From 27 – 29 May 2025, the Physics for Future (P4F) programme held its first Colloquium at the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (FZU), hosted at the modern SOLID21 building in Prague. The event brought together fellows, researchers, and institutional partners for three dynamic days of scientific exchange, career insights, and collaboration opportunities.
The Colloquium opened on Tuesday with a welcome from the Director of FZU, who emphasised the value of the fellows’ research contributions and expressed support for their ongoing work. The programme continued with a series of presentations by fellows from the Divisions of Solid State Physics and Condensed Matter Physics, who shared their research topics and recent results.
Wednesday’s agenda featured insightful presentations from fellows in the Division of Elementary Particle Physics. The afternoon was dedicated to academic careers and research funding, beginning with personal career reflections from three established researchers—Lukáš Palatinus (FZU), Karel Tesař (FZU and FNSPE CTU), and Ondřej Pejcha (FMP CU). In a lively panel discussion moderated by Ilona Skordis Gottwaldová, they shared valuable advice and responded to questions from the audience.
Following a coffee break, Ondřej Hradil (Masaryk University, Brno) and Lenka Chvojková (Technology Centre Prague) introduced a range of national and European funding schemes, including opportunities under Horizon Europe. Their session was highly appreciated for its practical insights into securing research support.
The Thursday programme was concluded with a hands-on writing workshop led by Ilona Skordis Gottwaldová. Combining theory with interactive exercises, the workshop provided useful tools for improving research grant applications.
The final day began with fellows´ presentations from the Divisions of Optics, HiLASE, and ELI Beamlines. In the afternoon, attention turned to our institutional and industry partners. Representatives from FNSPE CTU (Václav Čuba and Petra Trnková), the University of Pavia (Pietro Galinetto), HVM Plasma (Jiří Vyskočil), Škoda Auto (Jana Polášek Filová), and CRYTUR (Jan Kubát) introduced their organisations and spoke about their cooperation with FZU. A panel discussion moderated by Martin Nikl explored the differences between academic and industry mindsets, sparking an engaging dialogue with the audience on how to navigate and bridge these two worlds.
