The magazine Computertrends publishes an annual list of prominent figures in the Czech IT scene. At the beginning of 2026, it released an extensive special edition titled TOP IT Personalities 2025, showcasing thirty individuals deserving wider recognition. This year, a record number of representatives from FIT CTU made the selection: Prof. Ing. Hana Kubátová, CSc., Mgr. Martin Jureček, Ph.D., and Assoc. Prof. Ing. Robert Pergl, Ph.D.
Profile: Prof. Ing. Hana Kubátová, CSc., Head of the Department of Digital Design at FIT CTU
Hana Kubátová’s story is that of an expert and leader who grew both from academic soil and life enthusiasm. She follows a basic rule: “Science is made by people, not tables,” which she reminds everyone of with a smile as they come to FIT CTU. She has led the Department of Digital Design since the founding of FIT in 2009. She previously led this team as a research group at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering. According to her, moving the entire group to the new faculty was one of the most meaningful life challenges and a great encouragement.
"Experience has shown that when you can truly rely on people, you can endure even the worst – and sometimes those who left are happy to return," she reflects.
Team support, a creative environment, and an emphasis on joy in work are, in her view, the building blocks of every strong group. Success is not measured by diplomas—it is reflected in international collaboration and in the growing circle of alumni with whom she maintains contact.
"A team is primarily made up of people I can turn to at any time."
She leads through discussion, inspiration, and example. She is not afraid to rely on trust, assign tasks according to priorities, and acknowledge which things—even in the academic world—are essentially unnecessary. She regrets that she has not yet succeeded in changing the accreditation formats of study programs at FIT CTU and in implementing her vision. According to her, the faculty still maintains unnecessarily demanding and very unpopular examinations for many subjects during final state exams.
"Simply micro-bureaucracy instead of support and motivation for students," she says bluntly.
Hana Kubátová draws energy from sports, mountains, cycling, and discussions with students—the biggest source of inspiration and encouragement for research comes from conferences, which she has always happily integrated into her academic activities and responsibilities.
"I enjoy almost everything; even work must be enjoyable and meaningful, and there must still be time for family, personal life, and fun."
Profile: Mgr. Martin Jureček, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Head of the Cybersecurity & Artificial Intelligence Research Group at FIT CTU
Martin Jureček is an assistant professor at the Department of Information Security at FIT CTU and leads the Cybersecurity & Artificial Intelligence (CS&AI) research group.
"My goal is that no quality work ends up in a drawer, but that its results are truly applied in practice," says Jureček, who studied mathematical methods of information security at Matfyz and earned his Ph.D. at FIT CTU.
The CS&AI group connects cutting-edge research with the real needs of industry and the public, focusing not only on using AI to enhance defense but also now exploring offensive techniques.
"At the beginning, I thought mainly from a defense perspective, but today it is equally important for us to understand how malware is created and how it avoids detection."
A unique outcome of their work is malware detection using AI on a quantum computer—the first of its kind in the Czech Republic. "When I meet colleagues from the antivirus industry, I sometimes jokingly ask whether, in addition to classical computers, they already use quantum approaches for malware detection."
The lab develops adversarial generators that manipulate binaries to deceive detection models—an ongoing “AI vs. AI” game where models learn both to create and detect newly generated malware. This process, now in its fourth round within CS&AI, continuously improves both defense and attack.
In addition to research, Jureček focuses on student education and supervision of bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral theses, motivating deeper interest in IT security and practical projects. He considers protecting AI models against adversarial attacks, legislative aspects (AI Act), ransomware, phishing, and safeguarding data and systems from outages as key priorities.
"Protecting AI is not only a technical but also a legislative challenge—it will become an increasingly significant topic," predicts Martin Jureček.
Profile: Assoc. Prof. Ing. Robert Pergl, Ph.D., Visionary and Evangelist of Conceptual Modeling
Robert Pergl has been at FIT CTU since 2011. He joined the faculty with a clear vision: to connect the world of information technology with the human side of its use. He was fascinated by computing but soon realized that the bridge between technology and user needs is often missing. He found this “missing link” in conceptual modeling—a discipline that allows the complexity of the real world to be captured and transferred precisely and understandably into software.
At FIT CTU, he founded and leads the Center for Conceptual Modeling and Implementation (CCMi), which combines research, applied projects, and education. Examples of outcomes include the open platform for conceptual modeling OpenPonk and the widely used Data Stewardship Wizard tool for data management planning.
Pergl considers his greatest professional achievement to be the team he has built around him—both technically excellent and cohesive, friendly. Many members started as his students and are now doctoral researchers or independent scientists leading their own research groups. For this reason, Pergl does not see himself as a manager but as an evangelist whose role is to inspire and create space. Openness, shared vision, and partnership are, in his view, the foundation of successful work and healthy personal professionalism.
A major theme currently occupying him is the integration of conceptual modeling with AI. Pergl believes that ontologies—the essence of conceptual modeling—can significantly help current AI systems truly “understand” the world and minimize limiting hallucinations. Despite successes and international collaborations, he is often troubled by excessive bureaucracy and distrust in the scientific environment. He considers his greatest “failure” to be his inability to fully shield his team from these negative influences. At the same time, this has taught him humility and the realization that not everything can be fully controlled.
