How did the evaluation of the faculty by university management turn out?

In February, the performance of our faculty was evaluated by the university management. In the field of research, they evaluated our publication performance in Web of Science (WoS), our publications that had been nominated for Module 1 M17 +, our success in grant tenders, with emphasis on Horizon 2020 international grant competitions, and the quality of our doctoral studies, with emphasis on study success rates. We were also asked to express ourselves for the evaluation of the social relevance of our research to an International Evaluation Panel. How did we do in the field of science? Well. Thanks to all of you, who contribute to the performance of the faculty with your good approach to work and its results. The university management appreciated this, which means that we will also be noticing it in the faculty budget.

What is good?

Our publishing performance is stable and its quality is improving.

• We are active in grant tenders and are able to obtain a significant amount of money from them.
• We have a grant strategy and want to work with talented researchers at the beginning of their careers.
• Our doctoral students complete study internships at foreign universities more often than colleagues from other MUNI faculties.

Where do we need improvement?

• University management critically evaluates a large number of the WoS publications in low-quality domestic journals.
• We do not submit proposals for H2020 coordination projects, nor do we have successful ERC applicants.
• The citation response of our publications is small. The citation champion is Klaus Hubacek, an external collaborator of the Department of Environmental Studies; eleven of the twenty most cited publications of FSS are his.
• The study failure rate of our doctoral students is 53%, which is one of the highest of the university.

Some important and interesting numbers:

• Publications in WoS make up approximately 56% of our publication performance in the period under review (2015-2020).
• There is a noticeable increase in WoS publications in Q1 - Q2 from 48% of publications in 2015 to 75% in 2020.
• In 2020, research money accounted for 39% of the faculty budget. Of this, 59% was from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, and 41% from grants.
• In 2020, we were working on 92 research projects.
• We submitted 124 proposals for research projects, which is the fourth highest of the entire MUNI. Recalculated into the number of academic staff, this ranks us third among all university workplaces.
• Our doctoral students who have completed a stay abroad of more than 30 days make up 37.7% of all university doctoral students.
• Of doctoral students who started their studies in 2012 or later, 20% of them completed their studies in the standard time plus one year.