Fulbright Reality Czech

Amil Khattar is a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. Armed with an MS in Sports Marketing, the founder’s mindset of someone who has launched two companies, the energy of a social media and marketing wizard, the stage presence of a stand-up comedian, and the endurance of an avid runner, Amil brings an impressive mix of talents wherever he goes. In his Fulbright ETA application, he named Emil Zátopek and Tomáš Baťa as his role models, admiring their discipline, vision, and determination. So when the Tomáš Baťa Business Academy in Zlín applied to host an ETA for the 2025–2026 academic year, it felt like destiny had done the matchmaking itself. Amil's secret to integrating into life in Zlín? Saying “yes” to even the most random invitations - a strategy that has earned him countless local friendships, unforgettable experiences, and probably a few stories worthy of his next stand-up routine.    The mantra I tried to live by during my time here in Zlín, Czech Republic is...

Petr Liška is a physical engineer. But the world he works in is almost unimaginably small: he studies materials so thin they are only a few atoms thick, exploring how they can manipulate light through quantum phenomena that continue to work even at room temperature. The vision behind his research sounds almost futuristic, creating an electrically controllable optical component thinner than a strand of human hair by a factor of one hundred thousand. Originally from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Brno University of Technology, Petr is currently spending the academic year at Stanford University in California as a Fulbright Visiting Student. Yet this story is not only about cutting-edge science. It is also about moving across the world with a wife and a newborn daughter, adjusting to life under the Californian sun, discovering how everyday kindness can shape one’s state of mind, and perhaps unexpectedly realizing what people back home in the Czech Republic often take for gran...

Milan Heczko je materiálový vědec se specializací na tzv. strukturní materiály využívané v letectví, kosmonautice a automobilovém průmyslu. Akademický rok 2016/2017 strávil jako stipendista Fulbrightova programu na The Ohio State University ve skupině uznávaného profesora Michaela J. Millse. Tato spolupráce zásadně ovlivnila jeho další odborné směřování. Několik let po návratu z Fulbrightu se na americkou univerzitu vrátil a později se stal součástí výzkumného týmu pod vedením NASA, který se zabývá vývojem 3D tištěných slitin vhodných pro použití v extrémních podmínkách. Výsledky této práce byly publikovány v časopise Nature a oceněny magazínem R&D World jako jeden z nejvýznamnějších vynálezů roku 2023. V současnosti působí zpět v České republice na Ústavu fyziky materiálů Akademie věd ČR mimo jiné díky grantu GAČR Junior Star, který podporuje návrat mladých vědců ze zahraničí. Na zkušenosti ze Spojených států však stále navazuje a pravidelně se tam vrací, a to jak kvůli špičkovému...

Hana Konečná  je středoškolská učitelka. Na Integrované střední škole Moravská Třebová učí angličtinu, propaguje environmentální výuku a koordinuje program DOFE, který studenty vede k aktivnímu a smysluplnému trávení volného času i získávání cenných dovedností. V tomto školním roce Hana  uspěla ve výběrovém řízení do programu Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement (zkráceně TEA) a 22. ledna odletěla do severní Kalifornie, kde se zúčastnila šestitýdenního programu na Chico State University. Program Fulbright TEA nabízí středoškolským učitelům školení, během kterého se účastní akademických seminářů, sledují výuku amerických kolegů, vyučují a zapojují se do kulturních a komunitních aktivit podporujících mezinárodní spolupráci. Dva týdny po návratu Hana novým uchazečům o program vzkazuje: „Možnost pracovat v národnostně rozmanité skupině, v kulisách multikulturních Spojených států a ve spolupráci s akademickou obcí nesporně patří mezi vrcholy mé učitelské kariéry.“ P...

Kaylee O'Brien is an English Teaching  Assistant. This year, she teaches English at Gymnázium Cheb, a college-preparatory high school tucked into a town of 30,000 just a few miles from the German border. Armed with a BA in Philosophy and Political Science, a lifelong love of sports and fitness, and experience teaching everything from English and math to boxing, Kaylee arrived eager to discover what life in her new home might hold. What she didn’t expect was how quickly that search for belonging would take shape in a local gym, where shared routines turned into friendships and a foreign place began to feel, unexpectedly, like her own. I remember the moment last summer when I received my Fulbright placement...I was going to Cheb in the Czech Republic! I was thrilled beyond belief; but shortly, thereafter, that thrill left, I realized I was going halfway around the world, to a country whose native language I did not speak, and to a town where I knew no one. Would I be able to find a p...

Hayley Lanier is a biologist. She specializes in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Oklahoma. The 2025/2026 academic year, however, is taking her far from campus. Together with her husband and their two school-aged children, she is spending the year in the small Czech village of Liběchov, home to about 1,000 residents. Less than an hour’s drive from Prague, the village hosts the Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics, where Hayley is conducting research as a Fulbright Program Scholar. Her work focuses on how population history shapes genomic adaptation to climate change. But beyond the lab, the year is also an adventure for the whole family. What is it like to settle into life in the Czech countryside and to experience local traditions and holidays along the way? “But will Santa be able to find us?” When we planned to move to Czechia for my year-long Fulbright my 3-year-old, Iggy, had some very pressing concerns about how holidays and birthdays would happen in ...

Petra Junková is an English language teacher. She began this school year at the University of Northern Colorado as a participant in the Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement (TEA) Program. Her connection with Fulbright began in 2022, when she mentored an English Teaching Assistant from Chesterfield, Missouri — an experience that reshaped her professional path. "It’s the difference between learning a language and truly living it," Petra reflects. Motivated to continue her professional growth, she found the Fulbright TEA Program to be the perfect next step. Today, back at Gymnázium U Balvanu in Jablonec nad Nisou, she encourages other Czech educators to pursue similar opportunities: "You become a student again — exploring pedagogy, social studies, and new technologies — while experiencing the life of an American high school teacher firsthand. It equips you with practical tools, global connections, and the confidence to innovate in your own classroom." “Do you ...