Neuron Awards for Vít Svoboda and Václav Verner

The Neuron Foundation honoured leading scientists working in Czechia at a ceremonial gala evening held at the Prague Planetarium. Among the awardees were also two representatives of our faculty. Dr. Vít Svoboda received the Neuron Prize for Promising Scientists in the field of chemistry, while bachelor’s student Václav Verner became the very first recipient of the Neuron Rising Star title.

Since 2024, Vít Svoboda has been leading his own research group at UCT Prague, focusing on attosecond spectroscopy and molecular dynamics — methods that use ultrashort laser pulses to reveal processes taking place in molecules on extremely short timescales. For his research on ultrashort pulses and the dynamics of chiral molecules, he has also received the international Dream Chemistry Award, and in December 2025 he was awarded the Rector’s Prize of UCT Prague.

Václav Verner, a student of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering, is historically the first laureate in the new Neuron Rising Star category. Thanks to his outstanding results at the International Chemistry Olympiad, he was admitted directly into the second year of the bachelor’s programme at UCT Prague. At the same time, he is active in research groups at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, where he focuses on the synthesis of peptides for medicinal applications, and he has already co-authored a publication in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry as a second author. He is also actively involved in organising chemistry competitions. Like Vít Svoboda, he is a laureate of the Rector’s Prize of UCT Prague for 2025.

What are the Neuron Prizes?

The Neuron Foundation awards prizes in several categories. The Neuron Prize for Promising Scientists is awarded in seven scientific fields and is associated with a financial premium of CZK 500,000, while the Neuron Rising Star award comes with a financial premium of CZK 100,000.