13. 03. 2025
President Petr Pavel appointed Radomír Pánek as the new President of the Academy of Sciences today, March 13, 2025, at Prague Castle. His four-year term will begin on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. He will succeed biochemist Eva Zažímalová as the head of our most important scientific institution. Physicist Radomír Pánek was elected as a candidate for President by the Academic Assembly on December 10, 2024.
"I would like to congratulate you on your appointment as President of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic," said President Petr Pavel to Radomír Pánek. According to him, science and research are a high priority. "If we do not support them, we will not be able to keep up with the dynamically developing world. And we see that it is developing very quickly not only in the field of natural sciences, but also in the humanities."
The President of the Republic further stated that the Academy of Sciences, an organization covering 54 research institutes across the entire spectrum of scientific fields, has an irreplaceable role in this regard. Not only in improving the quality of domestic research, but also in coordinating with foreign countries. "A period awaits you that will be full of activity, full of work, and I wish you a lot of strength and success in this," he added.
The Academic Assembly elected Radomír Pánek on December 10, 2024, in the first round of secret ballot (he received 128 out of 242 votes). Jiří Plešek from the Institute of Thermomechanics, David Honys from the Institute of Experimental Botany, and Libor Grubhoffer from the Biological Center also applied for the position of President of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Pavel Baran from the Institute of Philosophy withdrew his candidacy before the vote. The Academic Assembly consists of directors of 54 departments of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, representatives of the scientific community, universities, state authorities, and industry and trade.
“It would be appropriate for me to talk about my experience and the qualities that I would apply in the position of chairman. But above all, I want to say that since I decided to run, I have spoken to many of you and have taken away one important impression – we are all united by an interest in a strong and self-confident Academy of Sciences,” Radomír Pánek said in his candidacy speech in December. “I thank you for your support and trust, and I promise that in the next four years I will do everything to move the Academy of Sciences a real step forward,” he added after the results were announced.
Radomír Pánek will lead the institution in 2025–2029. Until recently, he was the head of the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (he was replaced in the position by Tomáš Chráska on February 1 ). He is an expert in the field of thermonuclear plasma physics and advanced technologies for fusion reactors (tokamaks). In the past, he managed the installation of the COMPASS tokamak. Since January 2024, he has been the chairman of the general assembly of the European consortium EUROfusion, which coordinates thermonuclear fusion research in Europe, and is a member of the scientific and technical committee of the European Commission EURATOM.
From 2020 to 2024, he was Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the European Agency for Fusion for Energy in Barcelona. Until 2023, he held the position of European Union representative on the Scientific and Technical Advisory Board of the ITER project, the largest international research project in the world.
