Institute of Geonics, Academy of Sciences

The objectives of project are to constitute an inter-institutional and multidisciplinary scientific research platform that will be capable to compete within the international competition in the research of the energy development and its impacts on landscape; and to integrate experiences from foreign experts, to develop them into the form of knowledge portfolio and theoretical-methodological apparatus which will be useful for future development and increasing quality of research competences of the research team and for the practice. The means of how to reach the objectives will include an internationalization of the research team, mutual transfer of experiences through the common research activities, organization of thematic workshops, conferences, scholarships, presentations and lectures at conferences, and publications. The educational dimension of the project will be fulfilled by the concept of "learning by making a real research” – the key positive is the participation of foreign expert in the research team. Other activities will include different trainings, education, scholarships, etc. A presumption of innovation, dynamization and integration of the research team into the world competitiveness is the specification of research topic.

Karst processes have strong influence upon all landscape elements: they transfer landscapes, forming specific living environment for plants and animals. Since these processes often appear as immediate environments of human habitation, detailed studies of their nature and character have no alternative. Complex monitoring has a leading role in understanding this type of environment. Having developed a series of research projects concerning karst and protected territories, this project research team has agreed that the most important scientific and application problems of Protected karst territories (PKT) include: application of the concept of karst geosystems and the proceeding principles of protection and management; organizing, construction and maintenance of specialized complex monitoring, which should include both environmental processes and human activities with their environmental impact; the need of a wide-range educational program of diverse forms and levels; setting up of specialized international networks for exchange of data and know-how in scientific and applied karst research. This project is interdisciplinary, international (team members from 6 countries), inter-institutional (13 institutions have been included) as well as multi-purpose, uniting the efforts of researchers from all generations and representing different scientific schools and fields.

The project content is developing professional abilities and skills of the geographers of Institute of Geonics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. It can be divided into several parts.
1. professional language training of institution employees as a prerequisite for higher involvement into the international scientific community; 2. training in presentation and communication skills; 3. training in the field of geographic information systems; 4. support of active performances of employees during international scientific conferences; 5. organization of a invited lectures with experts on human-geographical research; 6. support of pedagogical activities; 7. researchers will be supported for internships in geographical institutions abroad; 8. purchase of professional literature will be also supported.
The target group of the project are the geographers from the Department of Environmental Geography of Institute of Geonics Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Spatial models of behaviour in transforming urban environment: time geographical approach

During last 20 years the Czech Republic went through significant changes concerning, apart from other things, the changes in human behaviour that have reflected on divers attitudes and cultural habits of various generations. The submitted project is based on the interdisciplinary approach using the scientific disciplines that are linked and complementary to each other. The fundamental base of the project lies in the sociological and geographical approaches used in time geography that is methodologically inspired by diffusion of innovation theory. The spatial aspect of the project covers the comparison of the model areas selected according to the identification of their diffusion processes (e.g. retail and special market chains and the phenomenon of spending free time). The major objective of the project is to verify whether each phases of the diffusion process create different spatial models of behaviour of certain population segments or not and so to identify, analyze and generalize those models of behaviour with dependence on the urban environment changes.

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To analyze the level of marginalization in the Czech borderland, to state conditions of sustainability of the rural settlement in it, taking into account the development of human potential and to express possibilies of assuming measures of the state and public administration in this field is the aim of the project.

The aim of the project is the study of large woody debris in the stream channels and their riparian zones from the viewpoint of its hydrological, morphological and ecological functions. Research object is large woody debris (LWD) in three model river reaches - individual wood fragments as well as wood jams which block the channel profile. The attention will be paid to the three aspects of LWD: structure, dynamics and function. Structure will be studied by quantification of LWD volume within the channel and riparian zone, classification of pieces and wood jams and its spatial distribution. Dynamics will be studied by defining mechanisms of LWD recruitment, measuring of LWD mass balance, monitoring of in situ LWD decay and dendrochronological dating. Function will be studied by mapping the impacts of LWD on fluvial geomorphology, sedimentology of bedload material and habitat diversity. Interactions between stream-bank and riparian vegetation and hydromorphological processes will be modelled