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10. 10. 2025, 8:23
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Dear PhD Students,
with this annual newsletter, we would like to give you a summary of the important information regarding the PhD study at UEB.
If you have any questions regarding the PhD study, please get in touch with ÚEB PhD coordinator Lenka Jurasová (lenkajurasova@sci.muni.cz), Ing. Simona Kainerová (kainerova@sci.muni.cz) at the study department or garant of your study programme.
Do not miss also monthly newsletters for PhD students and postdocs published by the Faculty of Science: https://www.sci.muni.cz/en/newsletters#tab-1
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Doctoral Income: What’s New from September 2025?
Good news! 🎉 Starting in the academic year 2025/2026, the law guarantees PhD students a minimum monthly Doctoral Income of about CZK 24.960 (that’s 1.2× the minimum wage).
Here’s what’s important for you to know:
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Your Doctoral Income can come entirely from your scholarship, or from a combination of scholarship + salary if you have a job directly related to your dissertation.
- The formula is: 2/3 of your job income + your scholarship = at least 1.2× the minimum wage.
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⚡ A big change: scholarships are no longer granted automatically. You must actively apply in IS—so don’t forget to do this!
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Scholarships are now paid retroactively. For new students starting in September, the payment begins only from the start of the semester.
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Especially during this first “settling-in” period, payments may take a little longer. For example, the September scholarship might arrive only in November. Please be patient—it will get to you.
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To help speed up the process, you can waive your right to appeal once the decision is made.
Key details about how Doctoral Income is calculated:
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At MU: Only employment contracts (not short-term agreements) are counted, and only the part of your salary directly related to dissertation work. Included are stipulated wage components (salary tariff, personal evaluation, functional and statutory bonuses).
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With a cooperating employer: According to Section 91a (1) of the Higher Education Act, a student may carry out creative work related to their dissertation as an employee of a legal entity with which MU has a cooperation agreement (e.g. Czech Academy of Sciences, hospitals, or other institutions employing doctoral students).
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General rule: Doctoral Income must equal at least 1.2× the minimum wage. The Rector may set a higher amount for MU; the Dean may set a higher amount for a given faculty.
Note: The Rector of MU sets the minimum amount of the doctoral scholarship (CZK 12,000) and the minimum amount of doctoral income. Faculties may, through their internal regulations, set both the scholarship and income levels higher than the minimum defined by the Rector.
👉 In short: You’ll have more stable and transparent financial support for your PhD journey, just keep in mind the new rules about applying and payment timing.
Related links:
MU Scholarship and Bursary Regulations
Masaryk University Measure No. 5/2025 MINIMUM AMOUNT OF DOCTORAL SCHOLARSHIP FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2025/2026
Methodological sheet doctoral study admission and doctoral scholarship
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Your PhD journey is not only about your dissertation—it’s also about building skills that will support your future career in academia, industry, or even your own start-up. That’s why we’d like to encourage you to explore courses outside your immediate field of study, especially those focused on soft skills, entrepreneurship, and innovation.
👉 Don’t worry if the semester has already started—Only one course has been held so far, and you can join the second lesson. Any missed information will be gladly shared with you by Lenka, so you won’t miss a thing.
This semester, MU offers two brand-new courses designed exactly for this:
🔬 DSLSTA Life Science Transfer Academy – From Discovery to Innovation
Jointly run by MED MUNI, CEITEC MUNI, and JIC, this course explores how to bring research results in life sciences from the lab to the market. You’ll learn about intellectual property, industry collaboration, research commercialisation, and even the first steps of creating a spin-off company.
🚀 MPH_SLAB Start-up Lab – From Innovation to Investment
Here, you’ll work in teams to develop an innovative technology into a compelling investor Pitch Deck. Along the way, you’ll apply Design Thinking, test market potential, and present your project to real investors. A unique chance to gain hands-on entrepreneurial experience and connect with experts beyond your field!
🦾Executive Academy
Become a leader who can connect science with business.
Take this opportunity to broaden your perspective, sharpen your skills, and maybe even take the first step toward your own innovation journey. The sooner you start, the sooner the world can benefit from your ideas!
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🌐🎓📚 Introducing the new ÚEB PhD web
We’re excited to announce the launch of a brand-new website dedicated to PhD students at ÚEB:
ueb.sci.muni.cz/en/phd-studium
This portal is designed to be more than just an information source — it’s a central gateway to all the key resources, links, and tools you need during your PhD journey. You’ll find sections on study requirements, financing, internships, publications, and lots more.
💡 Help Us Make It Yours!
We’re looking for a photo or image for the homepage – it could be from a lab meeting, a microscope shot, fieldwork, or anything that captures your PhD life.
Do you see anything missing? Because it’s new, we’re especially eager to hear from you! Drop your feedback, ideas, or suggestions — we’ll do our best to include them. Your voice helps us make this site truly useful. ➡️ lenkajurasova@sci.muni.cz
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Fulbright Scholarships Now Open
The Fulbright Commission is offering scholarships for Czech students, scholars, and professionals to conduct research or pursue study in the U.S.
Don’t miss your chance — check the eligibility criteria and application deadlines on the official Fulbright site: Fulbright Scholarships
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Affiliation of your publications
Note that in your publications, you have to indicate the affiliation of Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, 62500, Czech Republic. Otherwise, the publication cannot be accepted as a part of your PhD thesis.
Multiple affiliations (for example, when your PhD project is supervised under a different institution) are acceptable.
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Faculty info materials for PhD students
You can find more information also at the level of the faculty:
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MUNI Mendel Doctorandus (MMD) is a voluntary programme organized by the Faculties and Institutes of Masaryk University. MMD is planned to be a prestigious brand (label) acknowledging and bringing additional credits to the best PhD graduates as well as to their supervisors and doctoral programmes at MUNI.
The MMD programme is suitable for current PhD students enrolled in the 1st – 3th year of study and new prospective candidates enrolling to PhD.
The application procedure for the MMD programme is open typically twice a year.
The 4 Benefits of MUNI Mendel Doctorandus by Kamil Sobek
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Placement abroad is an obligatory part of your PhD study (it is stated so in the government regulation). The required minimum is 1 month but 3+ months are preferred.
Plan your stay abroad well ahead (at least 2-3 months ahead) as you need to take care of important details – e. g. registration of your stay in IS MUNI system, arranging financial support of your stay, administrative issues regarding your work contract at MUNI, health insurance, etc.
Go through the following guiding documents and links and discuss the possibilities with your supervisor:
In Czech:
In English:
Also, see the options for financing your stay at the Centre for International Cooperation of MUNI or an interactive map: https://dosveta.muni.cz/#whereSection
Tip!:
The Faculty of Science provides a scholarship for foreign stays and internships, the so-called A6 scholarship: Primarily for a stay of 1 month (30 days) or longer. In justified cases, it is possible to provide a scholarship for a stay abroad of at least 14 days. The amount of the scholarship is usually CZK 1,000 – 100,000 depending on the destination country and length of stay. To some extent, the scholarship can be combined with other forms of travel support (for example, the Erasmus+ program). More information:
Are you planning your work or study stay abroad and you are also MU employee?
There are several options to deal with this situation:
- unpaid leave
- deal work from home, so-called "homeoffice"
- take a holiday
- reduce your hours for the duration of your internship
However, these options depend on the type and amount of time or the project to which it is linked. It is therefore a good idea to deal with each case individually.
If you have any questions, please get in touch with the Agenda coordinator Lenka Jurasová (lenkajurasova@sci.muni.cz), or the International Relations Assistant Kristýna Bajgarová (bajgarova@sci.muni.cz).
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We would like to inform you about the "Vice-Rector's Award for Excellence in Doctoral Studies" whose aim is to increase the number of doctoral students who complete their studies in the standard period of study, possibly extended by one year, with excellent results elaborated in their dissertation. The award should motivate both students and their supervisors to successfully complete their studies in the standard time while at the same time with excellent scientific results. The award also includes a financial reward of CZK 25,000 for both the student and his supervisor.
This year's edition is already finalized, but we expect the next call in May, information will be sent to supervisors in the mail, or watch the website Portal MUNI.
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Students who successfully complete their PhD study by the 9th semester may receive a scholarship of the Dept. of Experimental Biology 25 ths. CZK as another motivating factor to complete the study in the standard period of study. To be given the scholarship, you need to apply for this stipend at the Dept. of Experimental Biology (contact: lenkajurasova@sci.muni.cz).
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Email address @sci.muni.cz
When you become an employee of Masaryk University, you can get @sci.muni.cz email address and e-mail client in Office365. Your email post from IS will be then automatically transferred there.
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Uniform visual style MUNI
We would like to remind you the uniform visual style of MUNI and inform you about templates that you can use for your presentations or posters.
Templates of all faculties or departments are available at: https://sablony.muni.cz/
We would like to point out especially to these templates:
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Do you have any interesting photo from your research? Send it to us, please!
If you have any interesting photo/video from your research, please let us know! We will be happy to share it on webpage or use it in our propagation materials.
Please, send the photos/videos to marie.dolezalova@sci.muni.cz.
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Additional info materials
Czech Association of Doctoral Researchers (Česká asociace doktorandek a doktorandů) – ČAD, is a registered association that brings together people pursuing doctoral programs in the Czech Republic.
You can subscribe to their newsletter (both in Czech and English): ČAD newsletters
Or you can have a look at their handbook about the PhD studies in the Czech Republic that cover various topics as socio-legal aspects of doctoral studies, social networks for researchers, counseling centers for students, ... (in Czech only) or other documents regarding PhD studies in the Czech Republic.
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Additional info for FIŽ PhD students
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FIŽ PhD Retreat 2025
We would like to inform you that PhD Retreat 2025 will take place on 4. - 6. 11. in Telč (https://www.uct.muni.cz/).
The format of the students´ presentations will be as follows:
- 1st year of study: PhD project introduction, 5 mins
- 2nd year of study: not presenting (will present in February 2025 on PhD Workshop)
- 3rd year of study: PhD project update, 15 mins presentation + 10 mins discussion
- 4th year of study: „chalk talk“ – 15 mins to introduce your project just with a blackboard and a pen, introduce the main idea, methodology, and results
- 5th+ year of study: „fun/love/hate talk“ – 10 mins, share your experience with PhD study; what has PhD study given to you? what obstacles have you overcome? what would you have done differently? what would be your message?
For PhD students:
Your attendance is obligatory. In case you are unable to attend, please send an email to bryja@sci.muni.cz and lenkajurasova@sci.muni.cz in copy with an explanation.
For students of 3rd and 4th years of study: Please discuss with your supervisor and consider how you want to finish your PhD studies. See the important section “Revision of graduation requirements” below. There will be a place for discussion on this topic at the PhD Retreat.
For PhD supervisors and members of the PhD committee:
We cordially invite you to join the PhD Retreat! It would be great if you could join the discussions and give students also your feedback.
If you plan to join, please let us know by the end of September so that we can count on you. More detailed information will follow in October.
Photos from one of the previous PhD Retreat:
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Please, go through the OFIŽ or new PhD website where you should find all the information regarding e.g.:
Also, go through the attached table with a scheme below that summarizes all obligatory steps of your study.
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PhD dissertations can be completed in four categories:
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Standard – at least one first-author and one co-authored publication in Q1–Q2 journals.
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Scientifically ambitious – first-author paper submitted to a top journal (IF >10 / top decile) and sent for external peer review.
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Methodological – innovative methodological contribution with at least three co-authored papers in Q1–Q2 journals.
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Industrial – results from collaboration with an industrial partner; full-text thesis (research manuscripts) reviewed in detail by the committee and opponents.
The chosen category must be presented and approved (PhD Retreat or State Doctoral Exam).
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