Academic bulletin headed by Editor-in-chief Marina Hužvárová (the Czech EUSJA representative) organized the EUSJA General Assembly, which was held in Prague on March 13–17, 2013. A group of journalists from 22 European countries visited the headquarters of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and also the Lysolaje Campus for one-day Study Trip. During the first day they were shown around the Academy of Sciences Library and were given a lecture of popularization activities in the Centre of Administration and Operations of ASCR. The tour was closed with an evening concert in the beautiful setting of the Czech Museum of Music. The next day journalists led by the President of the EUSJA Barbara Drillsma (Great Britain) were welcomed at the Institute of Geology (IG) by the President of the ASCR Jiří Drahoš and the IG director Pavel Bosák. After the opening session they visited the institute and also the Laboratory of Optical Fibers of the Institute of Photonics and Electronics. During the afternoon, the group continued to explore the Institute of Experimental Botany (IEB) and Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals (ICPF), where two guided tours were arranged. After the overview of the institute’s research activities by the director of ICPF Miroslav Punčochář, they visited laboratories of basic and applied research. The very first outcome of the Study Trip at Lysolaje Campus came from the Swedish journalist Kaianders Sempler who published an article in the NyTeknik, being inspired by the speech of Milan Hájek of the ICPF on the use of microwave technology to dry books damaged by devastating floods in 2002 in Prague.
European Union of Science Journalists’ Association was founded in 1971 in Belgium by seven national associations of science journalists. Nowadays it represents around 2000 journalists from 24 countries. The main goals of EUSJA are barrier-breaking by aiming to improve communication between the international scientific community and society and to promote contacts between journalists in the field of scientific and technical communication.
Photos: Stanislava Kyselová and Luděk Svoboda, Academic bulletin
