The Faculty of Science hosted the European Olympiad of Experimental Science. The Czech team achieved silver medals.

"Czech teams showed excellent performances and confirmed our long-term staying on top of this competition," says Jan Kříž, Executive Director of the EOES Organizing Committee and Dean of the Faculty of Science, UHK. The Olympiad was held at the University of Hradec Králové for the second time this year, firstly in 2011 named as EUSO.

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The Czech team won silver medals

The representatives of the Czech Republic won silver medals and achieved top results in the competition. The Czech team consisting of Václav Verner, Andrea Slívová and Matouš Kejval took 8th place in the competition of 42 teams from the EU. The second team - David Mendl, Jakub Kocháň and Šimon Vlach, took 13th place. The team from Germany became the overall winner. Five teams in total won gold medals (Germany - 2 ×, Estonia, Bulgaria, Luxembourg).

During several hours of solving challenging tasks dealing separately with chemistry, biology or physics, students had to demonstrate both the ability to collaborate with others in a team and knowledge reaching far beyond the grammar school curriculum and laboratory skills.

Czech A team with silver medals: Václav Verner, Andrea Slívová and Matouš Kejval 

Competition tasks inspired by Czech science milestones

The Olympiad tasks are always inspired by the host country. In connection with the Czech Republic, the tasks were focused on hyaluronic acid, of which the Czech Republic is an important producer, then genetics that commemorated 200 years since the birth of Johann Gregor Mendel, and finally antiretroviral drugs discovered by prof. Antonín Holý. The Olympiad was also supported by his wife Ludmila Holá.

Work on tasks of EOES

Challenging competition not only for students

It is not only students who may find the competition challenging. Each competing team was accompanied by a team of mentors that first consulted the multi-page tasks with the authors from the host country, and then translated them into the mother tongues of the competing teams. Working on translations often lasted until late night hours.

Mentors of competing countries at EOES

 Scientists from the Faculty of Science UHK under the guidance of doc. Jan Šlégr were in charge of the tasks in physics: “In connection with this year's 200th anniversary of the birth of Johann Gregor Mendel, we dedicated one of our tasks to heredity. Its physical part was focused on a DNA research. Specifically, we were inspired by an image by Rosalind Franklin showing that a DNA molecule has the shape of a double helix. Students carried out diffraction applied on their hair and spring that revealed the shape of the double helix. After that the competitors determined the DNA properties in the original famous image, ”describes Jan Šlégr. "Task discussions with mentors belong to key moments of the Olympiad. They evoke and bring new perspectives making the tasks even more interesting for students," he adds.

Image of DNA diffraction by Rosalind Franklin

Olympiad friendships

EOES is not only about the competition itself. It also aims to bring together young scientists from the European Union and show them places of interest. The competition week is therefore enriched with trips and entertainment. The competitors visited the Všestary Archeopark, the Kuks Hospital, the Dvůr Králové Zoo, the Hradec Králové Veolia Centre (Královehradecká provozní), they also visited the Observatory and Planetarium and the Gladiator Arena.

Contestants of EOES at excursion to Hospital Kuks 

 

Teams consists of succesful solvers of subject olympiads and they continue their studies mostly at the prestigious universities. 

"Olympiads such as EOES encourage contestants to pursue their interest in science and I belive we can expect great things form these students," says Jan Kříž.