VTEI / Interview

Interview

Interview with doc. RNDr. Zbyněk Hrkal, CSc., hydrogeologist, writer, and populariser of water management

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The October issue of the VTEI journal deals mainly with groundwater and its management. We therefore discussed the promotion of this topic with a colleague who is engaged in research in groundwater, has been lecturing on hydrogeology
for a long time at the Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, and deals with the topic of water management in his publications. “The main problem in the world is not a physical lack of water, but poverty, illiteracy, and economic backwardness,” says Zbyněk Hrkal.

Interview with Mrs. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Birgit Vogel, ICPDR Executive Secretary

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One of the biggest international activities in water protection is the multilateral cooperation in protecting the Danube. It originally started in the 1980s in the form of the Declaration signed in Bucharest in 1985, which concerned the Danube River itself. In 1992, at the initiative of the European Communities, the internationally supported Danube Environment Programme was launched, covering the entire Danube basin including its tributaries. In parallel, work was underway to prepare a Convention on Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the Danube. The Convention was submitted for signature in Sofia on 29th June
1994 and entered into force on 22nd October 1998. The Contracting Parties to the Convention are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, Ukraine, and the European Union. In August 2022, for the first time, a woman became the Executive Secretary of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) – Prof. Dr.-Ing. Birgit Vogel.

Interview with Ing. Petr Kazda, Director of Partnership Environmental Foundation

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Do you know Tree of the Year, Planting for the Future, and the Adapterra Awards? And do you know what an Open Garden is? Do you use Greenways? All this and much more is related to the Partnership Environmental Foundation in Brno, whose director since 2019 has been Ing. Petr Kazda. Why is climate change a challenge for him that can bring us new opportunities?

Interview with Ing. Tomáš Fojtík, director of the T. G. Masaryk Water Research Institute

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He has been Director of TGM WRI for a year. How does he evaluate this first year and what has he already managed to change for the better in our Institute? How does he remember his twenty years at the Institute as regular employee? And what are his plans and goals for the future regarding the direction of TGM WRI? „I would like to continue fulfilling my vision of creating a recognized and functioning institute of national and European importance as a research base for the field of water management with such a working culture and environment that it would be a target and prestigious workplace for quality and satisfied experts willing to actively cooperate,“ says the Director of our Institute, and newly also the president of the International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe, Ing. Tomá Fojtík.

Interview with RNDr. Radim Tolasz, Ph.D., climatologist of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute

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Today, one individual cannot quickly mitigate the current impact of climate change that the entire world is facing by changing their behaviour. However, the promotion and spread of education is one of the main keys to making positive changes in a significant part of the population. In an interview for VTEI, the Czech representative in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), climatologist RNDr. Radim Tolasz, Ph.D., from the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (CHMI), describes further steps to mitigate the effects of climate change or, for example, his own first professional experience after 1980.

Interview with Mgr. Petr Hladík, Minister of the Environment

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The Minister of the Environment wants to give people the opportunity to live in harmony with nature, and by that he does not mean just planting trees on city streets. Why does Petr Hladík call the Ministry of the Environment the Ministry of the Future? The use of rainwater, solar panels, and deposit PET bottles no longer have to represent an excessively progressive approach, but a standard for returning to our planet at least the minimum of what we take from it. Grey water subsidies? Why should we want it and what will we actually benefit from it? The new Minister of the Environment, Petr Hladík (KDU-ČSL), answers these questions for VTEI journal.

AI – our first interview

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The idea of interviewing artificial intelligence was brought to us by an article from a completely different field than our water management. However, we also had the idea to test the current level of artificial intelligence on topics that are close to our field. Based on examples of questions and generated answers, you can judge for yourself how useful this tool is in water management. The structure of the questions is built from the simplest to the most complicated in the form of comments on the results of forecasting models, or the effectiveness and efficiency of legal regulations and directives. ChatGPT was chosen for communication. However, if one does not try this tool, one has no idea what it is; it is then up to you to assess the interview itself.

Interview with Michal Broža, head of the UN Information Centre in the Czech Republic

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Michal Broža was born on 13 May 1965 in Sušice. He graduated from Charles University in Prague and also studied at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Since 1995, he has worked at the UN in various positions. Since 2004, he has been the head of the UN Information Centre in Prague. He participated in missions in Africa and working stays in the former Yugoslavia and the Middle East. He also
worked as a World Bank consultant and researcher in the private sector. He specializes in UN issues, communication of global risks and megatrends. He is the author and co-author of publications and articles related to these areas, and he also gives lectures.

Interview with Ing. arch. Eva Dvořáková and Ing. arch. Tereza Bartošíková, Ph.D., about protection of technical and industrial cultural heritage in the Czech and Slovak Republik

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As part of the December issue of VTEI, which is entirely devoted to the topic of technical and industrial cultural heritage and the “Programme of applied research and development of national and cultural identity (NAKI II)” of the Ministry of Culture, we asked for an interview with two specialists in this field, Ing. arch. Eva Dvořáková from the National Heritage Institute (Národní památkový ústav, NPÚ) and Ing. arch. Tereza Bartošíková, Ph.D., from the Monuments Board of the Slovak Republic (Pamiatkový úrad Slovenskej republiky, PÚ SR).

Interview with Ing. Eva Juranová, head of the Department of Analysis and Assessment of Environmental Components at TGM WRI

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This article is available in Czech only. For translation or more information on this topic, please contact author. Paní inženýrko, ve svém výzkumu se zaměřujete především na problematiku radioaktivity v životním prostředí. Bylo toto téma již od počátku v centru vaší badatelské pozornosti? Ano, dá se to tak říct. Ve VÚV TGM jsem jako čerstvý absolvent začínala… Read more »

Interview with Mrs. Heide Jekel, President of the International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe

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The day you receive this issue of VTEI magazine, it rarely coincides with the date of the Magdeburg Seminar, organized by the International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe (ICPOL). We therefore take this opportunity to bring you a brief interview with the current President of this Commission, Mrs. Heide Jekel. You can find her biographical profile under the interview.

Education of water managers in Bohemia (and Moravia)

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Ve vodařině se mezi odborníky i veřejností často diskutuje o suchu, povodních, kvalitě vody ke koupání, o zajištění zásobování pitné vody atd., a to vždy podle toho, co zrovna nastane. Je však stejná pozornost věnována například zajištění další generace českých vodohospodářů? Dokáže současný mediální pohled na vodní hospodářství přitáhnout mladé studenty k vodohospodářským oborům? Měl jsem možnost si na toto téma popovídat s panem doc. dr. Ing. Pavlem Fošumpaurem, zástupcem vedoucího katedry hydrotechniky Fakulty stavební ČVUT v Praze.

Interview with Ing. Zbyněk Folk, General Manager of The Ohře River Basin, State-Owned Company

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This article is available in Czech only. For translation or more information on this topic, please contact author. Generálním ředitelem státního podniku Povodí Ohře jste se stal v květnu 2019. Po vašem nástupu do funkce v něm došlo k řadě změn. Které z nich byste označil za největší a jaké cíle si kladete do dalších let? Státní podnik Povodí Ohře… Read more »

Interview with Ing. Jiří Hůlka, Deputy of the National Radiation Protection Institute, p.r.i., in the field of research and development

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Interview with deputy research and development Ing. Jiří Hůlka of the National Radiation Protection Institute, which is a public research institution since 2011, when it was established by the decision of the chairman of the State Office for Nuclear Safety. The interview deals with radiation protection and public research institutions and their issues.