Lancaster’s connections to the Czech Republic were celebrated last week when Lancaster University hosted the UK’s Consulate General of the Czech Republic.

David Frous, the Consul General of the Czech Republic in Manchester, was invited to Lancaster by Professor Radka Newton from Lancaster University Management School (LUMS), who is an active member of the Czech community in the North West.

Professor Newton moved to Lancaster from the Czech Republic over two decades ago and together with colleague and fellow Czech national, Professor Vaclav Brezina, wanted to showcase the incredible work ongoing by the Czech community both in Lancaster University and across the wider city.

Both Czech academics shared their expertise by highlighting Lancaster global leadership in corpus linguistics and advancement in management learning.

Professor Newton said: “Being able to showcase the academic partnerships and collaborative research that Vaclav and I continue to develop with Czech universities has been a proud moment for us. We are grateful for the attention Mr Frous has showed in his very first year to visit us in Lancaster, and we hope this is the first of many visits.”

In addition to meeting with Professor Newton and Professor Brezina who both head up leading Research Centres at Lancaster University, Mr Frous met with Lancaster University’s Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Rebecca Lingwood, and senior management team to discuss the civic role of universities in boosting their regional communities.

[(L-R) Professor Rebecca Lingwood, David Frous, Professor Radka Newton, Professor Vaclav Brezina, Sarah Rees, Head of Stakeholder Relations]

Discussions centred on the civic role of universities in regional development and highlighted mutual interests in cybersecurity and the nuclear industry. These themes are particularly timely given the recent Rolls-Royce partnership with Czech nuclear plants, which sparked conversation on potential future collaborations with Lancaster University.

Mr Frous also met with LUMS’ Department of Entrepreneurship and Strategy to talk about the ‘entrepreneurial ecosystem’ of the Lancaster and Morecambe region, before meeting the leader of Lancaster City Council to talk about regional development. The day finished with Mr Frous meeting Matt Jackson, founder and joint owner of Lancaster Brewery and Entrepreneur in Residence at Lancaster University Management School, to discuss the similarities between Lancaster and Czech beer culture.

[David Frous (second from left) pictured with Matt Jackson and Professor Vaclav Brezina watching a demonstration at Lancaster Brewery]

David Frous said: “I have been taken aback by the strong sense of community and the collaborative spirit that exists across all areas of the University, as well as the close links between the city and the campus. Lancaster is a prime example of a civic anchor institution—something from which Czech higher education institutions can take inspiration.”

Professor Radka Newton is a Director of Centre for Scholarship and Innovation in Management Education - Lancaster University

Professor Vaclav Brezina is a Co-Director of ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science (CASS) - Lancaster University