Science and research

The research activities of the National Museum in 2023 took place in the form of basic and applied research in the natural and social sciences. In the case of the concept of Institutional Support for the Long-Term Development of Research Organizations (IP DKRVO), 26 research areas with 100 partial and more than 70 goals that can be monitored were addressed. At the same time, the National Museum dealt with 26 projects of various subsidy programs and focus. In 2023, the institution submitted and reported more than 310 publications and applied outputs to the Register of Information on Results (RIV). For example, 104 articles published in prestigious impact journals, 37 books and 11 applied research results (7 specialised public databases, 2 audiovisual productions, 1 semi-production and 1 exhibition with a critical catalogue) were produced within the IP DKRVO framework. The National Museum staff also presented the results of their scientific research activities in 124 papers presented at professional conferences, seminars and workshops. Out of these, 54 were foreign scientific events and 70 were events held in the Czech Republic.

In 2023, the National Museum successfully completed the IP DKRVO five-year cycle, during which it consolidated its position as a leading scientific institution within the Ministry of Culture and a significant institution among other research organizations of other ministries. During this period, among other things, it reported more than 1,500 results of all types of funding to RIV, including 1,224 outputs (472 impacted articles, 182 articles indexed in the Scopus database, 365 scientific articles, 97 scientific books, 46 results of applied research). This success was then organically followed up by the preparation of the Concept for the Development of the National Museum Research Organisation for the years 2024-2028, which received the highest possible rating of “A”, namely 92 points out of 100.

Among the most important scientific discoveries of the institution’s staff in 2023 was the discovery of a new genus and species of the fungus Cyphelloporia bialoviesensis from the Belavezhskaya Forest in Poland, in which the National Museum’s mycologists participated in cooperation with scientists from Masaryk University in Brno, the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and Polish and Hungarian experts. Other unique findings include the discovery of a previously unknown species of the prehistoric beast Fejfarictis valecensis from Valč in the Karlovy Vary region by palaeontologists from the National Museum, the Faculty of Science of the Charles University, the Czech Geological Survey and the French University of Poitiers. The discovery, representing the only record of the species worldwide and proving the oldest migration of felids into Europe, will become part of the National Museum's “Windows into Prehistory” exhibition in 2024.

In 2023, the National Museum achieved an outstanding success in the Quality Results Collection (QRC), one of the five evaluation modules for assessing a research organisation. Out of seven possible nominations (3 WoS,
4 non-bibliometric), two results were rated “1 – world leading” and five results were rated “2 – international excellence” based on peer review and committee. This is a historic achievement for the National Museum. All professional units of the museum are represented in the results.