Jaroslav Miller (1971) is the Deputy Minister of Schools, Youth and Sports. He studied history and philology in Olomouc (Palacký University), Budapest (Central European University) and Oxford (University of Oxford). Among his tutors and teachers were notable academics, intellectuals and cutting-edge thinkers including Ralf Dahrendorf, Stephen Greenblatt and/or Robert J. W. Evans.
Jaroslav Miller is Professor of History. He pursued long-term research stays at high-ranked universities and research institutions in Canada, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Australia. He has twice been granted a highly prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Scholarship (2006 in Marburg, 2010 in Münster) and Andrew W. Mellon Scholarship (2004, 2010 Wolfenbüttel). In 2008 he received the Fulbright Fellowship at University of Georgia, USA. During the 2010/2011 academic year Jaroslav Miller held a Go8 Guest Professorship at the University of Western Australia in Perth. Nominated by His Excellence the Ambassador of the United States of America, Jaroslav Miller has served since 2012 as the Ambassador of the Fulbright Commission in the Czech Republic. Since 2020 he has been serving in the European Research Council as the evaluation panel member.
For 8 years he held the position of the Rector and President of Palacký University in Olomouc (2014–2021) and since August 2021 to February 2022 he served as the President of Angloamerican University in Prague. As the Rector of Palacký University he founded the university campus in Irbil, Iraqi Kurdistan and he also co-founded AURORA, the alliance of European universities effective since 2018. In 2023 he was bestowed the title Doctor honoris causa for his indefatigable support of scholars and academics in Ukraine and Belorussia.
In February 2022 he was appointed the Deputy Minister of Schools, Youth and Sports. Jaroslav Miller has published widely on urban and intellectual history. In 2008 his monograph Urban Societies in East-Central Europe, 1500 – 1700 has been published by Ashgate. The book has received “The Best Urban History Monograph Award”. Recently, together with Lázsló Kontler, he edited the book Friars, Nobles and Burghers – Sermons, Images and Prints: Studies of Culture and Society in Early-Modern Europe (New York – Budapest: CEU Press, 2010). In 2016 he co-authored the monograph “The Czech Exile in Australia, 1948 – 1989” and in 2021 he published the book Czechoslovakia Exiled. Jaroslav Miller speaks English, German, Russian and Slovak. He has passive skills in Latin and Spanish. Jaroslav Miller is married and has two children Jan (20) and Barbora (18).
Entirely dedicated to the European Union, Joanna Drake’s career has been propelled by her relentless energy and passion for the project and the values the EU stands for. As such for the last 40 years, she has contributed to the EU in several roles at the national and European level.
Since 2021, Joanna DRAKE has been the Deputy Director-General of the European Commission's Directorate-General (DG) for Research and Innovation (DG RTD). In this role, she provides overall assistance to the Director-General in the management of the DG, contributing to the definition, coordination and implementation of strategy and policy orientation. She currently focuses mainly on the green transition policies, health (she is mission manager for Cancer) and culture, synergies and co-chairs the Group on Earth Observation for the Commission.
Between 2016 and 2021, she Deputy Director-General in DG Environment where she chaired a cross-cutting Task Force spear-heading strategic positions for the DG on (inter-alia) the post-2020 Commission financial framework negotiations, Brexit co-ordination, the urban agenda and the future-proofing of the EU's environmental acquis. Between 2010 and 2015 she was director for SME's and Entrepreneurship in the DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW). During her tenure in DG GROW she also led the Commission's Task Force on The Collaborative Economy, New Business Models And SME's.
By training, Joanna holds a doctorate in laws from the University of Malta, where she also taught EU law full time in the Department of European and Comparative Law in the run up to Malta’s EU accession. She acquired a post-graduate degree in Advanced European Legal Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. She held various legal and management posts in the private (including Head of Legal/Regulatory Department in Vodafone Malta) and public sector before joining the European Commission as head of the European Commission Representation in Malta in 2005. She also had a key role in the Malta-EU accession negotiations as member of the Malta-EU Steering and Action Committee and chaired the national ‘YES movement’ in the run up to the referendum on Malta’s EU accession in 2003.
Joanna is a trained actress (and still treads the boards in Brussels, agenda permitting) and is very keen on sticking to her daily dose of physical training…apart from taking care of her cat, Winston.
Salla Saastamoinen is Deputy Director-General in Directorate-General Joint Research Centre (JRC) at the European Commission. The Joint Research Centre is Commission’s science and knowledge service that provides independent, evidence-based knowledge and science, supporting EU policies to positively impact society. In the JRC, Salla Saastamoinen is in charge of the five scientific directorates working in the areas of Fair and sustainable economy; Energy, mobility and climate; Sustainable resources; Space, security and migration; and Health and food. Salla Saastamoinen has worked in the European Commission since 1996, first in DG Environment and then in several areas in DG Justice and Consumers. In DG Justice, Salla Saastamoinen was lastly the acting Director-General covering policy areas of civil and criminal justice, fundamental rights and rule of law, equality and Union citizenship, and consumers. At the same time, Salla Saastamoinen was Director for civil and commercial justice, and before that, Director in charge of equality and non-discrimination. Before joining the Commission, Salla Saastamoinen was a partner in a law office in Helsinki, Finland. She has a licentiate degree in law (post-graduate level) from the University of Helsinki, Finland, and post-graduate studies in law from the universities of Saarbrücken, Germany and Zürich, Switzerland. She is author of several books on environmental law and EU law.
Lucie Núñez is currently the Director of Research and Development Department at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic. From 2016 to 2023, she worked as Head of the European Research Area Unit at the same institution. She is responsible for creating and developing strategy for an effective R&D policy at national level and engaging stakeholders to ensure its successful implementation. Furthermore, she is involved in implementing international cooperation in R&D and coordination of the Czech participation in international R&D programmes, notably the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon Europe. Since 2013, Lucie Núñez has participated in activities carried out by the High Level Group for Joint Programming and, subsequently, Transitional Forum for Partnerships as national delegate of the Czech Republic; currently she serves as national representative in the Horizon Europe Strategic Programme Committee, ERA Forum, Partnership Knowledge Hub and ERA Forum sub-group on Global Approach. Furthermore, she has been national delegate for several years in Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Professor Králíčková has been the rector of Charles University since 1 February 2022. She graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Charles University in Plzeň, and spent a year in the USA thanks to a Fulbright Commission at the Reproductive Endocrine Unit of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University. After completing her Ph.D., she worked at the Gynaecology and Obstetrics Clinic of the University Hospital in Plzeň in the field of gynaecology and obstetrics, embryology scientific work and also taught at the Institute of Histology and Embryology. Subsequently, she worked at the Faculty of Medicine in Plzeň as the Vice-Dean for Development and Head of one of the two research programmes of the Biomedical Centre in Plzeň. In 2013, Králíčková became the Vice-Rector for Education at Charles University, a position she held until 2022. Jaroslav Miller (1971) is the Deputy Minister of Schools, Youth and Sports. He studied history and philology in Olomouc (Palacký University), Budapest (Central European University) and Oxford (University of Oxford). Among his tutors and teachers were notable academics, intellectuals and cutting-edge thinkers including Ralf Dahrendorf, Stephen Greenblatt and/or Robert J. W. Evans. Pavel Doleček currently holds the position of Deputy Minister for Science, Research and Innovation. Before being appointed as Deputy Minister in 2023 Pavel Doleček had been serving as Vice-Rector for Strategic Cooperation and Development at Charles University and held the responsibility for coordination of investment and developmental projects and strategic partnerships with state administration, other universities and public and private sector. Before that he had been working at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) as the Head of the Strategic Unit and then in the position of Deputy Minister for Higher Education, Science and Research. He was in charge of the conception and realization of higher education and research policy under the authority of the MEYS, including international bilateral and multilateral cooperation, legislative framework and funding policy. David Honys is currently the Deputy Vice-President of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Member of the Academy Council responsible for the international cooperation, and the President of the Council for International Affairs. He graduated from the Faculty of Science of Charles University in Prague and spent several years as a Royal Society postdoctoral fellow at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom. He has worked at the Institute of Experimental Botany of the CAS at various positions including Deputy Director and a member of the Institute Board. He has also served as a member of the CAS Economic Council and a member of the boards of several institutes of the CAS. David Honys was appointed Professor of Genomics and Proteomics at Masaryk University. He is a member of the subject area boards at Charles University, Masaryk University, and Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. He also lectures advanced semester courses in both master's and doctoral study programs and works as the supervisor of undergraduate and postgraduate students. David Honys is an author of more than 75 original articles with 2800+ citations. He served as the National Delegate of the Czech Republic in the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) and as a member of the panel and the subject area board of the Czech Science Foundation.
Jaroslav Miller is Professor of History. He pursued long-term research stays at high-ranked universities and research institutions in Canada, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Australia. He has twice been granted a highly prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Scholarship (2006 in Marburg, 2010 in Münster) and Andrew W. Mellon Scholarship (2004, 2010 Wolfenbüttel). In 2008 he received the Fulbright Fellowship at University of Georgia, USA. During the 2010/2011 academic year Jaroslav Miller held a Go8 Guest Professorship at the University of Western Australia in Perth. Nominated by His Excellence the Ambassador of the United States of America, Jaroslav Miller has served since 2012 as the Ambassador of the Fulbright Commission in the Czech Republic. Since 2020 he has been serving in the European Research Council as the evaluation panel member.
For 8 years he held the position of the Rector and President of Palacký University in Olomouc (2014–2021) and since August 2021 to February 2022 he served as the President of Angloamerican University in Prague. As the Rector of Palacký University he founded the university campus in Irbil, Iraqi Kurdistan and he also co-founded AURORA, the alliance of European universities effective since 2018. In 2023 he was bestowed the title Doctor honoris causa for his indefatigable support of scholars and academics in Ukraine and Belorussia.
In February 2022 he was appointed the Deputy Minister of Schools, Youth and Sports. Jaroslav Miller has published widely on urban and intellectual history. In 2008 his monograph Urban Societies in East-Central Europe, 1500 – 1700 has been published by Ashgate. The book has received “The Best Urban History Monograph Award”. Recently, together with Lázsló Kontler, he edited the book Friars, Nobles and Burghers – Sermons, Images and Prints: Studies of Culture and Society in Early-Modern Europe (New York – Budapest: CEU Press, 2010). In 2016 he co-authored the monograph “The Czech Exile in Australia, 1948 – 1989” and in 2021 he published the book Czechoslovakia Exiled. Jaroslav Miller speaks English, German, Russian and Slovak. He has passive skills in Latin and Spanish. Jaroslav Miller is married and has two children Jan (20) and Barbora (18).
Pavel Doleček has participated in several governing boards, be it those of state-funded organizations or universities as well as program boards of institutions providing financial support for research, development and innovation. He dealt with pedagogical, publishing and research activities.
Daniel Frank works in the Technology Centre Prague at the National Information Centre for European Research Department. Currently, he is the acting editor-in-chief of ECHO magazine and administrator of the Horizon Europe national portal. For the past ten years, he has worked at the TC Prague as an analyst, monitoring the participation of the Czech Republic and EU countries in the FPs.
Ulrich Genschel graduated in biochemistry from the University of Edinburgh and received a PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1997. He pursued an independent research career in Japan and Germany, leading to a second doctoral degree in plant biochemistry from TU München (Habilitation and appointment as Privatdozent). He joined the European Commission in 2009, where he initially held positions as scientific officer in the Directorate-General for Research & Innovation and the European Research Council. In 2014, he joined the newly created Common Implementation Centre to develop processes, guidance, and trainings for Horizon 2020. Since 2021 he is the head of sector for simplification in Horizon Europe.
Ulrich Genschel graduated in biochemistry from the University of Edinburgh and received a PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1997. He pursued an independent research career in Japan and Germany, leading to a second doctoral degree in plant biochemistry from TU München (Habilitation and appointment as Privatdozent). He joined the European Commission in 2009, where he initially held positions as scientific officer in the Directorate-General for Research & Innovation and the European Research Council. In 2014, he joined the newly created Common Implementation Centre to develop processes, guidance, and trainings for Horizon 2020. Since 2021 he is the head of sector for simplification in Horizon Europe. Táňa Hálová Perglová is currently Section Director at Technology Agency of the Czech Republic - the main funding organisation of applied research in the Czech Republic. She has gained professional experience in research and innovation policy, investments and business development, EU funding and in the implementation of EU structural funds in different positions in the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, CzechInvest, CZELO (Czech Liaison Office for Research and Development in Brussels), Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, CZ PRES in the Council of the EU and in the private sector. She has been actively involved in international cooperation and synergies with Horizon 2020/Horizon Europe. Táňa is the Czech delegate to the EIC/EIE programme committee of Horizon Europe, the high level representative of the Czech Republic to EUREKA and co-chair of ERA Forum sub-group on Access to Excellence - R&I and Cohesion Managing Authorities Network (RIMA). Lenka Bajarová is a Managing Director of AMIRES, a consulting company for European research, development and innovation projects, where she has been working for last 12 years. Before joining AMIRES, Lenka gained her experience in European Union’s Framework Programme for R&D as a National Contact Point for several FP7 priorities. She was working in this position at Technology Centre Prague for 5 years and was also a Deputy Head of the Department National Information Centre for European Research, co-leading team of Czech FP7 NCPs. In AMIRES, Lenka was personally involved as Project and Dissemination Manager in many FP7, Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects. At the same time, she has been overseeing management activities in other projects with AMIRES involvement. Building on this broad experience, she has contributed to the set-up of internal management procedures for EU projects supported by the company and to the transfer of this knowledge and internal standards to new colleagues. Jan Hrušák is senior research fellow (c. 100 scientific papers, 3500 citations) and scientific advisor at the Czech Academy of Sciences. He completed studies in physical chemistry and received PhD (Dr.rer.nat) in 1987 at the Technical University Leuna-Merseburg (Germany), before joining the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. In 1990 he moved to TU Berlin to work with H. Schwarz in theoretical chemistry. In 1995 accepted a position at the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, where, after spending one year as visiting professor at the Institute of Molecular Science at Okazaki (Japan), he is working since. Jan Hrušák served two terms in the executive body of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and he has been appointed for two years as Director general for research at the Ministry of Education, youth, and sport of the Czech Republic (MEYS). He is a longstanding ESFRI member (2020-2022 ESFRI Chair) and the Czech delegate to ERAC. Recently he became appointed as a Vice-Chair of the EOSC Steering Board. This is a further recognition and acknowledgement of his experience in EOSC (European Open Science Cloud). He acts as Special envoy on Research infrastructures at the Ministry of Education, youth, and sport of the Czech Republic. Ladislav Čoček is a senior project manager working for the Grant Office at MUNI Headquarters. Since 2019, he is responsible for central support of ERC candidates at the Masaryk University. He worked as a pre- and post-award manager on EU funded projects (FP7, H2020, Horizon Europe, European Structural and Investment Funds – ESIF) for a regional development agency, private consultancy, and since 2013 MUNI. In 2016-2019 he was the Head of the Grant Office at CEITEC Masaryk University. Ladislav has been involved in several international knowledge sharing platforms in the area of research management, e.g. the Grants and Funding Strategies Working Group of EU-LIFE, Grants and Research Funding Focus Group of Alliance4Life. He is leading the Projects Working Group of CZARMA and is the ambassador of CZARMA to the European RM Roadmap initiative.