Research conducted at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Research at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine is carried out in the form of participation in international projects, national projects, grants obtained from grant agencies and other providers, as well as within institutional research, specific university research (Internal Grant Agency) and grants obtained from contractual research activities. The Faculty achieves unique results in the field of creative activities by supporting excellent research at the Faculty based on international projects and grants, and by creating suitable conditions for research in other fields addressing the needs of society and modern development, with the aim of developing new knowledge and its application in society at the level comparable to other major university and research institutes in Europe and worldwide. The creative activities are funded from institutional support funds, specific research funds as well as from grant agencies (in particular MEYS, GA CR, NAZV, IGA MZ, AZV and others) and contractual research with contracting organizations, institutions and enterprises. FVM is actively involved in the activities of CEITEC – Central European Institute of Technology and International Clinical Research Centre – ICRC Brno.
The long-term strategic goal (for the period of 10 years) is to further develop FVM as a research institution, to expand and improve scientific, research, innovation and other creative activities in the areas of veterinary medicine heading towards the successful acquisition, and completion of projects with applicable outputs.
Continuous fulfilment of these goals is undertaken, for example, by supporting excellent creative activities at the faculty, strengthening the uniqueness of FVM in the area of creative activities focused on veterinary research, participating in building research centres at VFU with a particular focus on defined areas with the potential for utilizing these outputs in internationally recognized scientific journals, supporting the internationalization of creative activities with the involvement of research teams from foreign universities and research institutions, supporting creative activities focusing on the sustainability of the CEITEC project, thus creating links with other excellent research institutes at home and abroad, supporting creative activities within the research projects of ICRC with the aim to further develop knowledge and practices in clinical medicine, supporting projects incorporated in the national grant agencies especially in the areas which reflect the needs of society and modern development of findings, supporting institutional research at FVM with the aim of acquiring new knowledge and its applications at a level comparable to other university and research institutions in Europe and worldwide, supporting specific research at FVM with the aim to extensively involve talented students in research activities, especially through IGA VFU, supporting contractual research for external partners and thus creating conditions for closer research cooperation with practice, supporting cooperation with other universities and research institutions, supporting the commercialisation of results of creative activities, supporting the exchange of scientific knowledge in the form of participation in congresses and conferences in Europe and worldwide, by expanding the mobility of academic staff and students, by integrating students of master’s and doctoral study programmes into research teams, by supporting the expansion of the experimental facilities of FVM for the purpose of performing experimental research and development activities which bring new theoretical knowledge and practical experience and, last but not least, by supporting the creation of spatial, instrumental and material conditions for development of high-level creative activities.
Regarding the current and prospective research directions of the Faculty, the following areas are considered important: a study of the zoonotic potential of selected pathogens, prevention and immunoprophylaxis of serious infectious diseases in animals, development of a system for biosecurity evaluation and livestock health for the production of wholesome raw materials and food of animal origin, an increase of natural resistance of livestock to infections, improvement of embryo transfer methods in livestock, the study of immunogenome of selected animal species, the study of physiological functions at the cellular level, use of biomaterials and nanotechnologies in reparative surgery of soft and hard tissues, medical research in the field of cardiovascular, neurological and oncological diseases, experimental verification of new knowledge in human medicine on appropriate animal models and many others.
Results obtained by means of international grants, grants of Czech grant agencies and results obtained on the basis of institutional support for research organizations and specific university research as well as other projects are applied regularly in the form of publication outputs, especially in internationally recognized quality scientific journals. The Faculty publishes a Yearbook annually, in which publication outputs in the field of scientific, professional and educational areas are listed (publications in scientific journals with impact factor, publications in professional journals, patents, certified methodologies, utility models, contributions to international and national conferences and congresses, educational outputs, monographs and chapters in monographs, textbooks, chapters in textbooks and doctoral dissertations).
From the total number of scientific publications with impact factor, a three-year comparison of the number and classification of published papers into qualitative categories shows an increase in publication outputs in Q1/Q2 journals and a reciprocal decrease in publications in Q3/Q4 journals, with more than 50% of them being published annually in Q1/Q2 quartile journals. The significance of incorporating the faculty’s creative activities in the national and international context is evidenced by a number of outputs and results published in cooperation with international and domestic workplaces. Examples of applied research outputs are: Patent - 3D collagen porous composite cell carriers for accelerated bone regeneration; Patent: HEP, A., KUBĚNA, P., NEČAS, A. Overdraught tube for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography; Certified methodology: the proof of swine cytomegalovirus (PCMV). Academic staff of the Faculty are awarded prestigious international as well as Czech prizes in the field of science and research, for example, Prof. RNDr. Eva Matalová, Ph.D. (UNESCO/L’Oreal Award, 2015), MVDr. Michaela Paninárová, Ph.D. (European Association of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging Award, 2016), MVDr. Martin Faldyna, Ph.D. (ČAZV Award for contribution to the development of science and research and for the achieved results usable in the agrarian sector, 2017).
The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine annually organizes or participates in the organization of scientific and professional conferences with international participation, seminars and workshops that enable the gathering of academic and scientific staff from the scientific, research and application domain. For example, the annual autumn FVM Conference for veterinarians and students focused on current topics centred around small animal medicine (e.g. Gastroenterology in dogs and cats, Cardiology of small animals), the annually co-organized Buiatric Conference with international participation in cooperation with the Czech Society of Buiatrics, which takes place twice a year and focuses on a number of topics in the field of disease and preventive medicine of small and large ruminants (e.g. Acute medicine in ruminants, Revolution in the prevention of mastitis). The academic staff of the Faculty actively participate in several other conferences and seminars organized in the Czech Republic (e.g. Vetmeeting, Exotic and Wildlife Animals and Zoo Animals and others). The faculty also annually organizes the Final Conference of the Internal Grant Agency (IGA), where the results of research done by students of doctoral and master’s degree programmes within the specific university research are presented. Specific university research carried out by students represents a direct interconnection between the scientific and research activities of the faculty, and its educational activities, which strengthens the position of students in the scientific and research domain of the Faculty and provides further possibilities in the area of scientific exploration to students as part of their education at the Faculty.
doc. MVDr. Michal Crha, Ph.D., Dean of FVM
