The Representation of the South Moravian Region and its partners are pleased to invite you to the Science Café with Lenka Zychová, an unconventional open discussion focused on the topic of Space weather and you.

Space weather affects our lives essentially every day. In most cases, its consequences will not influence your regular day, as scientists and industry can cope with day-to-day changes. However, space weather can be very stormy and violent. Power outages, damage to satellites, loss of navigation and communications, problems in Internet banking, or a high dose of radiation during the flight is on the standard menu of a strong radiation storm or a geomagnetic storm. To understand the implications of space weather, we will look at the most crucial space weather events that have shocked society in the past.
 
Science Café is a series of popular science lectures and debates with the best Czech scientists, innovators, economists, and other professionals on various current topics. This time, our distinguished guest will be Lenka Zychová, a Czech astrophysicist who currently works as a Space Weather Scientist at Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, Belgium. She works primarily on ESA's Space Weather Service Network project. She and her colleagues provide predictions and information about space weather to people and companies whose work is sensitive to space weather (such as spacecraft operators, aviation, power grids operators, etc.). Lenka received her PhD in Astrophysics at Masaryk University in Brno, where she focused on interstellar matter, particularly on interstellar bubbles and star formation. Science outreach has been her passion for many years; she participated in a few science outreach contests, such as Science Slam or FameLab, where she received British Council & Neuron Award for science outreach. In addition, Lenka founded Astronomical clubs for children in Brno and travelled across the Czech Republic, giving talks about the universe to kids in kindergartens, elementary and high schools. Currently, she is starting her project 'A Touch of Space Weather' to create educational material for visually impaired children. In the meantime, Lenka also worked as a dance instructor and performer, focusing on classical and folkloric dances of Egypt. 
 
The evening will be moderated by Vera Pinto Gomes, who works as a Policy Coordinator and Equality Coordinator at the European Commission Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space (DG DEFIS). She currently works at the Unit responsible for Secure connectivity, Space surveillance and Applications. Vera, whose main area of interest is business development, market development and space innovation, holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science and International Relations from the Nova University of Lisbon.

The event will take place on Tuesday 8 March 2022 at 18:30 CET at StamEuropa, Rue d´Arlon 104, 1000, Brussels.

The event will take place in hybrid mode, so participation is also possible online.

Following the current conditions for organising social events in Belgium, please confirm your attendance via the registration link. Registration is mandatory. 

Please note that this is a Covid-safe event and thus Covid-safe ticket (CST) together with an ID card must be shown when entering this event.