The Department of Physical Electronics will change its name from September 1

1 Sep 2023 Bohumila Tesaříková

The reason for the change is primarily the fact that the original name no longer fully corresponded with what the Department of Physical Electronics has been working on in recent years. “For more than twenty years, the name has been the Department of Physical Electronics. However, the main thrust of our work is now based around research in the field of physics of electrical discharges and low-temperature non-equilibrium plasma and its applications, including solutions to current technological problems. Thus, the new name, the Department of Physics and Plasma Technologies, more aptly reflects the current focus of the department’s scientific focus”, explained DPPT director Petr Vašina.

Before changing the name of the department, a broad discussion was held and employees were invited to submit proposals. The debate ran in two phases, with the three best names for the department chosen in the first phase and a discussion by the employees on these three proposals in the second. A clear majority expressed their opinion in favour of the Department of Plasma Physics and Technology (‘Ústav fyziky a technologií plazmatu‘ in Czech). The name is apt and covers most of the institute’s activities very well. The longest discussion took place over the word “technology”. The Director of the Department, Petr Vašina, summarised why this term is important in the name: “our traditional strength is basic research in plasma physics and we are the most important contributor from the Czech Republic to the most prestigious journal in the field. In recent years, we have even been ranked eighth best contributor in a global comparison. The results of such high-level basic research are subsequently transformed into industrial applications in cooperation with industrial partners in the Czech Republic and abroad. We provide environmentally friendly and economically significant solutions for the preparation of new advanced materials or refinement of the surfaces of traditional materials. This strategy is common in countries with a high level of innovation, but among Czech research organisations, even within our parent Masaryk University, we are relatively unique in this way of work. A name without “technology” would not reflect this strong point of ours. People often ask me how useful we are, and I always surprise them with how many companies we cooperate with and the practical things we have already achieved”.

Changing the name of the department is understandably associated with many administrative tasks. The replacement of outdoor orientation signs at the Kotlářská campus is already being addressed by TOO (Technical and Operational Office) workers, while the name will be changed in the university’s IS, INET and Rumbur systems on the night of August 31st to September 1st, 2023. Though the names will be automatically revised, it is possible that the changes will not always be reflected in the university systems, especially where the information must be entered manually; any such cases will be gradually corrected. For employees of the department, the change primarily means the necessity to gradually get used to the new name and to start using it everywhere, from writing projects to changing their signatures in an email.