New opportunities for students and research: FT strengthens its partnership with Canada’s Queen’s University 🇨🇦
The partnership between the Faculty of Technology at TBU and Canada’s Queen’s University in Kingston has grown out of shared research interests and a long-term focus on developing new biomaterials. The initial impetus for collaboration came from the work of Dr. Lenka Vítková, who, after completing her doctoral studies under the supervision of Prof. Aleš Mráček, secured a postdoctoral position in the research group of Dr. Kevin De France. In 2023, Prof. Mráček also visited Queen’s University. During his month-long research stay, he consulted on research plans with Canadian colleagues, presented his work to doctoral students at the Department of Chemical Engineering, and, together with Dr. DeFrance, began formulating specific ideas for joint projects and student placements within the Erasmus+ programme. By 2025, the collaboration had already produced visible results – two PhD students from FT, and later a master’s student, travelled to Canada, with two more students expected to join them in 2026. The faculty will also host a visit from Dr. Kevin DeFrance, who will give two expert lectures in Zlín focusing on sustainable biomaterials and the design of functional surfaces and structures. Two scholarly publications are currently being developed based on experiments carried out in his laboratory, examining protein fibres modified with polydopamine and their potential for biomedical applications – ranging from drug delivery systems to new types of biomaterials for tissue engineering. The expanding collaboration with Canada’s Queen’s University is thus opening new opportunities for students, strengthening international research, and promising further joint projects as well as deeper professional ties between the two institutions.
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