Professor Miroslav Černík has received the highest Czech scientific award – the Czechia. The jury recognised his more than thirty years of work in the field of contaminated water treatment, remediation technologies and the application of nanomaterials in the environment.
“I greatly appreciate this award,” says Černík. “I also take it as proof that clean water and a clean environment are coming to the fore and have been the number one topic in society and the scientific community in recent years.”
Water that cleans itself
Černík and his team are behind technologies that have fundamentally changed the way we look at how to clean water affected by the industrial legacy of the 20th century.
The basic principle is the Wetland+® technology, which has already been recognised in the European LIFE AWARDS 2025 competition.
The CXI team put the technology for cleaning water from pesticides into practice through the LIFEPOPWAT project. This is an example of a natural-based solution – a water purification technology that uses natural processes. These act as a living filter in which microorganisms break down hazardous substances, while the entire ecosystem supports the biodiversity of the landscape.
This method can remove pesticides, specifically hexachlorocyclohexanes, known as lindanes, which were banned by the Stockholm Convention but are still found in hundreds of locations around the world.
From Hájek to Jaworzno
In the Czech Republic, the technology was first deployed in 2021 at the Hájek quarry near Karlovy Vary – a site where waste from pesticide production at Spolana Neratovice ended up in the 1960s and 1970s. A total of up to 5,000 tonnes of toxic HCH isomers were stored here.
Thanks to the system developed at CXI TUL, almost 100% purified water now flows from these sites.
„Two years later, we deployed the same technology in Jaworzno, Poland, another site contaminated with pesticides. Everything is fine-tuned, the system is still running, and we have almost 100% purified water at the outlet,“ adds Černík.
This success has paved the way for other European projects, such as LIFE4ZOO, which is transferring the principles of natural treatment plants to zoos in Liberec and Barcelona.
Czech Heads at TUL
With this award, the Technical University of Liberec adds a third name to the Czech Heads Hall of Fame.
In addition to Professor Černík, Oldřich Jirsák (2006, Škoda Auto Award) and Luboš Hes (2015, Ministry of Industry and Trade Award) have also received this award in the past.
CXI TUL thus reaffirms that cutting-edge science does not have to originate in Prague or Brno, but can also come from a regional city that has the courage to combine natural processes with modern technology.
A recording of the Česká hlava 2025 gala evening will be broadcast on ČT2 on Saturday, 8 November, at 6:10 p.m.