ScienceFEL Academy Brought Young Researchers to FEL

Sustainable minimalist housing, a racing car, and smart textiles – ScienceFEL Academy brought talented high school students from the Pilsen Region to FEL UWB. After a week of intensive lab work, they presented their technical projects at a final conference.

Thirty-two students from eight high schools across the region took part in the sixth edition of the ScienceFEL Academy program. During an intensive autumn week, they experienced hands-on work in university labs, tackling specific technical challenges. They worked with advanced materials, technologies, and measuring equipment in thematic teams focused on areas such as acoustics, electrochemistry, e-textiles, the student formula racing team, robotics, image recognition, and the design of sustainable minimalist housing within the Tiny House project.

ScienceFEL Academy places strong emphasis on independent work. “Students are not passive listeners; they are active creators. We do not just want to show them our laboratories. We want them to experience what it means to solve a real technical problem, make decisions, and take responsibility for them,” explained Jiří Tupa, the programme’s organiser and Vice-Dean for Strategy and Development at FEL UWB. Under the guidance of lecturers, the students developed their own approaches to solving assigned tasks. The lecturers primarily acted as mentors, offering advice on individual steps and helping students consider different solutions. According to Tupa, the program also aims to teach students to learn from failure and not to be afraid of experimentation: “We try to show young people that a dead end is not a failure, but a natural part of development. It often leads to a deeper understanding of the problem.”

The teams presented the results of their week-long work at a closing conference, where they discussed their projects with visitors. “It was great to see that what we had been working on all week actually worked and that others were genuinely interested in it. What surprised me most was how many things we had to figure out through trial and error before finding the right solution,” said one of the participants. Approximately 150 additional high school students attended the conference. They had the opportunity to meet not only the project authors but also the lecturers and guest speakers. The conference also featured two invited talks. František Mach, Vice-Dean for Research at FEL UWB, and Martin Půta from Siemens introduced students to the connection between research and industry practice.

ScienceFEL Academy aims to present technical fields to high school students in a practical and accessible way. The programme emphasises independence, teamwork, and problem-solving in a real university laboratory environment. For many participants, the academy represents their first experience with a faculty research setting. The program has long been financially supported by the Pilsen Region. The next edition of ScienceFEL Academy will welcome talented high school students in autumn 2026.