David Kubička was invited to celebrate 50 years of history of Instituto de Catálisis y Petroleoquímica. He participated on the round table on the Institute's international role. This was an honor to be part of this event.

I had a memorable experience in the beautiful country of Finland. I underwent a three months long internship at the Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry and Reaction Engineering, Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland under the supervision of Professor Dmitry Murzin. 

The internship gave me an opportunity to learn about kinetic modelling which is an important area of study in the field of catalysis. The one-on-one sessions with Prof. Murzin was something I will cherish. He taught me about elementary reaction steps, Steady-state approximations, Langmuir-Hinshelwood model, catalyst deactivation kinetics, internal and external mass transfer limitations, to name a few. I also got an exposure to writing MATLAB codes for estimating kinetic parameters. Apart from working in the field, I got ample opportunities to interact with experts from various fields related to chemical engineering and natural materials engineering .

Turku is a beautiful town nestled among dense Finnish forests and lakes, with long historical significance. My favorite Spots of Turku was the river-side walk of the Auro river, and the forest area around  Littoistenjärvi  beach. The historic centers of Kauppatori and Turku Cathedral were places where used to visit often during my stay. I will miss ‘Finnish Salmon soup’ with rye bread, among many other things.

I would love to continue learning and working with ÅAU and keep applying the things I learned during these three months. At the end I am thankful to UCT Prague Foreign Office for helping me to obtain the Erasmus funding.

My heart felt thanks to both  ÅAU Turku and UCT Prague for this amazing experience. KIITOS!!

Hello, my name is Coralie ZATTARA. I am 21 years old and a student from France. I came to UCT Prague for a two-month internship in the laboratory located in Kralupy nad Vltavou.

During my time here, I worked on the design and testing of a catalyst. This experience allowed me to enhance my technical laboratory skills and learn new experimental techniques. I also had the opportunity to explore the city of Prague and enjoy the Czech summer weather.

I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with everyone on the team. I appreciate their patience, kindness, and the opportunity to be part of their team. Thank you all for this enriching experience.

Hello my name is Guillaume SANJEU. I am a chemical engineering student at ESCOM in France. I did a 2 month internship at the Technopark in Kralupy nad Vltavou. This was a really good opportunity for me to learn more about chemical research while working in a team and learning all the different steps in research. I had the opportunity to apply the techniques I learned during my studies and to learn new ones.

It was both a valuable professional and personal experience, as I also had time to explore the city of Prague and discover Czech culture.

I’m grateful to the team for their warm and kind welcome.

We are delighted to announce that three of our Master’s students have successfully defended their theses and completed their studies. Each of them made significant contributions to the field of catalysis and materials science through their research projects.

• Keren focused on Cu-based catalysts, exploring how their structural properties affect the conversion of oxygenates - HMF and dimethyl adipate.
• Racheal, in collaboration with the University of Porto, investigated the use of biochar derived from shrimp shells as a sustainable support material for catalyst development.
• Peng conducted an in-depth study on CeO₂-based supports and their application in furfural hydrogenation.

We congratulate them on this important academic milestone and wish them every success in their future endeavors. Be the way, Keren and Racheal continue with us as PhD candidates.

At the International Symposium on Green Chemistry (ISGC) 2025, held in La Rochelle from May 12–16, several colleagues showcased their work. David Kubička delivered a keynote lecture on valorization of lignin-derived phenolics, underscoring his contributions to sustainable catalysis and green chemical processes. Additionally, Oleg Kikhtyanin delivered an oral lecture and Evgeniya Grechman presented a poster, both contributing to a discussion on green catalyst design and the hydrogenation of furanics.