RNDr. Štefan Vajda, CSc., Dr. habil.
Member of the Academy Council
- Responsible for the coordination of participation of the CAS in the European Research Area and related national projects and programmes in cooperation with relevant state authorities, including grant administration agenda in this area.
- Coordination and organisation of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research cooperation, including international cooperation.
- Deputy for international cooperation of the CAS.
- Deputy for project cooperation with the Technology Centre Prague.
Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry
Štefan Vajda completed his studies of physical chemistry at the Faculty of Science of Charles University in 1985, where he also earned his PhD degree (Candidate of Science) in chemistry in 1990. In 2003, he habilitated in experimental physics at the Freie Universität Berlin.
From 1989 to 1994, he worked as a researcher at the Faculty of Science of Charles University, then from 1994 to 1995 at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University. While at the Faculty of Science, he spent a year at the University of Chicago as a Fulbright Scholar.
From 1995 to 2002, Štefan Vajda worked at the Institute of Physics of Freie Universität Berlin as a researcher and C1 assistant. In 2002, he moved to Argonne National Laboratory US, where he until 2018 led a team of experimentalists focusing on the studies of catalytic properties of subnanometer clusters ad small nanoparticles. In 2018, Štefan Vajda was on a detail assignment from Argonne National Laboratory to the US Department of Energy, Basic Energy Sciences, co-managing the university grant portfolio of the Separation Science Program of the Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences Division of Basic Energy Sciences. After returning to Prague in 2019, he established the Department of Nanocatalysis at the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry. Since 2019, he has served as the head of the Department and also holds the position of the J. Heyrovský ERA Chair within the ERA Chair project funded by the European Commission.
In the Department of Nanocatalysis, Štefan Vajda and his international team investigate the catalytic propensities of particles smaller than one nanometer in size, the so-called clusters. These tiny particles can exhibit unique catalytic properties, including speeding up chemical reactions and directing their path to the desired products. Research in the new Department has its primary focus on the identification and understanding of the function of new catalysts in various processes, including those relevant for industry or protection of the environment.
Štefan Vajda has published over 110 papers and book chapters, he is the inventor of 6 US patents. His publications reached about 5500 citations. He presented over 80 invited talks at international conferences, including 7 plenary talks and 11 keynotes.| Phone: +420 221 403 506 |
E-mail: vajda@kav.cas.cz |