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His Excellency Stéphane Crouzat visited UWB for the first time very shortly after taking up the post of Ambassador of the French Republic in Prague, which he assumed at the beginning of March this year. The visit was primarily dedicated to meeting with representatives of the University of West Bohemia faculties involved in nuclear energy and related technologies. The delegation, composed of significant figures from the fields of science, technology, and diplomacy, was welcomed by the Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Prof. Zdeněk Peroutka.

In his speech, Dean Peroutka introduced the critical role of the faculty in cooperation with France and potential directions for future collaboration in education, science, and research. Romana Suchá, Protocol Officer for International Cooperation, emphasized the long-standing tradition of cooperation between the University of West Bohemia and French institutions. In addition to representatives from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and RICE (Research Institute of Computer Science and Electronics), representatives from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the Faculty of Applied Sciences also participated in the discussions, presenting their respective faculties and their activities in nuclear engineering.

Ambassador Crouzat expressed his appreciation for the friendly reception and presentations in his speech. He emphasized the importance of joint projects and support for student mobility between the two countries. He also declared a willingness to support further deepening cooperation between the Czech Republic and France in education, science, and research. Ambassador Crouzat and his delegation subsequently had the opportunity to tour the selected laboratories of the RICE research center.

In the Hall Laboratory, the delegation was introduced to the possibilities of development and testing of transport and energy systems available at the RICE Centre. As a representative of the Energy Facility, the Ambassador had the opportunity to see the ground fault compensator developed here and learn about its capabilities in the stability and safety of power grids. In the Electronics Laboratory, the delegation was presented with test systems for the nuclear power industry, with particular attention paid to the FitPix particle detector, which was developed in collaboration with prestigious institutions such as CERN and UTEF. The delegation also had the opportunity to learn about current research and development activities in nuclear fusion, including participation in the international ITER experiment.

An interesting point at the end of the visit to the Centre was the demonstration of the intelligent firefighting suit, developed by the RICE teams under the leadership of Prof. Hamáček in cooperation with industrial partners, the functions of which the Ambassador was pleased to experience personally.

This visit brought new impulses and opened journeys for deepening cooperation between the University of West Bohemia and France, not only in nuclear energy and research.