Over the past month, we had the pleasure of hosting Adam Stražovec, a PhD student from Palacký University in Olomouc, in our lab in Tartu. Adam engaged well with our team and brought positive energy to the lab throughout his stay.
Now that he has returned to Olomouc, we are sharing some photos from his time with us, along with a short interview about his experience and research.
Could you please give a short introduction to yourself? What is your research topic?
My name is Adam, and I’m a PhD student in the Department of Geography at the Faculty of Science, Palacký University in Olomouc in Czech Republic. I completed all my previous degrees at this department and I’m currently in my final year of my PhD program.
The title of my research topic is “The Rhythmicity of Urban Space,” under the supervision of Prof. Marián Halás. I’m primarily interested in the geography of time, urban mobility, and specifically the transport geography. In my research, I work with various types of data, ranging from school and work commuting patterns, studied through passenger counts, to big data.
What was the aim of your visit?
My recent work with big data led me to pursue an internship at the Mobility Lab, which has extensive experience in processing and interpreting similar datasets. I was even more intrigued by their ability to communicate the findings to practitioners and government representatives at the local, regional, and national levels. My primary goal was to familiarize myself with the Mobility Lab’s activities. At the same time, I wanted to observe what tools and methods they use for data processing, and to learn about new approaches currently in development. Another significant goal was to establish a long-term scientific collaboration, as sharing best practices is essential for research teams looking to advance their work.
What kind of experiences and adventures did you have during your time in Estonia?
Outside of work, I had the chance to visit some interesting places at weekends. In addition to Tartu, I also visited the capital, Tallinn. It’s truly a beautiful historic city that genuinely charmed me. The unplanned highlight of the trip was an organ concert during a tour of St. Nicholas’ Church. Amazing! A visit from colleagues from Košice also offered further opportunities for travel. This time, we decided to rent a car. Although it wasn’t in perfect condition, it safely took us where we needed to go, primarily to the city of Narva and back to Tartu. I also made a pleasant trip to Riga. There, I visited several museums which left a strong impression on me. All the places had a distinctive and unique atmosphere, and I’ll certainly cherish these experiences for a very long time.
What is your favourite place (or activity) in Tartu, or your favourite moment during your stay?
Tartu has a special charm. With its vibrant student life, it reminded me very much of Olomouc, which is perhaps why I felt so at home here. The warm atmosphere and my friendly colleagues at the Mobility Lab made for a truly amazing experience. I am grateful for all the conversations, presentations, meetings, and words of encouragement along the way. I really appreciate it! I believe this is not the end of our collaboration and I look forward to meeting again – whether in Tartu, Olomouc, or anywhere else in time and space.
Thank you, Adam! We look forward to seeing what comes next for Adam’s research and for the collaboration ahead.
The Mobility Labof the University of Tartu is an interdisciplinary research group that studies human mobility and its associations with society and the environment using mobile (big) data.