Activities of the Ombudsperson of the Czech Academy of Sciences

The Czech Academy of Sciences has established the position of ombudsperson, whose aim is to protect all persons working in the CAS community from undesirable conduct and contribute to the creation of a safe, fair and respectful working environment. The ombudsperson’s activities are based on Guideline No. 2 of the Academy Council of the CAS dated 4 February 2025, on the CAS Ombudsman, and on the Code of Conduct of the CAS, which defines standards of ethical and professional conduct.

The ombudsperson protects CAS employees, students and external collaborators from undesirable behaviour regardless of their work relationship or position. Their aim is to strengthen the culture of mutual respect and responsibility, enabling the Czech Academy of Sciences to fulfil its mission to the fullest.

The CAS ombudsperson deals with specific situations involving undesirable behaviour and actively contributes to the creation of preventive measures. The output from the ombudsperson’s activities has the character of a recommendation.

The ombudsperson, in particular:

• raises awareness about a safe working environment and ways to prevent undesirable behaviour, including through education,
• provides assistance and advice to persons that contact them, and, where necessary, refers them to other competent bodies or institutions.
• examines submissions from individuals active within the CAS and CAS institutes, including on their own initiative if they have reasonable grounds to suspect undesirable behaviour.
• can request information from bodies and employees of the CAS or CAS institutes that is necessary for the examination of a submission,
• proposes measures to address specific submissions,
• proposes long-term systemic measures with a preventive effect.

Matters not dealt with by the ombudsperson:

• employment law submissions,
• submissions concerning a breach of internal regulations and processes of the CAS or CAS institutes, unless they fall under the definition of undesirable behaviour according to the Code of Conduct of the CAS,
• submissions concerning a breach of ethics in scientific-research activities. Such submissions are dealt with by the CAS Scientific Integrity Commission,
• reports of unlawful conduct under the Whistleblower Protection Act, unless specifically requested by the relevant person and agreed to by the whistleblower,
• repeated submissions that have already been dismissed and do not provide any new information that could alter the conclusions of the inquiry,
• matters that are the subject of a police investigation or court proceedings,
• the ombudsperson does not interfere with activities and decision-making of CAS bodies and CAS institute bodies, does not decide on the rights and duties of persons, and does not act as an administrative authority.

• Impartiality and independence: The ombudsperson acts impartially and independently and does not take instructions from any persons or bodies in the performance of their duties.  They are directly subordinate to the President of the CAS, which ensures their independence from other employees and organisational units of the CAS.
• Confidentiality: The ombudsperson considers information received from individuals submitting reports to be sensitive data subject to special protection. Without their consent, they do not disclose them to other persons, with the exception of cases necessary for investigating a submission, the fulfilment of legal obligations, or the protection of the rights of others (e.g. duty to report criminal offences).
• Empathetic and participatory approach: The ombudsperson ensures that the dignity of all parties is respected, takes their experience seriously and involves them in the process of finding solutions.
• Ensuring safety: Persons who contact the ombudsperson must not be penalised or disadvantaged in any way for doing so.
• Transparency: When dealing with submissions, the ombudsperson acts according to the law and internal rules, keeps the person submitting the report informed of the progress of the process, and provides adequate information about their own activities.
• Prevention: The ombudsperson prepares measures and educational activities that help prevent undesirable behaviour and promote a safe environment at the CAS.
• Subsidiarity: At CAS institutes where ombudspersons or equivalent bodies have already been established, the CAS ombudsperson intervenes only when a local solution is not appropriate or when requested to provide support by the local ombudsperson or by the institute’s management.

The ombudsperson deals with a wide range of undesirable behaviour, as defined, in particular, in the Code of Conduct of the CAS. This primarily includes:

• Disrespectful behaviour: Behaviour that humiliates, ridicules or disregards another person’s dignity and value.

• Discrimination: Unequal treatment based on sex, gender identity, race, nationality, age, health, marital status, religion, political belief, social origin or membership of a minority group.

• Violence, harassment and bullying: Including, for example, stalking, physical, psychological, economic and/or cyber violence, humiliation, ridicule, excessive burdening with work tasks, defamation or deliberate ignoring.

• Gender-based violence and harassment: Any physical, sexual, psychological, cyber or economic violence targeting women, men, and non-binary persons because of their gender identity. Sexual and sexualised harassment, including unsolicited comments of a sexual nature, unsolicited or humiliating comments evaluating a person’s appearance or diminishing their abilities because they are a woman, man or person of another gender identity.

• Abuse of a managerial position: For example, obtaining undue advantages for oneself or others (favouritism, nepotism), unjustified obstruction of the professional and career development of subordinates, creation of power networks.

At the central level of the CAS, the ombudsperson collaborates, in particular, with:

• the President of the CAS – the ombudsperson keeps the President informed of their activities and submits summary annual reports,
• bodies of the CAS,
• the director of the CAS Head Office and their co-workers – CAS Head Office provides the ombudsperson with administrative, legal, material and technical support,
• the chairman of the Scientific Integrity Committee of the CAS.

Collaboration with CAS Institutes

At the level of CAS institutes, the ombudsperson collaborates with the institute’s bodies, in particular with the director, who provides the necessary collaboration, and with their counterparts at the institutes where an ombudsperson function has been established. The examination of submissions is carried out in close coordination with the director where appropriate and where this does not lead to a conflict of interest.

External Collaboration

In addition to internal partners, the ombudsperson also collaborates with external experts, including the ombudspersons from other institutions.