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The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen is something of a labyrint, both in its corridors and its topics. Many students, and even staff, have found themselves lost in this sprawling building at some point. Yet, within its intricate spaces and laboratories, Professor Ludmila Kučerová (LK) and student Vojtěch Strejc (VS) have managed to find a shared path in hydrogen research.

Hydrogen is today hailed as the fuel of the future. When did it personally become a topic that drew your interest?

LK: I came across hydrogen about five years ago by chance, through a postdoc from India. We had always focused on researching metals, mainly steels, and he suggested that hydrogen could be effectively stored in certain metallic materials. He got us so excited about it that we started writing hydrogen-related projects. We work on developing metal materials that can safely store hydrogen, like in the form of a powder you can literally carry in your pocket and release the energy when needed.

VS: For me personally, hydrogen attracts me because it’s an unexplored field full of new challenges that could affect the daily lives of all of us.

How did your collaboration begin? When did you realize you could work together and that you enjoy thinking along similar lines?

VS: I became interested in the topic when I took the course Basics of Metallography with Professor Kučerová. That’s when our collaboration started.

LK: I’m not sure we think exactly alike, maybe it’s more that opposites attract. We met through teaching, as Vojta said, during metallography exercises, where I offered students a research assistant position. Vojta applied and started working in the lab.

Your research links the laboratory with industry and the vision of sustainable energy. In this context, what fulfills you the most—solving concrete technical problems, or contributing to a broader shift in societal thinking?

LK: I admit I’m not the type to tell people how they should live or think. I’m drawn to the scientific side of things, such as the materials that make hydrogen technologies possible.

VS: What fulfills me is that we try to discover and solve problems that no one has addressed before.

Research often blends experience with new ideas. How do you influence each other? What does the student take from the professor, and what does the professor gain from the younger generation?

LK: I hope students don’t pick up my bad habits (laughs). At the same time, it’s good that we have people from different generations on the team. Experience and tradition are important but can also lead to mental complacency. Younger colleagues bring fresh impulses, often crazy ideas, which can lead to interesting results.

VS: I gain a great deal of experience and knowledge from Professor Kučerová while also receiving support for my often unconventional problem-solving methods.

The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the RTI research center are places, where the tradition of Czech engineering meets the technologies of the future. How does this combination show in your work and how can your research help the region or Czech industry?

LK: Pilsen has a long industrial tradition, which we are proud of. Thanks to it, there are many skilled people and smaller companies involved in various areas of engineering. Research can help them solve specific technical problems that they don’t have time or resources for in everyday operations. Since heavy industry is now mostly in decline, we try to link hydrogen storage material development to traditional manufacturing processes, like forming and give them new applications.

VS: I’m from Pilsen, and engineering has deep roots here. I want to continue this tradition through research.

Every research project has moments when things don’t go as planned. What keeps you motivated to continue in those moments?

LK: I work on several projects at once, so when something fails in one area, there’s usually progress in another. Even a failed experiment has value, it often pushes us in a different, sometimes more interesting direction. As they say, fortune favors the prepared. Without dozens of failed attempts, that one success would never come.

VS: Exactly. Even when an experiment fails, it’s still a result. Every step moves us forward.

Looking to the future, where do you think your joint path in hydrogen research could lead?

LK: I hope our path doesn’t lead to a blackout but to a broader energy spectrum available to us. And perhaps the research will reveal a new, yet unforeseen path.

VS: Right now, we focus on hydrogen research, but we’ll see where it takes us. The future will show.