub-Action 7.1
Title: Regular information on Institutional events on Facebook (year 2024)
Responsible scientists: Eda Kejnovský, Vojtěch Hudzieczek
GAP Principles: (+/-) 9. Public engagement, (++) 22. Recognition of the profession
Timing/Title:
February 2, 2024, Jan Vondracek, Roman Hobza and Eva Bartova participated on 31.1.-1.2.2024 at bilateral meeting of CAS and Royal Society
January 29, 2024, Information about TeloBase - a new platform for scientists interested in telomeres
January 26, 2024, Jiri Sponer at al., Dynamics of 2,6-Diaminopurin, an alternative base of nucleic acids, which was involved in prebiotic chemistry
January 23, 2024, Daniela Rubanova contributed to the treatment of revmatoic arthritis
January 18, 2024, Radka Kalfusova et al. investigated the role of epigenetic marks in canina asymmetrical meiosis
January 17, 2024, Hana Polasek-Sedlackova has been awarded by prestigious EMBO Installation grant
January 16, 2024, Jana Kasparkova et al.: New generation of iridium complexes are appropriate for fotodynamic therapy of cancer
January 8, 2024, A new study by Vaclav Brazda et al: G-quadruplexes in genomes of hepatitide delta viruses
January 11, 2024, The department of the structure and dynamics of nucleic acids: repair of UV damage (Chemical Science 2024)
January 8, 2024, A new discovery by the Department of the dynamics of nucleic acids: new type of 4-stranded DNA structure (Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. (2023)
January 9, 2024, Achievements of IBP in 2023 - publications, education of PHhD students, grant applications and PR activities
January 8, 2024, Main activities planned to realize in the frame of HR Award Action Plan in 2024
January 5, 2024, The best paper of the year 2023: P. Školáková, J. Palacký, D. Renčiuk, M. Vorlíčková, DNA i-morif formation at neutral pH is driven by kinetic partitioning, Nucleic Acids Res.,l 51, 2950-2962 (2023)
January 2, 2024, Clean Advantage awarded to IBP certificate on the contribution to the reduction of CO2 production
Responsible Unit: Steering Commitee, WG, director of the Institute
Indicator(s)/Targets: This activity leads to the popularisation of research and particularly IBP research to the public eyes showing the most interesting results of research as well as achievements of the Institute and its position among other research organisations. The action is open to the society interested in science. Number of contributions from the beginning of the year: 1. Measurable indicator: numbere of likes = . Action 7.1 had high priority for HRS4R.
Current Status: in progress

Action 8. (text from the Revised Action Plan - Action 12)
Title: An Improvement of job descriptions, advertisements, and strengthening of grant applications, and application to the Czech Academy of Sciences for postdoctoral support (PPLZ).
GAP Principles: 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 13, 25, 26
Timing: Improvement of job descriptions for individual positions and implementation of a structured employee evaluation involving more transparent procedures (2. quarter of  2023). All employees, departments and groups must be well visible to the public eye as well as the scientific community. It will help us to improve the quality of research and working conditions. Positions will be advertised on the EURAXESS portal and the IBP web page (starting from the beginning of 2022). A piece of information on how to prolong an employment contract via the Institutional support of funding will be provided in the individual advertisement (2. quarter of  2023). 
New Due Dates: 4.Q 24-26, advertisements: each year 4.Q 24-26
Responsible Unit: Steering Commitee, WG, responsible scientist: Eda Kejnovsky
Indicator(s)/Targets: The numbers of advertisements on ERURAXESS portal are the measureable indicators. We will address all categories R1-R4, but a number of calls depend on the grant efficiency and the level of Institutional funding from the Czech Academy of Sciences. From this view, WG will encourage scientists to apply to local and EU grant agencies and postdocs for PPLZ support. Annually, we plan to apply for 10-15 standard projects and 1-3 junior projects, and 2-4 PPLZ supports. Action 8 has high priority for both institutional strategy and HRS4R.
Current Status: In progress
Remarks: Job descriptions have been improved, particularly, we have established relation between EU R1-R4 positions and V1-V6 positions of the Czech Academy of Sciences (see the enclosed file „Career Rules“). Positions are advertised on the EURAXESS portal and the IBP web page (the quality of advertisements approaches standards required by OTM-R, see the Action 2, https://www.ibp.cz/en/about-ibp/hr-award/implementation-phase/actions).
    We have applied to the Czech Grant Agency (GACR) (26 applications in 2022 and 22 applications in 2023) as well as to the Czech Academy of Sciences (Support of Human Resources, PPLZ – 3 successful applications in 2022, Otto Wichterle prize – 1 successful application in 2022; we were not successful in PPLZ and Otto Wichterle prize in 2023, however, the next application for PPLZ will be possible to the end of this year).  In addition, we have granted 4 scientists from the Internal Support of Research Program (see Sub-Action 12.6 in Actions 2022-2023). Measurable indicator: the number of advertisements on EURAXESS/total number of adveertisements – 100%; the number of successful applications to GACR (2022): 30%, the number of successful applications to the Czech Academy of Sciences – 40%. Action 8 has high priority for both institutional strategy and HRS4R.
    The Action will be continued in order to further improve the grant applications to both national and international agencies (Project Manager will be responsible for the improvement in this direction).

Sub-Action 8.1
Title: Hana Polasek-Sedlackova received a prestigious EMBO Installation Grant
Detailed description: Up to two-thirds of all cancers arise due to errors that occur during DNA replication. Dr. Hana Polasek-Sedlackova and her team have dedicated their research efforts to studying this phenomenon. Recently, they were awarded the prestigious EMBO Installation grant, which will enable them to explore the molecular mechanisms that guarantee accurate DNA replication. EMBO grant recipients will receive annual financial support of €50,000 and a generous benefits package for the entire research group, including networking, mentoring, and training activities offered by EMBO.
GAP Principles: 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 13, 25, 26
Timing: . January 16, 2024
Responsible Unit: Steering Commitee, WG, responsible scientist: Hana Polasek-Sedlackova
Indicator(s)/Targets: The number of successful applications of the Institute to the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (5 projects) reached only 14%. Therefore, additional granted applications are highly appreciated. In addition, the EMBO grant is highly prestigious (there are only 10 grantees in the Europe). Sub-Action 8.1 has high priority for both institutional strategy and HRS4R.
Current Status: In progress
Remarks: 

Sub-Action 8.2
Title: Strengthening of grant applications
Timing: April 3, 2024
Responsible unit: Steering Commitee and Working Group, Project Manager
Indicator(s)/Targets: Working Group and Project Manager encouraged scientists to apply to the Czech Grant Agency (GACR) and as a consequence the Institute have sent 36 applications; 26 as coordinating institutution and 10 as co-investigator (grant applications 2024). As compared to previous year, the number of applications increased by 125%. The applications will be evaluated and some of them will be granted in the beginning of 2025 (the results of evaluation will be published on November 11, 2024). Action 8.2. has high priority for both institutional strategy and HRS4R.
Current Status: Completed

Action 9. (text from the Revised Action Plan - Action 13)
Title: Evaluation of departments and students by the International Advisory Board (ISAB) and the Czech Academy of Sciences.
Detailed information: ISAB will solve the most general problems of the Institute such as focusing on research in the most promising areas and establishment of new departments or reduction of less successful ones. We are keen to build new laboratories at the Institute. During sessions of the Attestation Commission, all department leaders will be motivated to improve the quality of research and working conditions at their laboratories. Working group will encourage department leaders to find new motivation tolls for the work of excellent students. We have to find a way how to recruit the best students of local universities, and these students must fruitfully interact with their supervisors.
GAP Principles: 24, 34, 36, 37, 40
Timing: ISAB will solve the most general problems of the Institute such as focusing on research in the most promising areas and establishment of new departments or reduction of less successful ones (meetings are biannual, the next meeting is planned in 2023). We are keen to build new laboratories at the Institute. During sessions of the Attestation Commission, all department leaders will be motivated to improve the quality of research and working conditions at their laboratories. Students will be evaluated annually (at the end of the year). Working group will encourage department leaders to find new motivation tolls for the work of excellent students. We have to find a way how to recruit the best students of local universities, and these students must fruitfully interact with their supervisors.
New Due Dates: 4.Q 24 and 4.Q 26
Responsible Unit: Steering Committee, Director and ISAB members, WG
Indicator(s)/Targets: Every 2nd year, ISAB will evaluate individual departments, the Director, the scientific incubator and the progress of Internal support of science. Annually, the Attestation Commission will evaluate categorization R1-R4, and every 5th year the Czech Academy of Sciences evaluation departments and the whole institute.
Minutes from the meetings will be available online on the HRS4R IBP web page. All categories R1-R4 will be engaged in this activity. Measurable indicator: number of departments (students) evaluated positively/total numbers. Action 9 has high priority for institutional strategy, average priority for HRS4R.
Current Status: In progress
Remarks: Hybrid meeting of ISAB was organized on October 6, 2022. The program involved introductory presentation by the director of the Institute, Eva Bártová. Main points of the program were the following: 1) The ISAB statement for OP-JAC project. 2) Selection of 2 of the best young scientists (students) awarded by the ISAB, 3) ISAB opinion on MDPI journals, 4) Recruitment of young scientists to build new teams), 5) Recommendation of prof. Mergny for a new contract.
    In order to encourage excellent young scientists and students in their research, ISAB evaluated presentations and subsequently 2 young scientists and 1 student obtained a prize awarded by the director, Eva Bártová (see 5.1 and 13.2 in Actions 2022-2023).
    In 2023, we had no ISAB meeting owing to more detailed national evaluation (see Sub-Action 13.3 in Actions 2022-2023) and financial situation (expected reduction of financial support of research in 2024 by 10%), which do not allow substantial changes or investments in the subsequent year. We can rely on results of evaluation by the Czech Academy of Sciences in 2020 and more recently on the latest evaluation by M17+ methodology (national evaluation). 
    Measurable indicator: number of presentations of young scientists or students evaluated positively/total number of presentations – near to 80%.
    The Action will be continued, with the next meeting of ISAB in 2024 and 2026 involving evaluation of the departments and solving our most important problems.

Action 10. (text from the Revised Action Plan - Action 14)
Title: Summer schools
GAP Principles: 9, 33
Timing: We are going to organize Summer school (2.-3. quareter each year) in a frame of IBP activity and the activity of the Society for the Czech biophysics, This school will be intended for kids of employees who will participate as mentors and will familiarize their kids with basic principles of laboratory work, biophysics, biology and chemistry. 
New Final Due Date: 4.Q 26
Responsible Unit: WG, management of the institute
Indicator(s)/Targets: Approximately 15-20 mentors from the IBP will organize the Summer schools each year. The percentage of R1-R4 categories involved in this activity is the following: 25/40/25/10. Measurable indicator: the number of children participating. Action 10. has high priority for HRS4R.
Current Status: In progress
Remarks: Summer schools have been organized on July 18-22, 2022 and August 8-12, 2022 in the frame of IBP activity and the activity of the Czech Biophysical Association.
    Also in 2023 similar school has been organized on July 10-14, 2023 and on August, 2023. The schools were devoted to kids of employees who participated as mentors. The kids were familiarized with laboratory work and science in very popular way (for detailed description see Sub-Actins 14.1, 14.2, and 14.3 in Actions 2022-2023. Meetings with parents were organized where working conditions and possible improvements were discussed. Measurable indicator: the number of children participating: 9-12. Action 10 has high priority for HRS4R.
    This Action will be continued in the next period with possible extension to odler children (the age of up to 12 years).

Action 11. (text from the Revised Action Plan - Action 15)
Title: Open Science – Data Management Plan
Detailed description: We envisage the creation of a central database/central data repository for storing and managing data obtained from research activities. The exact form and parameters of the solution will be based on the accumulated requirements of stakeholders (users and other stakeholders). From the point of view of data inputs, we assume the creation of a series of data pumps. This tool will extract and automatically upload data from all data sources obtained in the project at regular intervals. We assume the creation of so-called universal connectors, which will be possible to parametrically set for other new ones in the future resources of a similar format. We currently assume a universal data connector in the form of an input for measuring devices, which enable direct communication with the data storage and input for data in xls, lif, tif, jpg, docx, pptx format. Maximal the data storage capacity will be 100 TB. The most volume data will be from confocal microscopes, in the order of tens of GB per one experimental measurement. The data will be made available to a wide professional public, including scientists and students of other entities, possibly the application and commercial spheres.  In addition, we will try to get financial sources for open access for publications (OP JAK project).
GAP Principles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 15, 31, 32
Timing:  Report will be given at the end of each year.
Due date: 4.Q 26
Responsible Unit: WG, management of the institute
Indicator(s)/Targets: The FAIR principles will be followed:Research data will have a persistent identifier, will have sufficient metadata description. Metadata will always be availableonline and will be searchable, keywords will be part of metadata. Data and metadata will be accessible via a persistent identifier using standard communication protocols. Data will be stored in common formats and adhere to recognized standards. Metadata will be followed by industrystandards.The data will be reusable, will be provided with detailed documentation and a license. The license will contain information aboutpossibilities of using data. Metadata will contain information about the origin of the data. Measurable indicator: volume of the data stored/volume of the data produced. Action 11 has high priority for both institutional strategy and HRS4R.
Current Status: New
Remarks: 

Action 12. (text from the Revised Action Plan - Action 16)
Title: Gender Issues
Detailed description: We will continue the social equality approach started in the frame of the previous Action 7. In addition, we have developer Gender Equality Plan, which represents extention of this activity in the direction of gender issues. We will continue activities focused to support women in science: we will organize „Successful women campaigns“ focused to grants, papers or other attributes of scientific work. We will also aim to increase work/life balance for women (parents) in science; we will enable part-time jobs for women (parents) with children up to 6 years old. We will encourage women to become department leaders and/or deputy department leaders. We will support the nursery (a kid's corner) and establish a so-called family room for school children (in the case new infrastructure is built). In addition, “Successful Women” web page will be developed at our web page.
GAP Principles: 10, 24, 27, 28
Timing:  Report will be given at the end of each year.
Due date: 4.Q 26
Responsible Unit: WG, management of the institute
Indicator(s)/Targets: 1) Gender equality in recruitment and career progression, 2) Gender-related inappropriate manners, 3) Changes at the cultural and institutional level, 4) Gender-related research outputs, 5) Gender-related improvements in leadership, 6) Changes on the interpersonal level, 7) Changes on the individual level. Measurable indicator: number of women satisfied/total number of women. Action 12 has high priority for both institutional strategy and HRS4R.
Current Status: New
Remarks:

Sub-Action 12.1
Title: Web page "Successful Women"
Detailed description: We have developed web page “Successful Women” at  "Gender Equality Plan" (here). So far Jana Kašpárková, Judit Šponer, Eva Bártová and Michaela Vorlíčková have been selected for this page.
GAP Principles: 10, 24, 27, 28
Timing:  April 4, 2024
Responsible Unit: WG, management of the institute
Indicator(s)/Targets: "Changes at the cultural and institutional level", "Changes on the interpersonal level". Measurable indicator: number of women at the web page/total number of women at given cathegory (R2-4: 4/40=10%). Action 12.1 has high priority for both institutional strategy and HRS4R.
Current Status: In Progression

Action 13. (text from the Revised Action Plan - Action 17)
Title: Employee Satisfaction Survey
Detailed description: Before the end of the next period, a new survey will be performed in order to get feedback on the effect of HR Action Plan.
GAP Principles: 2, 4, 7, 12, 15, 19, 22, 23, 24, 27, 34, 38
Due dates: 1.Q 25 and 3.Q 26
Responsible Unit: WG, management of the institute
Indicator(s)/Targets: Satisfaction of the employees with the fulfilment of the Actions and correspondence to the principles. Measurable indicator: number of actions fulfilled successfully/number of actions. Action 13 has high priority for both institutional strategy and HRS4R.
Current Status: New
Remarks:

Action 14. (text from the Revised Action Plan - Action 18)
Title: OP JAK project to support HRAW activities
Detailed description: At the beginning of the next year (2024) our Ministry of Education will open Operational Program Jan Amos Komensky supporting HR Award applicants and holders. We will apply to get financial support. Practically all activities will benefit from such resources if supported.
GAP Principles: All Actions
Due date: 4.Q 24
Responsible Unit: WG, management of the institute
Indicator(s)/Targets: successful application/ not successful. Action 10 has high priority for HRS4R.
Current Status: New
Remarks: