Dear colleagues, dear students,

with the end of the year approaching, it is time to balance and evaluate, but also plan the future. Year 2018 was not an easy one for the Faculty. There were issues such as institutional accreditation, GDPR, heated discussions on the new University institute or twofold administrative change of salary slips, which entered life at the Faculty. I have been meeting with you all at meetings, while solving work tasks, and at events such as graduation ceremonies, fairs, competitions, Night of Scientists or Open house. I feel that we have managed to start discussions at the Faculty also within study fields and I truly believe that in the end all the challenges will make the Faculty even stronger. I would like to thank you for your diligent work for the Faculty of Science and its representation. To students, I would like to thank for their contribution to academic life at the Faculty not only through fulfilling student obligations, but also other activities which co-create the atmosphere at the Faculty, e.g. Cherish your Nature projects.

I wish you all health, tranquility and inspiration, and many accomplishments at work, in study as well as personal life.

Martin Kubala, the Dean

Grant calls GACR
At the end of November the results of grant competition of GACR were released. Palacký University as the recipient (investigator is UP employee) has succeeded with a total of 36 projects, 18 of which will be administrated at our Faculty. The projects are divided into categories as follows: standard - CMTF 3x, FTK 2x, FF 6x, LF 2x, PrF 14x, PF 3x; junior - FTK 1x, LF 1x, PrF 3x; international - PrF 1x.

I would like to thank all colleagues who have aspired to receive grant support from the project, and I wish successful investigation to those who have succeeded.

Karel Lemr

There are other projects where UP employees will act as co-investigators, however the statistics is not yet available.

Notice for administrators and co-administrators of GAČR projects
Based on the results of project review, we would like to draw the attention of administrators and co-administrators to the fact that training for project staff, even if it is expert training, does not fall under eligible costs. Conference expenses are an eligible cost only for active participation in the conference and only on actual dates of the conference.

Partial and Final Reports of the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic
In Grant Submission and Administration Application (GRIS), the forms for submission of partial and final reports have been available since December 5, 2018.The partial and final reports filled in via GRIS web application shall be submitted electronically to Ivana Saitzová at the Research and Development Department , email: ivana.saitzova@upol.cz in the following dates:

· partial reports: by January 11

· final reports: by January 26

It is essential to keep then name of the document which has been generated during conversion into pdf. Detailed information on submission may be found on GACR website.

Final state examinations and defense of Bachelor and Master final thesesWe ask students who want to take the Final state exam or defend Bachelor/Master final theses in January /February 2019 to arrive at the study department at least three weeks before the date of the exam/defense to close their studies and at the same time to register through STAG for a specific date.

Study Department operation in December
The Study Department will be closed from December 21, 2018 to January 2, 2019.

The upcoming session of the Faculty Senate will take place on Thursday, December 13 at 1:00 pm in the Large Meeting Room at the Dean´s Office (6.014). The program will include, in particular, amendments to the Constitution of PrF UP and discussions on the process of approval of study programs at UP.

Scholarships
The Foreign Cooperation House offers additional offers of scholarships based on international treaties. December is the deadline for submitting applications for a number of countries. You can find information about each scholarship under the name of the country.

14. 12. 2018 is the deadline for submitting applications to the following countries: Albania, Bulgaria, Egypt, Georgia, Latvia, Macedonia, Mongolia, Romania, Ukraine

17. 12. 2018 is the deadline for submitting applications for tenders to China

China offers 90 months of study stay for students of Bachelor, Master, and Doctoral study programs, preferably for students of non-sinological disciplines.

General information on the scholarship offer based on international contracts is available on the Academic Information Agency's website under International Contracts - University Scholarships. For detailed information, please visit https://www.dzs.cz/en/.

Power outageOn December 17, 2018, the main building of the Faculty of Science will be closed all day. It is due to work in the low-voltage switchgear where it is necessary to switch off the power supply for the entire building. Heads of departments should decide where work is carried out on this day.

Operation of the Registry before the end of the year
On December 17, the Registry in the main Faculty building as well as in Holice will be closed.

On December 19, the Registry in the main Faculty building will be opened from 7:00 to 11:30 and from 10:00 to 11:30 in Holice.

The mail will only be collected until 11:00 am.

On 21 December, the Registry in the main Faculty building will be opened from 7:00 to 9:30 and in Holice from 10:00 to 11:00.

Mailboxes with regular and registered mail will last be collected at 10:45 in Holice and at 11:45 in the main building. Mail delivered after this date will not be sent until January 2.

Operation of the Economic department
Tax return documents and final invoices for pro-forma invoices, please deliver to the Economic department by Friday, December 14.

Originals of tax documents / invoices, receipts, travel orders, payments to the account, etc. should be delivered on a continuous basis, however by Friday, December 12, the latest. After that date, proper accounting in 2018 cannot be guaranteed.

You will also need to process all allowances for your travel orders in 2018. By Wednesday, December 12, please return your cash deposit to the cash Register.

Operation of the HR and Payroll Department before the end of the year

By Wednesday, December 12, 12:00, the following documents must be submitted to the HR and Payroll Department:

To the HR Department ( Veronika Caletková, Veronika Vašková), please turn in:

• proposals for changing job and wage classification
• applications for renewal of employment contracts ending this year
• new Agreements to perform a job (DPP), Agreements on working activity (DPČ)

To the Payroll Department (Libuše Pěčková, Ivona Kristková), please turn in:

• holiday requests, incapacity to work, family allowance support
• proposals for the payment of extraordinary rewards
• suggestions for one-off adjustments of personal evaluations
• Requirements for meal vouchers and Unichecks +
• timesheets for payment for DPP and DPČ payments for December 2018

We ask you for increased attention while entering data as no further inspection will be made.

In the case of an employee sickness or taking care of a family member after December 12, report the changes to the wage account as soon as possible, but no later than January 2 to 12:00. Print the attendance after the final check and closing of the attendance at payroll department, i.e. on Wednesday, January 2.

Applications for calculation of wage costs in projects should be sent to both payroll accountants via e-mail. The requirements will be processed and returned back for the eventual revision by December 18. Additional salary adjustments for projects will be possible until December 19 until 12:00.

HR and Payroll Department will be open to employees until December 21, after the New Year from January 2. If you do not need a personal consultation, and only want to submit the documents, we would greatly appreciate if you used the internal mail - mailbox 6 on the ground floor in the corridor behind the reception desk.

Tax returns will be signed by employees from January 10 according to the schedule that employees will receive by e-mail in Czech and English versions. The financial administration uses tax returns in the Czech language, for foreign employees there will be English a translation available for basic orientation only. Since it is not possible for HR and Payroll Department o arrange a personal consultation to sign a tax return in English, we will very much welcome if a foreign employee is accompanied by a Czech colleague from his workplace to arrange interpretation.

Operation of the Faculty before the end of the year
Buildings in Envelopa and Holice campuses will be closed from December 22 to January 1. The main Faculty building will be open from 7am to 2pm from 27th to 28th December only for employees. Surveillance of the facilities will be performed by an external service. Please communicate all possible faults and malfunctions to its employees, who will then provide information to the building management emergency service.

Outage of telephone lines in Holice campus
Related to the preparation of moving the switchboard from building 47 (main building) to a temporary location in building 54 (building management - old reception desk), phone lines will be out in the following dates:

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Building H (CRH) and Building 51 (CENBIOL) - from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm.

Thursday, November 29, 2018

Building F2 (CRH) - from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm.

CRI building (outgoing and incoming outside calls) from 7:00 am to 2:00 pm.

IEB building (outgoing and incoming outside calls) from 7:00 am to 2:00 pm.

The deadline for buildings 47 and 53 will be announced. Please note that when calling relayed telephone lines, the caller will hear a normal ringtone.

Winter PosPos
We invite all staff, Ph.D. students and Seniors of the Faculty to the Post-semestral gathering with Christmas punch, music and pre-Christmas goodies. With will say goodbye to the winter semester on Wednesday, December 19, from 12:00 pm in the main Faculty building.

Christmas workshops
Holiday time is upon us and we are glad to offer you our weekend Christmas workshops! You can make a lot of original gifts, such as a sparkling bath bomb or a figurine of Emperor Franz Joseph. You can also have a coffee and Sacher cake in the improvised café on the ground floor of the Stronghold of knowledge. More information can be found here.

Close meetings of Third Age
Stronghold of Knowledge has launched registration for the 1st Annual Meeting of the Third Age. We recommend it to all active seniors, it can be a great tip for a Christmas present. It is possible to purchase a voucher.

GIDEON
Till the end of December, access to the GIDEON (Global Infectious Diseases & Epidemiology Online Network) database is open. It is a complete and accurate database that covers all infectious diseases from all over the world, updated daily, providing information on the latest focal points, and is an ideal aid for diagnosis and identification. It consists of two online modules - Infectious Diseases and Microbiology. You can access the individual registration at https://goo.gl/6FXhZp.

After logging in, click on the GIDEON link in the top blue bar. Training materials and tutorials can be found at: https://www.gideononline.com/product-resources/?app.

As of December 1, the following regulation became effective:

PrF-B-18/11 -Wage rates of academic and scientific workers of PrF UP