Professor Josef Elster from the Faculty of Science at the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice has become one of this year’s laureates of the Gratias agit award, which was presented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Jan Lipavský, for promoting the good name of our country abroad.
Professor Elster is a world-renowned expert in the study of cyanobacteria and algae in polar regions. He also focuses on glacier retreat and the hydrology of deglaciated areas. He was present at the beginnings of polar research at the University of South Bohemia, which started in 2007 with the first expedition to Svalbard, led by Professor Elster himself. He later founded the Centre for Polar Ecology at the Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia. He helped establish the Czech Antarctic Research Station Johann Gregor Mendel on James Ross Island and contributed to the creation of the Czech Arctic Research Station Josef Svoboda on Svalbard. The latter is a key research centre of the University of South Bohemia for both Czech and foreign scientists, providing logistical support for research in this region. Over two hundred students, not only from the University of South Bohemia, have completed courses in polar ecology here, and they are successfully sharing their knowledge and experience both in the Czech Republic and abroad.
The University of South Bohemia warmly congratulates Professor Elster and thanks him for his dedicated work in Svalbard and the Czech Republic, which has inspired many promising successors to take an interest in polar ecology!
