The Faculty of Science opens a new doctoral program, the first of its kind in the Czech Republic

“Medical and pharmaceutical faculties teach toxicology in their doctoral program largely as a complement to pharmacology, because it is very difficult to separate the two disciplines, but most graduates focused on pharmacology.

A standalone toxicology program has as yet not been accredited in the Czech Republic,” Michal Musílek, the Vice-Dean for Education and Internal Affairs of the Faculty of Science, UHK, explains.

“We have been one of the few universities in the country that offered a toxicology program to both our bachelor and master degree students. We are proud that we have now managed to obtain accreditation also for the doctoral degree students in cooperation with Palacky University in Olomouc, which brings additional benefits to future PhD candidates,” Professor Musílek comments.

The program has been accredited in cooperation with the Faculty of Medicine of the Palacky University, which means that students will be able to take some courses in Hradec Králové and others in Olomouc. “As a consequence, students will have access to the laboratories run by both universities and will be able to use the equipment jointly in their research. We have also managed to bring together experts with different specialisations in chemical and medicinal toxicology, who will participate in the program,” Kamil Musílek, the Head of the Department of Chemistry, where the program will be run, clarifies the benefits.

Program graduates will be qualified to run specialised labs devoted to the research of a broad variety of environmental and forensic samples from animate and inanimate structures.  They will also be qualified to work for government laboratories or in specialized private labs.

“Ideally, we would like to keep the best graduates for ourselves,” explains Kamil Musílek with a smile. “We would like to have them evolve as scientists and researchers, and use their creativity and knowledge in future toxicology research, which has already been on-going at our University for some time.”

The program is co-funded by an EU program, in which the Faculty of Science, UHK, partakes as a research institute. As a result, the university had the funds to purchase new laboratory equipment and create new textbooks. With the additional funding, the Department of Chemistry was also able to hire new talented researchers.

The new doctoral study program is designed as a 4-year full time or distance program. The university plans to admit 5 PhD candidates to the first year of the program.

“Thanks to the international credit mobility program established with Yangtze University, new students will be able to engage in foreign study stays in China, while Chinese students will be able to attend our doctoral program,” Kamil Musílek concludes.