Scholarship program

The scholarship program is intended for students of natural and technical disciplines at secondary schools and universities. Under this program, for two school years it has already distributed scholarships among 88 secondary school and university students of science and technology amounting in total to CZK 3.3 million.

Grant program

The grant program for secondary schools, through which the Foundation supports schools in purchasing technical equipment and organizing student-run projects within school clubs and seminars. In this program, it has already distributed CZK 2.7 million among twelve secondary schools across the country to support educational and scientific activities.

Scientific projects

Scientific projects that enable students to participate in international engineering teams working on interesting tasks and to expand their practical experience in the field of manufacturing or applied research.
One of such scientific projects is Horizon Grand Prix, an educational project focused on technical education of secondary school students. Last year, the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation supported three schools that applied by purchasing for them the necessary hardware to assemble a hydrogen-powered car. This year, it is already supporting six such schools.
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PC Market

Other projects pursued by the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation are:
PC Market, the aim of which is to put to good use refurbished computers that used to be in service of the Unipetrol Group staff. The ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation plans to distribute around 300 computers among 16 primary schools. The first school to receive the donation was the Meziboří Elementary and Nursery School, which obtained 20 PCs from the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation.
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Chemical Swap Meet

Chemical Swap Meet, during which the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation donates to schools used but functional and safe chemical and laboratory equipment often unavailable to schools due to its high cost.

EDUbus

EDUbus, , a unique mobile polytechnic laboratory, where pupils can try out a variety of chemical experiments in a fun way and take a peek at modern teaching of chemistry. The Foundation has already organized two roadshows in which EDUbus visited some 35 primary schools. The program offers include a free afternoon workshop for educators conducted by the EDUteam with the support of the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation.

EDUbus also offers seminars focusing on polytechnics and robotics, its own robots for the youngest pupils of primary schools, such as the ozobot, LEGO WeDo for secondary schools, and also links teaching with modern technologies, smartphones and tablets.

It is a unique opportunity to get acquainted with modern teaching styles; topics for the afternoon seminars for educators include:

1. Practical use of the tablet classroom employing the BYOD model in teaching with the connection to modern imaging technology. Learning content for the classwork and its connection to the CLOUD.
2. Wireless measuring technology for teaching chemistry, physics, biology and geography
3. Use of electronic construction kits in teaching physics
4. Stereoscopic microscopy
5. Robotics from 1st to 9th grade (ozobot, LEGO WeDo, WEX IQ, etc.)
6. Simple augmented reality
7. An idea book for simple experiments without expensive aids

Wonderful Day with Chemistry

Another successful project of the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation is the Wonderful Day with Chemistry. The aim of the project is to show pupils of primary schools and gymnasiums in a fun way that chemistry is a modern and attractive area, the study of which brings an infinite number of discoveries, and it is a great opportunity for future employment. We support secondary schools and universities, as well as their students, but at the same time we realize that primary school is often crucial in developing the love for chemistry. And because the today’s children are more demanding in terms of methods of conveying information, we tried to come up with this concept, which is not only suitable for general audience, but, most importantly, entertaining.

This event has a huge response and is of enormous interest to both schools and students. In 2018, the Wonderful Day with Chemistry was attended by more than 1900 children. Since every three-hour show is streamed on Facebook and we plan to stream it also on YouTube since 2019, the impact is much broader. On average, live broadcasts are watched by 4,000 viewers, not for the whole duration, but many rejoin during the broadcast.

Fridays with Science

“Fridays with Science” is a joint project of the Foundation and the Josef Jungmann’s Gymnasium in Litoměřice, which supports students’ interest in science and research through regular lectures by prominent scientists. On March 29, 2019, the seventh meeting with the students took place.

To this point, several prominent figures from the field of science and research have become part of the Fridays with Science project: Dr. Michael Londesborough, a scientist of British origin from the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences,, prof. RNDr. Jan Černý, Ph.D., a Czech immunologist and pedagogue at the Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, prof. RNDr. Helena Illnerová DrSc. an important physiologist, biochemist and former chairwoman of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Jiří Devát, who has been an important manager in the Czech economy over the past two decades. Martin Růžička, a member of PKN ORLEN Group, who is in charge of the Research and Development Section. Jan Havlík, an inorganic chemist and an enthusiastic promoter of natural sciences. The latest guest of the project was Doc. Ing. Zdeňka Kolská, PhD., who currently works at the Material Center of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem in the field of physical chemistry specializing, among other things, on surface properties of nanostructured materials.

The ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation is also engaged in supporting culture. This year, in cooperation with Polish partners, the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation will support the PZKO Festival and Kudowa Festival. The ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation sponsors a festival that will be held by the Polish Cultural and Educational Association on May 25, 2019 in Třinec. The aim of the sponsoring is to deepen and support cooperation between the Czech Republic and Poland. The festival will feature folklore groups, singing and dancing troupes, as well as the finalists of the Children’s Song Festival, and Czech-Polish folk and rock bands.

Merchandising

Last but not least, the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation is engaged in merchandising activities. A campaign called Be Chic and Help started mid-November with the collaboration of the actress and painter Kateřina Kaira Harachovcová, who created the design for a T-shirt sold by the Foundation. The proceeds from the sales will be used to fund a program for educators aimed at competency development. The T-shirt will be available to order at the Foundation website www.nadaceunipetrol.cz. Other celebrities are also involved in the campaign.

Members of the Foundation’s Board of Directors are:

Katarzyna Woś – Chairwoman of the Board
Prof.inż. Karel Melzoch, CSc. – Member of the Board of Directors
Doc. inż. Tomáš Herink, PhD. – Member of the Board of Directors
www.nadaceunipetrol.cz