I am a young woman who on one hand enjoys doing research while on the other hand likes to work with people. Apart from working in a lab I like to teach and share my knowledge, perhaps even a bit of a different way of thinking about life and science, with my students and colleagues. I am currently working at the Department of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, where I also used to study. It was here that I fell for Ecotoxicology. Thanks to its multi-field character this branch of chemistry has been broadening my horizons more and more every year. During my undergraduate studies we were taught mainly theory, but within my doctoral study and then after I had started working as a researcher I managed to establish a laboratory here for practical performance of ecotoxicological biotests. These were used for my research as well as for teaching laboratory tasks which dealt with these issues.
I drew my experience for this work at the Research Institute of Organic Syntheses in Rybitví, Centre of Ecology, Toxicology, and Analytics. Here, I underwent a long-term, almost a year-long traineeship, within which I wrote my diploma thesis. During my doctoral study I further did a short-term traineeship at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, a place which contributed significantly to my development – I improved my communication skills in a foreign language and also gained a lot of expert knowledge in ecotoxicology. In the third year of my doctoral study I became a mother. A year later I finished the doctoral study and after the dissertation defence I managed to get a job as a researcher. After two years I was promoted to assistant professor and at the moment I am involved in pedagogical activities too.
When it comes to mentoring, I do not have a vast experience. However, during my traineeship in Switzerland I saw a training process for newcomers, which is basically the same as mentoring, and it personally helped me a lot at the time to fit in and get acquainted with the new environment quickly. I consider mentoring to be a useful tool for one`s development, I am happy it was introduced to the University of Pardubice and recommend it to everyone. I believe that with regards to my experience with combining study and later work with a small child I have a lot to offer mainly to young female scientists.
In my free time I attend to my daughter and family. Since I was little I have been interested in the universe, nature and animals, and I own a few of them myself. I am a fan of assault courses such as Gladiator Race and I like team sports. In recent years I have concerned myself with personality psychology, developmental psychology and pedagogy.
