The event called XV International Palynological Congress & XI International Organization of Palaeobotany Conference in Prague, the organization of which was significantly contributed by the Institute of Geology represented by Jiří Bek (Chairman), Jana Votočková Frojdová (Secretary General) and Marcela Svobodová (in the position of the Organizing Committee member), was nominated for an award in the category “Congress of the year 2024 below 500 participants”. The awards were granted at the 14th annual “Ambassador Awards Evening“ – a ceremony held by the Prague Convention Bureau under the auspices of the Capital of Prague and the City Mayor in appreciation of those who have significantly contributed to the development of congress industry in Prague. Although our team missed the award, the nomination still poses a great success arising from extensive work for the scientific community.

In October 2024, the second event promoting microscopic techniques was held under the guidance of Eva Pecková of the Institute of Geology. The project was coordinated with the Dolákova Basic School in Prague 8. Various biological and mineral samples were presented at this school using their equipment, and complemented with a display of images taken by the Institute of Geology staff within their research. The second part of the event took place at the Institute facility in November, where selected senior students got acquainted with the operation of the Tescan Vega 3XMU electron microscope. They were also presented with the Mohs scale of mineral hardness (Z. Korbelová) and real-time crystallization (J. Rohovec). The project was supported by the Czechoslovak Microscopy Society and the Tescan Company.

Fossils from the chalk cliffs of Stevns Klint in Denmark were described by an international team from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Slovenia and Germany. The cliffs, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are famous for the presence of the youngest Cretaceous and oldest Paleocene strata including the boundary between these two stratigraphic units. Martina Kočová Veselská of the Institute of Geology AS CR and Tomáš Kočí of the Slovenian Institute for Palaeobiology and Evolution presented the project results at the international conference at Maastricht, the Netherlands, which was held to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the erection of the Maastrichtian stage (the youngest stage of the Cretaceous). The study of the Stevns Klint fossils, which document thriving marine life at the end of the Cretaceous, falls within the research project run by the Geomuseum Faxe and the Strategy AV21 project. The event and the results of the current research attracted the attention of the Danish newspaper Sjællandske Nyheder. Link here

Ema Danielová and Zuzana Hájková received an award for the best student presentation during their scientific internship in the Open Science project of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Under the supervision of Filip Tomek of the Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, they studied mythical significance of volcanoes and their reflection in historical myths and legends. Their research highlighted the everlasting fascination of humans by natural phenomena and their cultural interpretations that have lasted for centuries. Their presentation at the student conference within the Week of the Czech Academy of Sciences was recognized as the best in the field of solid Earth sciences. Congratulations to Ema and Zuzka on their outstanding achievement!