Michal Otyepka substitutes for Radek Zbořil
From July 1, onwards, Michal Otyepka will substitute for Radek Zbořil, managing RCPTM. Radek Zbořil is taking sabbatical with the aim to devote more time to the ongoing grants and preparing applications for new ones.
“Neither have I resigned from the post of RCPTM General Director nor have I been dismissed, as speculated in media. I currently feel urgent need to devote more time to the ongoing grants along with stabilizing the research team and scientific performance, ensuring our competitiveness in the area of international grants. These are the principal reasons why I have decided to take sabbatical and invest all the effort into coordinating the scientific work of the nanoresearch groups. Prof. Michal Otyepka will substitute for me during the period of my sabbatical,” said Zbořil, who now wants to focus on preparing applications for major grants within the programme Horizon 2020.
The above-mentioned change in the management has not been made in parallel with the resolution of the Ethical Review Board, which investigated data manipulation in a 12-year-old publication in JACS. “I strictly deny the outcomes drawn by the Board. Expert reviews made it clear who manipulated the data in JACS. Further, there were a number of procedural errors as the Ethical Review Board violated its own regulations. Therefore, I asked the Rector of Palacký University to re-investigate the resolution in coordination with the Legal Department. Should I need to take further steps, they will be in compliance with the Czech legislation,” added Zbořil. RCPTM’s employees https://www.rcptm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Prohla%CC%81s%CC%8Ceni%CC%81_final-1.pdf as well as world-renowned researchers have expressed Radek Zbořil their support. All the statements are available on https://www.rcptm.com/cs/press-releases/.
RCPTM’S management is ready to stabilize the situation at the centre and ensure further development. Currently, RCPTM participates in the overall citation response of Palacký University by 35–38%. RCPTM produces about one fifth of all university’s publications. These factors along with a high level of internationalization played a major role in UP ranking very well in the QS World University Ranking.