Wallflower. Fiala’s friend. Fiala’s son. Uncovered ties from Brno

“You are probably asking how it is possible that universities produce doctoral students with questionable qualifications, associate professors who publish in predatory journals and professors who participate in fake conferences,” commented Jana Bobošíková at the beginning, and in the background the candidate was smiling at the audience from the photo STAN to the European Parliament Danuše Nerudová.

After successfully completing his master’s degree, Martin Fiala entered the doctoral study program in the field of history at the Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University. Prime Minister Petr Fiala led Masaryk University for eight years.

In order for an individual to be able to successfully complete a doctoral study, he needs a supervisor. At the same time, he watches over the entire course of study. And who is Martin Fiala’s trainer? A close friend of the Prime Minister. “The tutor of the prime minister’s son and supervisor of the dissertation is professor Jiří Hanuš, vice-rector of the university and a very close friend of Petr Fiala. Please note that the supervisor oversees the entire course of study and is thus an absolutely key person for the doctoral student,” said Jana Bobošíková.

Is it okay for the tutor to be a close friend of the student’s father? “The standard for supervisors proposed by the Czech Association of Doctoral Students clearly states that the supervisor must not be in a conflict of interest in relation to the doctoral student, and even Masaryk University excludes conflict of interest in its code of ethics,” Bobošíková described the usual practice, which is most likely applied selectively at Masaryk University.

And it also came to Martin Fiala’s publishing activity. Publication activity is mandatory for doctoral students. For each year of study, they must publish at least two scientific articles in peer-reviewed scientific media. How many does Martin Fiala have? “At first glance, Martin Fiala’s publishing activity is respectable. In the section ‘article in a professional periodical’, there are 11 articles listed,” Bobošíková nods her head approvingly. But he immediately smiles wryly. “However, the fundamental problem is that they are all published in the journal Kontexty without exception. And Kontekty is not a scientific periodical at all, but a magazine about culture and society,” Bobošíková shook her head in disbelief. In addition, Fial’s texts are published in Czech, while the doctoral student must publish in a foreign periodical, preferably in English.

But that’s not all at all. The network of influence around Martin Fiala is shrinking further and further. Jana Bobošíková shed some light on who founded and still sits on the board of Kontexty magazine. “He founded the magazine Kontekty and still sits on its editorial board… Do you know who? Fiala’s father, Prime Minister Fiala, and the doctoral supervisor, a friend of Prime Minister Fiala, Jiří Hanuš,” Bobošíková described Petr Fiala’s patronage policy towards his son.

And then Bobošíková showed the “scientific” nature of the Kontexty magazine. She drew attention to an interview with Ondřej Krutílek, adviser to the prime minister for European affairs and at the same time a member of the ODS, which boasted of criticizing Andrej Babiš in the headline: “It was also necessary to ‘clean up’ after Babiš in the EU”, the magazine was inviting clickbait. Bobošíková also showed an interview with Miroslava Němcová, ODS senator, who was proud of the title “First Lady of Czech Politics”. Bobošíková again shook her head in disbelief. “The context is obviously not a peer-reviewed scientific foreign journal,” she stated.

And the articles in Context are linked to the folder with the publication activity of PhD student Martin Fiala. And that under eye-catching titles, Bobošíková pointed out. “60 years of James Bond. Ian Fleming and Jamaica, or Where James Bond was born” or “Ian Fleming and the journey of agent 007 to the screen”, or “Artificial intelligence in Hollywood or an acting career even after death”, were the titles of doctoral student Martin Fiala, which he referred to in his doctoral thesis publishing activities. “Simply historical treatises like a belt,” Jana Bobošíková could not keep her irony at bay.

And how much does it cost us, taxpayers, to study the James Bond issue under Martin Fiala’s care? Jana Bobošíková also asked herself such a question. “The monthly stipend for doctoral students at the Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University is 12,000 crowns. The state pays them health insurance and they have a working background at a public university. Fial’s son’s doctoral studies have thus cost us over 600,000 crowns so far,” Bobošíková calculated.

Will Martin Fiala’s study be beneficial to society, or is it just taking care of Prime Minister Fiala’s protégé child? “So what do you think? Will the deeply educated Dr. Fiala junior enter the scene this year, who will be a benefit to Czech historical science, or will he be assigned another useless and most likely patronizing doctorate?” Jana Bobošíková asked rhetorically.

But the networks around Martin Fiala are still not closed. Prime Minister Fiala also has a wife, Jana Fiala, the mother of our doctoral student. What does she have to do with it? Jana Bobošíková’s attentive eye fell on that too. “Do you know who in the management of Masaryk University is in charge of student affairs? Well, vice-rector Jana Fialová, the prime minister’s wife and mother of doctoral student Martin Fialová. What do you think, does vice-rector Fialová ensure that the university’s code of ethics and at least minimum professional standards are observed during her son’s studies?” asks Bobošíková.

And what activity does the prime minister’s wife and mother of a doctoral student produce? Here, too, Jana Bobošíková used publicly available sources. “And what do you think the professional activity of vice-rector Fialová looks like? I’ll just reveal that, for example, she dealt with the risk of injury from a sharp object in the healthcare sector, and that this paper contained a total of 11 slides, including the title,” Jana Bobošíková nodded her head in appreciation, but with irony in her voice.

And at the end, she poked at Czech Television and Seznam Zpráv. “Now we will wait to see if the professional activities of Prime Minister Fiala’s wife will be investigated, for example, by the public media or Seznam Zprávy. We’ll see if they do it and what they end up with,” Jana Bobošíková concluded the trip to Prime Minister Fiala’s family.

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