Filip Pertold (CERGE-EI researcher and 2010 PhD in Economics Graduate) has received an Honorary Award for his dedication to the popularization of economic research and its impact on society. Filip has actively participated in a number of projects and activities promoting economic research and CERGE-EI to professionals, students, the business community and the general public. Continue reading CERGE-EI Award for Popularization of Science: an Interview with Filip Pertold
Category Archives: Alumni
CERGE-EI has given us excellent tools to succeed globally
An Interview with Michaela Erbenová (PhD 1997, Czech Republic)
You have recently been elected as the IMF Executive Director for Austria, Belarus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and Turkey. What is your biggest goal for next two years?
After more than 70 years, the Czech Republic can directly influence the decision making of the International Monetary Fund. I am deeply honored to have been given this opportunity to represent the eight countries of our so-called Central and Eastern European Constituency in the IMF Executive Board.[1] Continue reading CERGE-EI has given us excellent tools to succeed globally
JAN KMENTA (1928 – 2016): THE LONG JOURNEY FROM HOME AND BACK
Jan Kmenta started and finished his life in Prague.
Still, his life was everything but provincial – shortly before his final days, in one interview he confessed: I spend one third of each year in Australia, one third in Michigan and one third in Prague. I am very lucky.
Continue reading JAN KMENTA (1928 – 2016): THE LONG JOURNEY FROM HOME AND BACK
Can it be rational to overweight very unlikely events?
In July 2016, Jakub Steiner, CERGE-EI Associate Professor, published an article called “Perceiving Prospects Properly,” co-authored with Colin Stewart, in the American Economic Review. Subsequently, Tim Hyde wrote a short article introducing the main points of the paper, which can be enjoyed below. Continue reading Can it be rational to overweight very unlikely events?
A Night of Gaiety for 25 Years of Satisfaction: CERGE-EI 25th Anniversary Gala
On Friday the 27th of May the CERGE-EI community united once more to commemorate 25 years of world-class economics research and exceptional education. Filled with superb speeches, exquisite cuisine, musical performances, and dancing, this affair was no doubt a delightful occasion for all. Qatar, Spain or Canada, no matter where they reside now, alumni journeyed from near and far to reconnect and revive their student memories. Joined by local faculty, students and staff as well as visiting US members and supporters, all were summoned to take full advantage of the lambent halls of Schebek Palace with a charming spring evening at the 25th Anniversary Gala. Continue reading A Night of Gaiety for 25 Years of Satisfaction: CERGE-EI 25th Anniversary Gala
Interview with Veronika Jelínková on co-founding Metalearners.com and studying MA in Applied Economics at CERGE-EI
Taking a bit of time out of Veronika Jelínková’s busy lifestyle in global innovation hub, San Francisco Bay Area, we caught up with the Czech economist on launching Metalearners.com and studying at CERGE-EI.
Veronika, who studied the MA in Applied Economics at CERGE-EI after graduating from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, recently co-founded Metalerners.com, a movement that connects people who apply metalearning in their work. Metalearning is simply the art of learning anything smarter. It is a complex know-how that includes various areas such as emotional intelligence, biohacking, pareto rule, neuroscience, psychology, biology and other cool fields that help people unlock their superpowers.
Continue reading Interview with Veronika Jelínková on co-founding Metalearners.com and studying MA in Applied Economics at CERGE-EI
The light and dark sides of the shadow economy
It’s not often you get the chance to sit in a room with a collection of today’s most influential minds and hear their thoughts and opinions on current global issues. But that’s what I was able to do this week at a panel discussion in London organized by CERGE-EI Alumni with the Legatum Institute and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. “The Shadow Economy – Impact on Innovation, East and West” was moderated by Edward Lucas, senior editor at The Economist, with contributions from Andrei Kirilenko (MIT), Peter Sanfey (EBRD), Tina Fordham (Citibank), Giles Andrews (Zopa) and CERGE-EI’s own Jan Švejnar. Continue reading The light and dark sides of the shadow economy
Moving On: Recent CERGE-EI Graduates Take Impressive Job Posts
The past three months have been busy ones at CERGE-EI. Since the beginning of June, six CERGE-EI PhD candidates have successfully defended their theses and received their Doctorate in Economic Science. This enormous personal achievement is the culmination of years of hard work, dedication, and an endless thirst for knowledge. It is the pride of the whole CERGE-EI community to recognize these newly minted alumni and commend them for their stellar work and passionate commitment to their studies. They are: Anna Bogomolova, Martin Kuncl, Gurgen Aslanyan, Pavla Vozárová, Sherzod Tashpulatov, and Dragana Stanišić.
With their CERGE-EI doctorate in hand, several of these talented young minds have already secured jobs at impressive institutions across the world:
Martin Kuncl is working as a Senior Analyst at the Bank of Canada. His post is in the Macro-Financial Studies Division of the Canadian Economic Analysis Department.
Gurgen Aslanyan has taken a post as a lecturer at the Dilijan Research and Training Centre of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia.
Pavla (Nikolovová) Vozárová is an Assistant Professor at the Czech Technical University (ČVUT). She is working in the Department of Software Engineering at Faculty of Information Technology.
Dragana Stanišić is working at Accenture, a multinational management consulting firm. She will work as a Research Specialist for Growth and Strategy.
Anna Bogomolova is an assistant professor at the Economics Faculty of Novosibirsk State University.
Learn even more about where CERGE-EI graduates are working here.
Petar Stankov’s 2014 Graduation Gala Speech
About 9 years ago, my world was my cubicle. I was relatively happy with my job at a think-tank in Sofia and I had stable career prospects. But one day I got an email from a friend saying Hey, have a look at this school, you might be the right applicant. I applied, and soon my cubicle was these awesome walls and ceilings in this historical building. But I quickly realized CERGE-EI had much more than a classic cubicle to offer. Between these walls there was substance, there was challenge, there was ambition which matched my personal drive for progress.
CERGE-EI gave me the most powerful combination of tools for personal progress: a critical mind and unmatched determination. That particular frame of mind transformed the dreamer in me into an achiever. CERGE-EI has that special talent: it transforms dreams into goals, and goals — into achievements.
My greatest achievement which I owe to CERGE-EI is that now I can spread its Western education style, spirit and work ethics back in my home country. Now that I am employed full-time in academia, I can influence the people in my department through my research and CERGE-EI has taught me how to do it. My teachers here taught me in the art of asking the right questions and gave me the methods to answer them. My colleagues and friends from here are still the smartest people I have ever met. I learned universes from them. I went to conferences I would not have dreamt of going to; I talked to economists about whom I have only read in textbooks before. Last but not least, the school administration was perhaps the most helpful staff I have ever worked with.
But perhaps even more importantly, I can spread the Western education spirit through my students. CERGE-EI is a well-known place among them. I know that in some of those students lives the same dream that brought me to Prague. They know that they can have a world-class education not so far away from home, and they can get it in a city which immediately embraces you and makes you feel at home. They know that they can shape their future and the future of their country by going West, by coming to CERGE-EI. But part of CERGE-EI’s mission also means coming back and giving your best. That is why some of my students also share my credo which CERGE-EI shaped in me: Go West, Come Back, Kick Ass. Because that’s what we do best.
I thank you all for being a significant part of my life and for being here tonight. And now I wish you one kick-ass evening.
Jan Novotny’s ‘Alumni Speech’ at the 2014 Graduation Gala
Dear fresh graduates, students, professors, honourable guests and alumni, welcome at the second Graduation Gala at our beautiful Schebek Palace.
This is a second year, we all meet here and we can proudly say we have all together established an amazing tradition at CERGE-EI. This event gives us an opportunity to celebrate fresh graduates, for some of you to get a new push to keep the pace towards your future graduation, and for some of us time to recall our memories, when we were graduating. We can just envy that the Graduation Gala was not already back in our times, when we were receiving our diplomas.
With graduation, part of the life ends but a completely new and exciting part just starts. What I have seen around me, many of us started to explore new countries, competing on new markets, exploring completely unimaginable career paths full of uncertainty. After the graduation, we have gone all over the world. Colleagues I was meeting in hallways ended up in the United States, various countries in Europe and even in Asia or Africa. In my case, I got to Cass Business School in London. London is a terribly big city.
Continue reading Jan Novotny’s ‘Alumni Speech’ at the 2014 Graduation Gala