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In the Czech Republic, there is lack of systematic research on ethical problems related to climate change and the so-called emerging technologies. The situation is about to change thanks to the newly forming international research Center of Environmental and Technology Ethics – Prague (CETE-P) at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Thanks to a prestigious European grant awarded to the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Mark Coeckelbergh from the University of Vienna will participate in its establishment and development.

The new research institute will offer, for example, expert advice to the Czech state administration and help with the development of the necessary public policies in the abovementioned areas. Its aim will also be to contribute to an informed public debate and draw citizens more into it.

“A special Department of Applied Philosophy and Ethics started working at the Institute of Philosophy this year. We responded to the need to tackle the ethical problems of current public interest,” says Ondřej Ševeček, director of the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The establishment of a Center for Environmental and Technology Ethics – Prague brings these efforts to an international standard. It offers a unique opportunity, especially for the region of Central and Eastern Europe, where institutions of a similar nature are still only about to be formed. “For us, this means strengthening the position of our Institute as a national leader and respected international partner. At the same time, we promise to attract top foreign researchers,” adds Ševeček.

Establishment of the centre will help develop long-term cooperation with other, similarly oriented institutions abroad as well as between the universities and research institutes of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

Artificial intelligence versus personal data

“The new research centre will be launched in January 2023 and its team will be assembled under the leadership of one of the most respected experts in the field of philosophy of technology, Mark Coeckelbergh,” explains the project coordinator, philosopher Petr Urban. “Communication technologies, biotechnology, or artificial intelligence have fundamentally transformed our world and the consequences of this development are irreversible. We see, for example, how artificial intelligence enables the collection of vast amounts of data about each of us, which can be used to promote various economic and political interests at the expense of our rights and freedoms. How should we distinguish between ethically acceptable and unacceptable ways of using new technologies? And how should we correctly set the rules that are supposed to regulate the development and use of artificial intelligence in our society? This is an example of topics which research by the newly emerging international team at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences will try to address,” adds Petr Urban.

The Center for Environmental and Technology Ethics – Prague (CETE-P) is being established thanks to the success of the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences in the ERA Chairs grant call, which is part of the prestigious European Horizon Europe programme focused on funding research and innovation. In the European competition of 88 projects, the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences received support as one of four Czech institutions together with the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Masaryk University in Brno, and Palacký University in Olomouc. The Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences contributed to preparation of the successful project.

Press release in pdf

A team of historians and scientists led by Sean Coughlin from the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences in Prague are working to rediscover the art and science of perfume-making of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. The project, called Alchemies of Scent, was launched in 2021, and one of its aims is to recreate five different perfumes used in the ancient Mediterranean world. Listen to the Radio Prague International 

Discussion of Melvyn Bragg and guests: Vladimir Urbanek (Department of Comenius Studies and Early Modern Intellectual History, Institute of Philosophy, CAS), Howard Hotson (University of Oxford) and Suzanna Ivanic (University of Kent) on BBC Radio 4.

The Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences condemns the acts of aggression of the Russian Federation against the territorial integrity of Ukraine and supports the declaration of the Czech Academy of Sciences on this matter. At the same time, the Institute will look for ways to increase its support for university students and academics from Ukraine. The official Declaration of the Czech Academy of Sciences HERE

The Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic is a fresh holder of the European certificate HR Excellence in Research Award. For our institution, this represents a recognition that our working environment meets European standards for work in scientific environment.

This certificate will support our efforts to further expand research activities. It provides a guarantee of creating a working environment that supports excellent science and transparency, it increases the attractiveness of our institute when addressing international scholars, helps raise the profile of the institute both within the domestic and international scene, and it is taken into account during grant application procedures.

The HR Award will also aid further strategic development of the institute in areas such as human resource management, international collaboration, open access to scientific information, popularisation, and gender equality.

For further information on the HR Award, see https://www.flu.cas.cz/cz/o-nas/hr-excellence

Activities linked to implementation of HR Award certification have been undertaken since 2020 as part of project ‘Development of environment for professional growth of employees of the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences’, which is co-financed from EU funds.

Joint doctoral programme of the Institute of Philosophy, of the CAS and the Faculty of Theology, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, enables PhD students to participate in projects of both these institutions, to choose a supervisor from any of them and to do part of their studies at their alma mater and part at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Application deadline is 30 April 2021. For further information about the programme click HERE. Leaflet in pdf.

Filip Vostal from the Centre for Science, Technology and Sociology Studies of the Institute of Philosophy, CAS was elected a member of the EASST Council, representing academics and researchers from the fields of science, technology and innovation studies. The Association brings together a variety of both natural science/engineering and social sciences disciplines and its objective is to foster within Europe the scholarly study of science and technology including their historical development and their role in society. 

Joint doctoral programme of the Institute of Philosophy, of the CAS and the Faculty of Arts, University of West Bohemia (Pilsen), enables PhD students to participate in projects of both these institutions, to choose a supervisor from any of them and to do part of their studies at their alma mater and part at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Application deadline is 31 May 2021. For further information about the programme click HERE.