VENUE

Ústí nad Labem is situated in a mountainous district at the confluence of the Bílina and the Elbe (Labe) Rivers. The city is an important transportation junction (train stations, port, and highway). Ústí nad Labem was mentioned at least in the 10th century as a trading centre and was founded as a town by King Otakar II in the latter part of the 13th century. Through its rich history, it had a close relation with Saxony as well as with northern and central Bohemia. At least since 18th century, it has represented the industrial rise of the Bohemia with its coal mining and industry.
The city history was affected by several wars, such as Hussites Wars, Thirty years War and Napoleon Wars and, most distinctly during the 20th century World Wars which caused - besides population losses - significant disruption of cultural heritage. However, many of cultural monuments remains and are subject to intense tourism, and some other monuments are being reconstructed and renewed. The 90´s were in the whole Czech Republic in sign of social and economic transition after the Velvet revolution (1989) and this caused many changes in demographic and economic structure as well as in cultural background of the city. This is also influenced by the cross-border relations with Germany, esp. Saxony (part of the region belongs to the Euroregion Elbe/Labe).
Nowadays, Ústí nad Labem is still a city of industry, of multicultural relations, but also of contrasting landscape, which attracts tourists from whole country and from abroad.
The University of Jan Evangelista Purkyně (UJEP) was established in Ústí nad Labem in 1991. It bears the name of Jan Evangelista Purkyně (17th December 1787 - 27th August 1869), the well-known North Bohemian and scientist. The university continues to develop his creative work and heritage in the spheres of science, education, and social and cultural life. His versatile and high-minded relationship to his North Bohemian home, his country and all other nations was particularly inspiring. The University of Jan Evangelista Purkyně in Ústí nad Labem, located close to the German border, also pays attention to inter-cultural issues and for that reason the Institute for Slavonic and German Studies was established. It has gradually built up a wider international reputation and there has been a positive reaction to its establishment in other countries.
Faculty of Science was established on the 4th November 2005 as a descendent of Institute of Science, which was founded during the transformation of Faculty of Education in the spring 2005. Currently, Faculty of Science consists of six departments: Department of Biology, Department of Physics, Department of Geography, Department of Chemistry, Department of Informatics and Department of Mathematics. The main focuses of the faculty are education and research, while these are often mutually interconnected. Main research aims are plasma physics, plasma chemistry, thin film physics, computational physics and chemistry, computational methods, biotechnology, microbiology, biology of plants and animals, applied geography, environmental geography synthesizing physical-geographical and socio-geographical aspects of the landscape, organic chemistry, modelling, instrumental methods in analytical chemistry, computer simulation and numerical analysis of problems in compressible flow, radiobiological processes in live cells, and self-assembly imaging.
The history of the geographical section dates back to the foundation of the University. In 1961, a common department of geography, history and natural history was established, shortly afterward separated into single departments. The separate Department of Geography was headed by RNDr. Miroslav Špůr, CSc. (since 1972), Prof. RNDr. Němeček, CSc., Doc. RNDr. Bohuslav Štěpán, CSc., Doc. RNDr. Jaromír Hajer, CSc. (common department of geography and biology). Since 1990 has been the separate Department of Geography headed by: Doc. RNDr. Jan Charvát, CSc. (1990-1991), Doc. RNDr. Ladislav Skokan, CSc. (1991-1999) and since 1999 Doc. RNDr. Jiří Anděl, CSc. In 2005 the Department has been transposed to the newly established Institute of Science, later - 4 November 2005 - transformed into Faculty of Science. Research at the Department focuses on interrelations of natural and social environment and survey of their mutual interdependence. Main aims are research of long-term landscape changes, principle of sustainability, methods of environmental assessment, ecological carrying capacity, landscape potential and landscape planning. Activities of the department are closely related to application through the cooperation with Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports as well as with regional and local administration and research institutes.
The geographical education at the department is concentrated in two main ways: a) teacher-qualification study programs (teaching for primary and secondary schools). The range of subject combinations varies from year to year; in recent years, a choice of 5 – 6 combinations has regularly been offered; b) specialized geographical study programs (Geography of Central Europe, and several recently upcoming structured Bc. and MA study programs).