On the occasion of the International Students’ Day, Comenius University honoured its exceptional students, teachers and prominent researchers
Bratislava, 18 November 2024: As is tradition on International Students’ Day, the Rector of Comenius University presented awards to sixty students and teachers. For the first time, awardees also included seven notable researchers honoured for their extraordinary contribution. This is one of the ways in which Comenius University expresses its appreciation for their extraordinary effort both in study and work.
Academic commendations are awarded by the Rector to those students who achieve excellent academic results, exhibit exemplary student participation and civic involvement, or represent the university. This year, CU rector Marek Števček presented awards to thirty students.
One of them was Claudia Feitscherová who studies general medicine and researched the distribution of immune cells in selected organs of the reproductive system and their impact on fertility. Another awardee was Dominika Lešková, a student of ethnology and laureate of the prestigious Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund, who was honoured for her excellent study and research results.
Michal Kaššaj, a student of management, also received the award. His papers accumulated international renown and have 60 citations in the Web of Science and Scopus databases. Several students received the commendation for representing the university in sports. Two of them, Eliška Mintálová a Tamara Potocká, participated in the Summer Olympics in Paris.
Thirty teachers also received letters of gratitude from the rector for their contribution to the success of their students in science, arts and professional life. They include civil law expert Romana Smyčková, historian Eva Benková, naturalist Adrian Purkart, seismologist Peter Moczo, mathematician Paul Quittner, and others.
This was the first occasion on which the rector presented awards to authors of four exceptional publications:
Róbert Letz and Peter Ženuch for the monograph: The tradition of Cyril and Methodius as a fundamental element of the religious and national identity of Slovaks,
Martin Hurbanič, Dušan Zupka and Lukáš Rybár for two volumes entitled Central Europe across times, Studies in social history I. - II.,
Boris Mravec for an extensive monograph on the neurobiology of tumours - Neurobiology of Cancer. Role of the Nervous System in Cancer Etiopathogenesis, Treatment, and Prevention,
and Tibor Macko for a book on mathematics named Surgery Theory.
They received awards for extraordinary contributions in the fields of social science, humanities, medicine, and natural sciences because of their original approaches, extraordinary contributions to their fields, and practical benefits of their work.
In his speech, the rector commemorated the 35th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution and reminded of its ideals of freedom and hope for a better life which require constant effort to maintain. "Let us remember the main thing that must matter to us at the university: a deep respect for other people's opinions, beliefs, or faith. But when it comes to the proverbial breaking of bread, emotions must give way to disciplined, evidence-based thinking. This is the only known antidote to social network algorithms that create dangerous echo chambers and lead to social polarization. Polarization breeds fanatics who are not afraid to spill the blood of others and therefore, let us empathetically respect the opinions of others, but let us insist on the basic principles of scientific thinking." said Marek Števček, Rector of Comenius University, in his address to the awardees.
List of students and teachers who received the distinction