Welcome to the website of the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (FLD CZU). We provide a comprehensive forestry education system to encourage and support rational forest management and sustainable utilization of its huge natural resources. Our Faculty has become a respected international research centre. Much of the research undertaken by the Faculty is published in academic journals, presented at conferences, congresses and in educational programmes in the public media as well. In our classes, students learn both in-depth theory and practice to be well-prepared for future challenges in forestry, wood processing industry and research. Our students are achieving almost 100% employment.
In 2019 the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences celebrated the centenary of its existence. It is divided into nine departments, which cover the entire field of education, science, and cooperation with practice in the field of forestry and wood processing. FLD offers students a three-level education. It also acts as an international science and research workplace and places great emphasis on ensuring that the results of research immediately help in forestry and wood processing practice and get into recognized professional journals, conferences, and congresses, as well as educational programmes in the media.
One of the long-term and strategic goals of the CZU FLD is to strengthen and deepen excellent outputs in science and research. The Faculty also achieves this thanks to the EXTEMIT-K and EVA 4.0 projects funded by the European Union within the Operational Programme Research, Development and Education.
In 2019, the Faculty completed the educational and technology centre, which is one of the best university centres in Central Europe thanks to the most modern technologies and equipment.
HISTORY OF THE FACULTY
From 1848, Forestry Sciences were taught at Prague Polytechnic, but only after the establishment of an independent Czechoslovakia was a separate branch of Forest Engineering established. The Faculty thus derives its origins from 1919, and in modern history it has been a part of the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague since 1990.
Our successes
The Faculty coordinated an international team of scientists who prepared a report with recommendations for mitigating the effects of bark beetle calamities in Europe for the European Forestry Institute (EFI).
Thanks to the EXTEMIT–K project, which focuses on solving current and future problems in forest ecosystems in the Czech Republic caused by climate change, scientists are investigating a method of monitoring bark beetle in Czech forests that has not yet been used. The way in which a dog can detect an infested tree in time could, in the future, after adapting to our conditions, protect hundreds of hectares of forest stands.
We strengthen and deepen excellent outputs in science and research. As part of the international EVA 4.0 project, which aims to build a Centre for Excellent Research focusing on major scientific issues addressed by the Faculty, state-of-the-art instruments are acquired such as an instrument for isotope detection in biology of important elements, the most modern liquid chromatograph, and growth chambers.
Scientists from our Faculty are researching new types of biomaterials.
Thanks to genetics, we are able to grow new tree species that are more resistant to climatic conditions. Faculty staff also deal with the neglected issue of introduced and less represented domestic tree species, which they study in terms of environmental effects.
Teams of our scientists describe new species of animals, such as a new species of the wood-eating termite with cracking mandibles. The unique termite discovered in Cameroon was named Roisinitermes ebogoensis.
Experts from our Faculty participated in the research of African swine fever in wild boar and in stopping the spread of the disease in the Czech Republic. The intention was to create a ring around the outbreak of the disease with a width of at least 20 to 50 kilometres, where there will be a low population density of animals. Thus, the wild boar cannot transmit the disease to other parts of the country.
STUDENTS AND GRADUATES
Our students gain excellent theoretical and practical training for top employment in the forestry and wood processing industry and in research. During the existence of the Faculty, it has been successfully completed by over 8,000 graduates. Currently, almost 2,000 students study with us. We boast a long tradition of international relations and our students can spend a part of their studies abroad, at our partner institutions. Broadening their horizons helps the students develop their vision and mission statements and define their success.
doc. Ing. Jaroslav Klápště, Ph.D.
Jaroslav Klápště is mainly engaged in research abroad; at the same time he constantly cooperates with the CZU. In Vancouver, he worked under Professor El-Kassaby, where he focused primarily on association mapping to find genetic mutations responsible for the phenotypic variability of the representation of individual chemical components in cell walls and wood fibre structure. He has currently moved to New Zealand, where his main task is to create a complete infrastructure for the implementation of genomic selection in operational breeding programmes.
Ing. Dagmar Zádrapová
Dagmar Zádrapová studied a Master's degree in Nature Conservation at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, where she was interested in subjects related to forestry and forest protection, and became interested mainly in population genetics. During her studies, she established contact with the FLD, where she wrote a diploma thesis at the Department of Genetics and Physiology of Forest Trees. Her work won the prestigious Academia Publishing House award for young talents of Czech science. After completing her Master's degree, she joined this department in the doctoral programme in Forest Biology. She is currently working on research of the Norway spruce epigenome.
Ing. Et Ing. Štěpán Hýsek, Ph.D.
Štěpán Hýsek studied Wood Science at FLD. He spent the fourth year of his studies at BOKU (Universität für Bodenkultur Wien), where he worked under the guidance of Prof. Wimmer on his diploma thesis, for which he subsequently won the award of "Talents of Josef, Marie and Zdeňka Hlávková" foundation. As part of his doctoral studies, where he studied composite materials from alternative raw materials on the basis of lignin and cellulose, he received a DAAD grant (Research Grant for Doctoral Candidates and Young Academics and Scientists), which enabled him have a one-year research internship at the IHD research institute in Dresden. During his doctoral studies, he twice won the Rector's Award for the best publication results of doctoral students' research work. He is currently working as a postdoctoral student on the prestigious project of excellent research EVA4.0.
Ing. Meryem Tahri, Ph.D.
Meryem Tahri is a research scientist and postdoctoral student at the FLD, CZU in Prague, focusing on the development of decision support systems in forest management and natural resources. She works at the Department of Forest Management. The results of her work have a direct impact on the planning of natural resource management and the assessment of risks arising from their use. She studied industrial engineering and doctoral studies in the field of Geoscience and Environment at the University of Casablanca in Morocco. She also completed an international internship at the University of Nantes in France and IHE Delft in the Netherlands. She has participated in a number of international communications and training programmes. She came to Prague to strengthen and share her scientific experience with foreign scientists and collaborators from our Faculty.
We boast a long tradition of international relations and our students can spend a part of their studies abroad, at our partner institutions. Broadening their horizons helps the students develop their vision and mission statements and define their success.
