The mission of the CAS is to conduct high-level research focused on addressing the problems and challenges faced by contemporary society. Topics such as the Czech Republic’s energy future, public health, artificial intelligence, and the quality of public policies are complex issue areas that require broad, interdisciplinary research—both basic and applied.
The CAS addresses current social challenges through carefully designed research programs that prioritize cooperation across disciplines and institutions. The Academic Assembly approved the basic program framework of Strategy AV21 in December 2014. CAS research programs are open to partnerships with universities, industry, and public administration at both national and regional levels, as well as with foreign research groups and organizations. These programs are proposed and formulated through collaboration between CAS leadership and institute directors, considering global scientific trends, societal relevance, and the National Priorities of Oriented Research. The Strategy AV21 is guided by the motto “Top research in the public interest.” (More about Strategy AV21 here.)
From 2020–2024, the Institute of Vertebrate Biology (IVB) participated in Program No. 21: Rescue and Restoration of the Landscape (more here).
Since 2024, IVB has joint the program: Fungi – New Threats and Opportunities. Starting in 2025, IVB has joined two further programs:
Epicentres of Civilization – Smart Households, Technology, Society and AI: Artificial Intelligence for Science and Society.
Fungi – New Threats and Opportunities
About the Program
Fungi play a crucial role in the biosphere, engaging in an evolutionary race with other organisms and producing compounds such as penicillin, which has anti-infective properties. The fungal kingdom remains a promising source of new drugs due to its largely unexplored diversity, which is hindered by the challenges of laboratory cultivation. While fungi have diverse applications in the food industry and biotechnology, they can also pose risks to human health, extending beyond merely poisoning mushroom pickers. Contamination of food and feed with mycotoxins is a significant concern. Additionally, microscopic fungi causing skin infections or invasive mycoses are of primary public health importance, with the emergence of new human pathogens presenting a substantial threat. For example, the epidemic of dermatophytes like Trichophyton benhamiae, transmitted by guinea pigs, underscores the urgency for preparedness in diagnosis and treatment. Pathogenic microscopic fungi also pose threats to agriculture and forestry.
The focus of this research program is to raise awareness about the diversity of fungi and their significance in society. It connects amateur mycologists with experts, leading to the development of the first Czech-written Great Atlas of Microscopic Fungi.
The program emphasizes two key challenges for public awareness:
1. The emergence of new pathogenic moulds that require timely detection. This involves providing an up-to-date overview of clinically significant fungi in the Czech Republic, improving diagnostic schemes, and enhancing treatment for infections.
2. The growing need for new drugs based on natural compounds produced by fungi. The program aims to explore under-studied fungal lineages that lack information on potential drug applications due to difficulties in discovery and cultivation.
Collaboration among research teams is essential for enhancing cultivation procedures and the production of natural compounds. Modern methods will be employed to determine the chemical structures of new compounds, which will then undergo testing across a wide range of biological systems. The goal of the program is to discover applications for new substances in treating conditions such as cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and infections—bacterial, fungal, and parasitic—affecting both humans and plants.
IVB CAS involvement
Research objective: New Fungal Diseases of Animals and Humans
Dermatophytes and other microscopic fungi present a significant health risk, not only to immunocompromised individuals. This research aims to map the occurrence of new species and resistant strains, including zoonoses that can be transmitted by pets such as guinea pigs and hedgehogs. By integrating clinical and environmental data, we can better understand the origins of these infections and improve both diagnosis and treatment.
IVB contact: Natália Martinková, martinkova@ivb.cz
(More about the program here.)
Epicentres of Civilization – Smart Households, Technology, Society
About the program
This interdisciplinary program investigates households within the context of civilizational development. Households, whether familial, communal, or non-familial, have historically served as hubs of advancement. The primary needs for food and security have led to the fulfilment of additional needs, driving the development of technologies and the processing of natural resources—both organic and inorganic. This process requires investments of finance, time, and energy.
In addition to social aspects, our research focuses on what shapes and transcends households: (bio)technologies and landscape interventions. Throughout history, the pursuit of human needs has involved both the cultivation and the degradation of ecosystems. The program meets the core requirement for interdisciplinary research and addresses the complex technological, social, environmental, and economic challenges outlined in the National Research and Innovation Strategy (RIS3).
Research on households includes:
- Interactions among individuals and groups, including both biological reproduction and the transmission of knowledge and behavioural patterns.
- Households as centres of consumption that significantly contribute to GDP and technological progress, often motivated by the desire to improve private life.
- “Smart” households and the Internet of Things as tools that facilitate daily life, creating new connections while also posing risks related to the sharing of sensitive data.
- Households as spaces for social, economic, and legal communication, acting as fundamental political units in society.
- Interactions between households and surrounding ecosystems in addressing human needs, viewing households as key players in the Anthropocene, embedded in networks of relationships, including trophic connections.
- Households within interpersonal relations, focusing on issues of social and gender inequality as well as cultural and educational differences.
IVB CAS involvement
- Research theme: Households, Family and Society
- Research objective: Health Care and Prevention
- Collaborating partner: Institute of History of the CAS
The project will focus on zoonoses—diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans—from both historical (diachronic) and contemporary (synchronic) perspectives. Zoonoses are a continuous phenomenon that can be observed at any stage of human development. This issue is compounded by the close living arrangements of people and animals in households, as well as the increasing interactions between humans and wildlife.
The research will benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration. The team at the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS) will concentrate on:
- The historical development and perception of zoonotic diseases;
- The understanding and knowledge of these diseases from the Middle Ages to the 20th century;
- The cultural, medical, social, and other implications of zoonoses.
The IVB team will tackle contemporary challenges posed by zoonoses, including the emergence of new zoonotic infections. (More about the program here).
AI: Artificial Intelligence for Science and Society
About the program
AI influences nearly all institutes within the CAS, making this program one of the largest in terms of participant involvement, with more than half of the CAS institutes taking part. The work on AI in science and research—to which IVB contributes—serves as a showcase for the application of AI in research.
Program topics and aims:
- Research in AI: Focus on key areas of AI research, particularly from the perspective of basic research, to establish a foundation for future projects (e.g. GA ČR).
- Societal Aspects of AI: Explore a wide range of societal questions related to the expansion of AI, including ethics, understanding, cognition, healthcare, political and economic dimensions, socio-historical contexts, and AI’s relationship with cultural assets. This aims to support further development through project and grant initiatives.
- AI in Science and Research: Address all three scientific domains to illustrate how AI can enhance the research process. This includes a variety of shorter activities and emphasizes the dissemination of results.
- AI HUB: Centralize and disseminate knowledge about AI applications and institutional needs, build a network of contact persons, support other program topics, and facilitate general AI activities for researchers across institutes to bolster scientific work.
- AI for the Young Generation—Practice in Academia and Industry: Foster young AI talent through internships and collaborations between academia and industry. Expand placement opportunities, develop students’ interdisciplinary skills, and promote AI among the younger generation.
IVB CAS involvement
- Research theme: AI in Science and Research
- Activity title: Fertility, sexual promiscuity, reproductive health: AI as a tool for studying sperm morphology and quality in birds (and other vertebrates)
- Research objective: Automate cell measurements using AI and develop an open-access application for fast, accurate, and automatic measurement of sperm and other cells.
- Collaborating partner: Institute of Information Theory and Automation of the CAS.
Activity description
Studies on reproductive strategies in birds—including levels of promiscuity, fertility, and sperm quality—are central topics in evolutionary biology, ecology, and reproductive biology. Among Passeriformes (approximately 6,500 species), sperm varies not only between closely related species but also among individuals within the same species—and even within a single individual. Within species, the size of sperm components can be linked to ejaculate quality and the male’s fertilization ability. Across species, varying levels of sexual promiscuity are reflected in sperm size and morphological variability; thus, these parameters can be used to infer the degree of extra-pair paternity and reproductive strategies, even in lesser-known taxa. Currently, differences in sperm morphology are assessed through manual measurements, which are time-consuming. Existing automated methods are inaccurate and cannot be applied to diverse sperm types. We propose utilizing AI for sperm morphology analysis across Passeriformes.
This activity will also generate broader applications aligned with IVB research, including the development of an app for automatic measurement of avian blood cells, the automated processing of birdsong sonograms, and collaboration with the Philippine Eagle Center to study the effects of sperm cryopreservation on sperm quality and its future use for artificial insemination of this critically endangered raptor.