prof. Ing. Jiří Málek, DrSc.

After completing his doctoral studies in 1996, prof. Ing. Jiří Málek, DrSc. worked as a researcher at the Joint Laboratory of Solid State Chemistry of the CAS and the University of Chemical Technology in Pardubice. He has completed several long-term fellowships at research institutes in Spain and Japan (almost 6 years). He has worked as the principal investigator of research projects since 1990. He organises university collaboration with the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan. He has participated for many years in organisation of research in the Czech Republic within the framework of the Research, Development and Innovation Council, the Committee for Evaluation of Results and the Czech Science Foundation, etc. He works as a reviewer for a number of international journals. In 2006-2010 and 2018-2021, he served as Rector of the University of Pardubice and also as Vice Chairman of the Czech Rectors Conference. He currently serves as Vice President of the International Confederation for Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry.

Scientific interest

• Structural relaxation of non-crystalline materials
• Kinetics of crystal growth in supercooled liquids
• Viscosity of chalcogenide glass forming systems

Scientific activities

Prof. Málek deals with complex kinetic processes in supercooled glass-forming liquids and in chalcogenide glass materials. The main object of his interest is nucleation and growth of crystalline phases far from equilibrium. Another area of his detailed study is structural relaxation and long-term stability of physical properties of glassy materials. These kinetic processes are closely related to the viscosity of glass-forming liquids, which is also studied in great detail at the workplace of prof. Málek. Detailed knowledge of structural relaxation, nucleation-growth processes and viscosity behaviour of supercooled glass-forming liquids is of key importance for the targeted preparation of functional non-crystalline materials usable in electronics, photonics, optics and recording media.

Prominent international cooperation

• Supervisor of “International Cooperative Graduate Program” – NIMS, Tsukuba, Japan
• Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales, Sevilla, Spain
• Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

Bibliometric indicators

Number of papers 202, H-index 39, Total number of citations > 7 540

Two most important projects carried out from the position of principal investigator or co‑investigator

• Reversible crystallization and structural relaxation in amorphous materials for data recording media, 2011 – 2015, Czech Science Foundation (GACR) (GAP106/11/1152)
• Viscosity and kinetic phenomena in glass-forming systems, 2016 – 2018, Czech Science Foundation (GACR) (GA16-10562S)

Two most important publications

• Barták J., Málek J., Bagchi K., Ediger M. D., Li ZH, Yu L.: Surface mobility in amorphous selenium and comparison with organic molecular glasses, Journal of Chemical Physics, 154 (2021) Art. No. 074703
• Málek J.: Structural relaxation in chalcogenide glasses, Journal of American Ceramic Society, 106 (2023) 1739 - 1747

Awards

• Distinguished TA&C Researcher in Central and Eastern Europe, CEEC-TAC (2013)
• Eugen Segal Award, European Symposium on Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (2018)