International Council at the University of Ostrava

In February 2019 the Rector of the University of Ostrava established International Council. The Council is the Rector's advisory body whose establishment and essential agenda is grounded in the Long-term Strategic Plan of the UO 2016–2020, (sub-objective 4/4.4.9.).

International Council provides the Management of the University, Faculties and University Institutes with recommendations in all relevant areas: in research and artistic activities, teaching and learning, development and innovations, social engagement, and particularly in internationalisation, including the internationalisation of the curriculum.

The members of the Council are internationally respected academics and researchers with broad international experience, and integrity; they represent a variety of research areas and fields of education as well as a variety of global regions.

International Council meets once a year, the first meeting was held on June 5, 2019. International Council meetings are attended by the management of the University, Faculties, the Institute, and other University employees as relevant, and are always framed by a unifying topic responding to current challenges and reflecting the long-term needs of the University. The key topics discussed have included reflections on the design, implementation and results of the UO strategic plan, experiences with knowledge and technology transfer and collaborations with industries, best practices for supporting interdisciplinary research and building interdisciplinary teams, emergency online teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic and the quality of standard online teaching as well as the trends in higher education in the times of crises and changes in the society.

Current International Council members

Prof. Katalin Szende, PhD

Prof. Katalin Szende, PhD. is Professor of Medieval Studies and the Head of the Department of Medieval Studies at the Central European University, Budapest. Her research concentrates on medieval towns in the Carpathian Basin and Central Europe, with particular regard to society, demography, literacy, everyday life, and topography. She is the author of Trust, Authority and the Written Word in the Royal Towns of Medieval Hungary (2018), board member of the International Commission for the History of Towns and founding member and acting president of the Medieval Central Europe Research Network (MECERN).

Prof. Marlen Vavříková, D. M. A.

Marlen Vavříková graduated from the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava in 1996, and went on to earn a Master of Music degree in Oboe Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Besides receiving a stipend from the Czech Musical Fund and travel grants from the Ostrava City Council and the Civic Foundation, Marlen won the Presser Musical Award, the Kate Neal Kinley Musical Fellowship, and the Fellowship for the Creative and Performing Arts at the University of Illinois. Her scholarly work is represented by an interview with Miroslav Hošek (International Double Reed Society Journal, Fall 2003) and an annotated survey of contemporary Moravian oboe works written since 1969. Currently, Marlen teaches oboe at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, where she has appeared as a soloist with the GVSU Chamber Orchestra and the Symphonic Wind Ensemble.

Prof. Gyözö Garab, PhD, DSc

Győző Garab, PhD, DSc is a professor emeritus, a former head of laboratory at the Biological Research Center, Szeged. As an expert in biophysics he also worked in foreign laboratories, including the CEA Saclay and the Brookhaven National Laboratory. In the field of photosynthesis he (co-)authored two monographs and more than 250 research papers, led national and EU projects, organized international congresses, workshops and advanced schools. Prof. Garab has served in a variety of boards, including the ISPR, ESF, and in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Szeged.

Prof. Joseph Hamill, PhD

Prof. Joseph Hamill, PhD. is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and the Neuroscience and Behavior Programme at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has authored over 130 research papers, over 180 research proceedings and abstracts, several book chapters, and three books. He has mentored 21 PhD students. His current projects include studies on the interaction of biomechanical and biochemical factors in ligamentous injuries. Prof. Hamill is a member of numerous expert boards and professional societies as e.g. the Footware Biomechanics Group, the National Academy of Kinesiology, and the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports. Prof. Hamill is a visiting professor of the Dpt. of Human Movement Studies, Faculty of Education, University of Ostrava.

Prof. J. S. Perry Hobson, PhD

Prof. J. S. Perry Hobson, PhD is the Director of the Academy of Tourism at Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas) in The Netherlands. Over the years he has also lived and worked in the UK, USA, Hong Kong, Australia and more recently in Malaysia – where he was the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Global Engagement at both Taylor's University and Sunway University. Prof. Hobson has an extensive academic background in hospitality and tourism, and holds a BSc (Hons) from Oxford Brookes University (UK), a MS from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (USA), and a PhD from Southern Cross University (Australia). He is now the Emeritus Editor of the Q1 Journal of Vacation Marketing, having been its Editor-in Chief since 1999. He has been made a Fellow of the International Centre of Excellence in Tourism & Hospitality Education (THE-ICE), the Council of Australasian Universities for Tourism & Hospitality Education (CAUTHE), and of the UK-based Council for Hospitality Management Education (CHME).

Prof Dr Frank Klawonn

Frank Klawonn is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Ostfalia University in Wolfenbüttel and Head of the Biostatistics Research Group at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig, Germany. He received his M.Sc., Ph.D. degree in mathematics and his habilitation in computer science from the University of Braunschweig in 1988, 1992 and 1996, respectively. His main research interests are robust and computational statistics and machine learning with a major focus on applications in medicine. Apart from more than 150 publications in peer-reviewed journals and numerous conference and book contributions, he co-authored books on Fuzzy Systems, Fuzzy Cluster Analysis, Neuro-Fuzzy Systems, Fuzzy Control and Computational Intelligence. He is a member of the editorial boards of the journals Science Translational Medicine, Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Medicine, Fuzzy Sets and Systems, Intelligent Data Analysis and Int. J. of Uncertainty, Fuzziness and Knowledge-Based Systems. He received the Outstanding Paper Award of the journal IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems in 1999, the Best Paper Award at the Fourth International Conference on Advanced Data Mining and Applications (ADMA 2008) and the Best Research Paper Award at the 20th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information & Engineering Systems (KES 2016).

Prof. Walter A. Lorenz, PhD, MA

Prof. Walter A. Lorenz, PhD, MA, CQSW is a Full Professor of Sociology of cultural and communicative processes at the Faculty of Education, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy. Prof. Lorenz studied philosophy and theology at the University of Tübingen in Germany, social administration and social work at London School of Economics, and defended his PhD dissertation at the Technical University of Dresden, Germany. His academic career has been affiliated with University College Cork in Ireland and Free University of Bozen-Bolzano where prof. Lorenz also held the post of the Rector (2008 – 2016). Prof. Lorenz's principal research interests include comparative history of social work and the development of social policy in Europe, anti-racist and intercultural methods in European social work, ‘citizenship' as intercultural practice, or quality criteria in social services. He is the co-editor and co-founder of European Journal of Social Work and co-editor of the scientific series Contemporary Social Work Studies (Ashgate, UK).

Prof. Dr. Péter Bagoly-Simó

Prof. dr. Péter Bagoly-Simó studied geography, German language and literature, and biology at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca in Romania, received his doctoral degree at Eberhard-Karls University in Tübingen, and defended his habilitation in Geography Education at Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. Péter Bagoly-Simó is now Full Professor and Chair of Geography Education at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and has been since 2015 cooperating with researchers from the Faculty of Education of the University of Ostrava as a member of the Centre for Educational Research of this Faculty. Prof. Bagoly-Simó's research projects focus on geography education in European as well as non-European countries, including reflections of aspects of sustainable development in geography curricula and textbooks. He is a Board Member of IARTEM, International Association for Research on Textbooks and Educational Media, and the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Geography Education.

Prof. Jos Beelen, PhD

Jos Beelen is Professor of Global Learning at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, where he leads a research group that explores the global professional and personal skills that all students learn through their home curricula. He holds a bachelor's degree in History and a master's degree in Classical Archaeology from the University of Amsterdam and a PhD in Education from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. His research interests include internationalisation at home and the skills of academics to internationalise teaching and learning. In 2018 he received the President's Award of the European Association for International Education (EAIE). For that association, he is also a member of the Thematic Committee for research on internationalisation. Jos is Visiting Professor at Coventry University and at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, and a Research Fellow at the University of the Free State in South Africa.

Former members of International Council

Prof. Kerstin Tham, PhD

member of the International Council 2019–2024

Prof. Kerstin Tham, Ph.D. was the Vice-chancellor of Malmö University since 2015 and also had responsibility for research questions. Prof. Tham's specialization is occupational therapy with a research focus on aspects of rehabilitation after stroke. Formerly she held the post of a deputy-vice-chancellor of Karolinska Institutet, a medical university in Stockholm. In this role, professor Tham was responsible for collaboration with the Karolinska university hospital and health care system in Stockholm, but also to strengthening the quality and research base in higher education. Parallel to her leadership positions she has been active as a researcher and teacher and has supervised 17 PhD students in the field of neurological rehabilitation. As the Head of Malmö University she focused on global engagement/internationalization, University strategic and quality development, interdisciplinary research and education for social/cultural sustainability and change, and on collaboration with different stakeholders and social innovation.

Prof. Dr. hab. Andrzej Białko

member of the International Council 2019–2023

Prof. dr. hab. Andrzej Białko was born in Kraków in 1959. He studied piano at the Musical Secondary School. In 1973, he began learning to play the organ, first privately and then at the Academy of Music in Kraków under the supervision of Prof. Joachim Grubich. In 1981 he received the first prize in the International Organ Competition in Rome. In 1985, he was awarded first prize in the National Organ Competition in Bydgoszcz-Gdańsk. He has taken part in most Polish organ festivals and performed in Austria, Bulgaria, The Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Slovakia, Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom, as well as in Lebanon and both Americas. He has been active as a teacher - the professor of the Organ Department at the Academy of Music in Kraków and the Władysław Żeleński State School of Music in Kraków. He collaborates with numerous music ensembles including Polish Radio Choir in Kraków and the Kraków Philharmonic.

Prof. Dr. Rudolf Kruse

member of the International Council 2019–2023

Prof. Dr. Rudolf Kruse is Professor at the Faculty of Computer Science at the University of Magdeburg in Germany. He obtained his Ph.D. and his Habilitation in Mathematics at the Technical University of Braunschweig in 1980 and 1984 respectively. Following a stay at the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, he joined the Technical University of Braunschweig as a professor of computer science in 1986. Since 1996 he has been a professor in the Computational Intelligence Group in Magdeburg. He has coauthored 15 monographs and 25 books as well as more than 350 peer-refereed scientific publications in various areas with 16000 citations. He is an associate editor of several scientific journals. Rudolf Kruse is a Fellow of the International Fuzzy Systems Association (IFSA), Fellow of the European Association for Artificial Intelligence (EURAI/ECCAI), and Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). His team is successful in various industrial applications in cooperation with companies such as Volkswagen, SAP, Daimler, and British Telecom. His current main research interests include data science and intelligent systems.

Updated: 12. 07. 2024