INTERNATIONALISATION OF RESEARCH
University Hospitals’ Perspective

14 October 2026 | Syllaba Hall, Third Faculty of Medicine, Vinohrady Medical Campus, Ruská 87, Prague, Czechia

Hosted by Kralovske Vinohrady University Hospital & Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University

Organized within the project Development of the Research Environment at Kralovske Vinohrady University Hospital, Reg. No. CZ.02.01.01/00/23_026/0011373. Co-funded by the European Union and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic.

About the Conference

University hospitals across Central and Eastern Europe face a shared challenge: building research capacity and international partnerships within institutions primarily structured around clinical care. This conference brings together internationalization leaders, researchers, and institutional decision-makers from university hospitals across the region to share strategies and experiences — moving from institutional approaches, through the experience of an established alliance, to the lived reality of researchers themselves, and finally to lessons from institutions further along the internationalization path.

Welcome remarks by Prof. Petr Toušek, Director of Research at Kralovske Vinohrady University Hospital, and Prof. Jan Trnka, Dean of the Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University.

This opening session brings together university hospitals from across Central and Eastern Europe to share how each approaches international research collaboration. Each institution offers a short presentation on its own experience – its priorities, the structures it has put in place, and the practical realities of building international partnerships in its national context.

Rather than a single model, the session aims to surface the diversity of approaches across the region, and to identify the shared challenges and opportunities that emerge when these experiences are placed side by side.

Speakers: Michael Peterlunger, AKH Wien (Austria); Prof. Béla Merkely, Semmelweis University (Hungary); Assoc. Prof. Mariia Ovdii, Head of the Department of Rehabilitation, University Clinic, O.O. Bogomolets National Medical University (Ukraine); Prof. Jan Gojda, Kralovske Vinohrady University Hospital (Czechia)

This session offers an inside view of the European University Hospital Alliance – how a network of major university hospitals operates in practice, and what its experience can offer to institutions considering closer regional cooperation. It looks at how the Alliance came about, how it is governed and coordinated day to day, and the benefits and challenges member hospitals have encountered along the way.

Speakers: Michael Peterlunger, European University Hospital Alliance; Dr. Anna von Santen, European University Hospital Alliance

This session moves from institutional structures to lived experience. Three researchers at different stages of their careers reflect on how international collaboration has shaped their work — what it made possible, what it demanded, and how its role shifts as a career develops.

Presented side by side, the three accounts allow the experience of internationalisation to be seen across career stages – from a researcher taking first international steps, through one building an independent profile, to one with an established international standing.

Speakers: Assoc. Prof. Radek Kaiser (senior); Dr. Pavla Tichá (mid-level); Dr. Kateřina Koudelková (entry-level)

This closing session presents the perspective of an established international office at a leading European university hospital. It focuses on concrete examples of internationalisation in practice – initiatives, partnerships, and support structures that have proven successful over time, and what of this experience is transferable to university hospitals earlier in their internationalization journey.

Speaker: Dr. Anna von Santen, Charité