Recently, I have encountered on the X network a post by Marek Ženíšek, the Minister for Science, Research, and Innovations, where he with pleasure announced an increase in the budget for science, research, and innovations for 2025. Although one could debate whether the increase is sufficient, it left me with a good feeling – just until I glanced at the chain of reactions. The list was rather long and without exception full of negative reactions! Reactions to the minister as such, to budget priorities, but especially to science and scientists. How is it possible?
It may be healthier in terms of psychological hygiene not to read such discussions as all or to just summarise them by a categorisation, diagnosis, and a blanket condemnation of all the debaters. The existence of general amorphous hatred and frustration in the society did not really surprise me. What did surprise me was the existence of a group of people who follow the profile of the minister for science while having unambiguously negative views of scientists and science. Why am I bringing it up?
Preparation of future scientists and academics
The National Institute for Cancer Research (NICR) is based primarily on the creativity of scientific teams, their experience, enthusiasm, energy, and ability to cooperate. We perceive this project mainly as top-level research conducted by individual group across the entire consortium of partners. But NICR actually has a much wider mission. Indicators that measure success in meeting the goals defined by the project include the involvement of secondary school or pre-graduate students and the preparation of future scientists and academics. To use the Euro vocabulary, it also aims at the preparation and development of qualified workforce, not only in terms of education as such but also in terms of bringing young people to the ‘path of science’. In the NICR, we want to help them find out what ‘science’ is, that it not at all bad to engage in it, and that it makes sense to engage in it in the long term.
Interactive workshops…
We have created for secondary school students several types of activities on which we collaborate with their teachers – by the way, many of them have ‘something from science’ already in their anamnesis. Secondary school students thus can visit selected laboratories of NICR groups as part of several interactive workshops; a pilot run will take place this year during the autumn and a ‘full version’ should be launched in January 2025. These workshops combine theoretical preparation with practical laboratory work. Our colleagues from the Institute of Biochemistry and Experimental Oncology of the First Faculty of Medicine of the Charles University invite students to a ‘Microscopic insight into cancer cells’ (lecturer Martin Sztacho) and offer answers to ‘Quo vadis, (tumour) cell?’ (lecturer Petr Výmola). Our collaborators from the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic will enable students to assume the role of DNA detectives in ‘The mysterious species under the looking glass: Is sequencing more precise than the microscope?’ (lecturer Michal Kolář). And although each of these workshops is supposed to take place several times, this year’s autumn edition is already fully booked out – and that makes us very happy!
… but also collaboration with Expert Activities at Secondary Schools
Aside from this, we offer secondary schools and hobby classes various popularising online lectures on cancer research. Moreover, we have started to collaborate with the organisers of Expert Activities at Secondary Schools (SOČ), a project guaranteed by the National Pedagogical Institute of the Czech Republic. In general, scientific activities enable young students to focus on a particular subject they find interesting and expand their knowledge in that area. They help develop critical thinking, the ability to analyse problems, formulate arguments, work on complex tasks, and to work on a particular subject for a relatively long time. An added bonus is the acquisition of basic presentation skills. It is really worth it to take a look at the work of secondary school students who participate in these expert activities. In this year’s 46th national meeting, which took place before the summer break in Pardubice, we have awarded three works from areas related to oncology – and their authors may well be on the way to joining the NICR one day.
Beyond the framework of a programming period
Work with secondary schools leaves a positive trace, a positive sense of having some grasp of ‘what science is’ even in the young people who will not ultimately take this path. They are likely to get some idea of ‘what it’s good for’ (and are unlikely to join the ranks of people who write such ill-considered contributions to social networks). Many participants of these activities are, however, likely to join the ‘talent base’ and head towards the research environment. Well, and it should also be noted how both mentors, often from the boomer generation, and students, who belong to the generation Z, with their mutual sympathy, free of arrogance or philosophising about work-life balance and burnout, defy the general stereotypes of what each generation is like. They defy these stereotypes by creating, together, hope for future progress in science and understanding of its importance in the society at large. And it should also be added that the preparation of future professionals, which we engage in in collaboration with secondary schools but also in newly accredited doctoral programmes, new courses, and new lecture series in the curricula of partner faculties, that all those are activities which clearly transcend the project period of the NICR.