Female Scientists from Matfyz: A Diverse Work Environment is Crucial for Creativity

Tereza Jeřábková: From Sports to Astronomy

Tereza Jeřábková is a graduate of Matfyz and currently works at Masaryk University. She has gained several international experiences, including a four-year tenure at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) as only the second Czech woman so far. Her research focuses on stars, particularly star clusters and their tidal tails.

Her journey into astronomy was gradual. “For a long time, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I grew up in the Orlické Mountains, and I was more interested in sports than school. I played football and competed in skiing,” says Tereza. The first turning point came at the age of 15 when she was choosing a high school. She enrolled in a technical lyceum. “I remember being worried because it was essentially a grammar school with a focus on mathematics. To my surprise, I found out that I was actually good at math. In high school, I started participating in various competitions and solving FYKOS (a physics correspondence seminar organized by Matfyz students) and I also got to frequently visit the School of Mathematics and Physics, where I made many friends. Matfyz then became the obvious choice.”

During high school, she spent a month at the observatory in Ondřejov, where she met her future supervisor, Daniela Korčáková, from the Czech Academy of Sciences. “By chance, I later learned that Dr. Korčáková had changed over to Matfyz and was offering topics for bachelor’s theses. She became my supervisor again, and from that moment on, I stayed in astronomy,” Tereza describes this “fateful” encounter.

What did she appreciate about working at ESO? “I liked that ESO places great emphasis on multiculturalism and gender equality. This approach is still lacking in many places in the Czech Republic. Scientific institutions in the country often have a homogeneous representation, mostly of men with similar career profiles, and little emphasis is placed on team diversity. A diverse work environment is, at least for me, essential for creativity, critical thinking, new ideas, and productive collaboration with scientists from different cultures,” she stated in an interview two years ago.

In 2022, a total of 86,125 people were employed in research and development. In all research and development professions, men outnumbered women, and this trend has been increasing over time. Women accounted for 28.7% of all employees in research and development. In an international comparison, the representation of women among researchers in the Czech Republic remains the lowest of all EU countries. It has consistently ranked at the bottom since data collection began in 2000 (source: NKC – Gender and Science).

Hana Turčinová: A Passion for Science Started with Clothesline

Hana Turčinová studied mathematical analysis at Matfyz and, after finishing her doctorate, went over to the Department of Mathematics at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague (FEL ČVUT). She has been drawn to the “queen of sciences” alongside physics since primary school.

“I had always considered a career in teaching, and already in primary school, my class teacher suggested that I shall aim for Matfyz. My grandfather taught me Newton’s laws, and our home experiments using a clothesline often tested my grandmother’s patience—more than once, it snapped. Later, at the Josef Jungmann Grammar School in Litoměřice, I explored other natural sciences, but mathematics felt closest to me,” Hanka recalls.

She believes she was fortunate not only to have great teachers but also to be surrounded by inspiring people with whom she could have shared her interests. “In high school, it was the various math and physics camps that really helped me understand what these sciences are about and what kind of people work in them. At my grammar school, I also met like-minded people who became my friends, though I realize that was mostly luck. Gifted students often don’t find peers with similar interests until they attend competitions or specialized camps.”

Hana feels at home in the mathematics community. She describes mathematicians as polite, tolerant, and friendly, despite their common introversion. “I genuinely notice some recurring personality traits, even among younger students. Mathematicians tend to be nonjudgmental and strive to understand others’ actions. However, they also have their downsides—they can be overly passionate, sometimes even explosive in their rhetoric, though never with bad intentions. They have a strong sense of truth and are willing to fight for it. At times, they seem a bit lost in the modern world. I truly appreciate being part of a community like this, but we definitely need friends with different perspectives to keep us grounded,” she reflected in an interview last year.

In the Czech Republic, the largest share of researchers works in technical (41.4%) and natural sciences (38.1%), accounting for more than two-thirds of all researchers. However, these fields have the lowest and slightly declining proportion of women in research (a trend observed from 2005 to 2018). Since 2018, a very modest increase in female representation has been recorded. The most balanced gender representation among researchers has consistently been observed in medical sciences (source: NKC – Gender and Science).

Iveta Zatočilová: I’ve been Used to Working in a Male-Dominated Environment Since Childhood

Iveta Zatočilová studied particle and nuclear physics at Matfyz. After completing her master’s degree, she sought further experience abroad and is now in her second year of studying and working at one of Germany’s oldest universities. As a Ph.D. candidate at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, she contributes to the development and testing of the new inner detector for the ATLAS experiment at CERN.

“After finishing my studies, I looked for opportunities abroad. A colleague from the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences gave me about 15 email contacts for physicists working on the ATLAS ITk inner detector. I reached out to all of them—some didn’t respond, but others got back to me and invited me for interviews. One even offered me a Ph.D. position straight away,” Iveta recalls. She went through several online interviews and was ultimately able to choose between pursuing her doctorate in Canada, England, or Germany.

“I chose Freiburg, primarily because of its location in Europe. I was also impressed by their attitude. Before I made my final decision, they invited me to the university, gave me a tour, and introduced me to my possible future colleagues,” she explains. She gives credits for her successful beginning of her research journey to her thesis supervisor, Dr. Marcela Mikeštíková from the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences. From the very beginning of Iveta’s studies, Dr. Mikeštíková introduced her to top international experts in the field, not only in Europe but also in Japan, Canada, and the U.S., and allowed her to participate in a unique international project.

Until recently, Iveta was the only foreigner in her ten-member research team and remains its only female member. “I’ve been used to working in a male-dominated environment since childhood, and it doesn’t bother me. What I value most is being surrounded by inspiring people. Thanks to them, I keep moving forward and have the opportunity to contribute to projects that push the boundaries of our knowledge,” she said in an interview.

The proportion of women in master’s degree programmes has been slowly increasing over the past 20 years, reaching 60.2% in 2020. In all scientific disciplines except technical sciences, women outnumber men at the master’s level. At the doctoral level, the gender ratio is roughly balanced, except in technical sciences. However, this trend has had little impact on research itself: The most significant drop in female representation occurs between Ph.D. graduates and researchers while pursuing a notional academic-career trajectory, with a loss of 30.7 percentage points (source: NKC – Gender and Science).