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About us

The mission of the UP Volunteering Centre is to facilitate contact between the student and academic environments and institutions that provide assistance to those in need. The UP Volunteer Centre was established in 2016 as the first university-established volunteer centre in the Czech Republic. 
In collaboration with UP students, staff, and other entities, we promote volunteerism as an opportunity for personal development, support for civic engagement, and fulfilment of the third mission of the university – social outreach. 
Through our coordination activities, we offer a space to connect volunteering opportunities with volunteers willing to participate in these activities. 

As part of our activities, we recruit volunteers from among UP students and staff, who will have the opportunity to choose from a wide range of volunteering opportunities. 

Main activities of the UP Volunteering Centre

  • We offer the opportunity to post volunteering opportunities to organisations and companies looking for volunteers 

  • we offer professional consultations to all those who are planning to start volunteering; we also provide necessary information for students who are going to deal with volunteering in their theses 

  • advising organisations on the law and volunteering, training and motivating volunteers, and fundraising for volunteering activities 

  • organising workshops and lectures on civil society and volunteering – especially for secondary and higher education institutions 

  • we work to promote volunteering activities and to reward volunteers afterwards 

Events calendar

Other activities

Award for Achievement of the Year by the City of Olomouc, and the Award for Good Citizenship by the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic

The assistance of volunteers from the ranks of Palacký University students and employees to those who fled Russian aggression in Ukraine was awarded by the City of Olomouc as the most significant achievement of 2022. For this assistance, the UP Volunteering Centre also received the national award for Volunteering by the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, for which it was nominated by the Olomouc Region. In February 2022, the UP Volunteering Centre responded immediately to the Russian invasion and began coordinating the involvement of university volunteers in helping refugees from Ukraine. Four hundred university students and staff were involved in the activities of the Regional Assistance Centre for Ukraine (KACPU) alone, working tens of thousands of hours: helping with operations, interpreting, babysitting. The UP Volunteering Centre also facilitated assistance directly at the university, for example in finding accommodation and legal and psychological support. 

František Palacký Grove as a memorial of the first employee volunteer day

Support for volunteering at Palacký University has gained another dimension. For the first time ever, the Employee Volunteer Day took place in October 2023, which the University prepared together with the Olomouc Region. On the occasion of the Arbor Day, volunteers from both institutions planted the František Palacký Grove near Mírovo and Mutek with more than 1,700 trees. They also helped to prepare the Flora Exhibition Centre or the Olomouc Zoo for the winter and contributed to the upcoming opening of the community garden of the St. John’s Hospice. Foreign students also joined in planting trees near the university dormitories. At the beginning, the idea was to plant trees in the name of František Palacký as part of the celebration of the 450th anniversary of the University of Olomouc. The idea eventually grew into a volunteer day involving two hundred employees of Palacký University and the Regional Office of the Olomouc Region.

WHERE CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?

Throughout the year, we organise various activities on campus or off, for children, for the elderly, and we get involved in cultural and social events. You can get involved in a one-off event or long–term projects, depending on your time availability. You can choose your area of volunteering to suit what interests you. 

Children and youth

  • we organize educational and entertainment programs for children,
  • we tutor children from disadvantaged backgrounds,
  • we play with them 

Social services

  • we help out in senior homes, 
  • we accompany the elderly and the disabled,
  • we participate in fundraising for food banks 

Culture, sports, community

  • we participate in the organisation of cultural and sporting events, 
  • we represent the university

Environment

  • cleaning up and beautifying our surroundings, 
  • we maintain community gardens

Healthcare

  • we accompany the sick,
  • we help them to shorten long-term hospital stays 

Crisis and natural disasters

  • we help in emergencies and emergencies where needed 

Volunteering Centre
Palacký University Olomouc

dobrovolnictvi@upol.cz

Křížkovského 8
Olomouc 779 00
(Rector’s Office building)

Operating hours

Individual consultations and coaching by appointment. Contact us by email to make your appointment!

Check the Calendar or our social media for dates of workshops, lectures, and all our group events. 

Volunteer Center Team

Marie Kaplánková (Volunteer coordinator)

marie.kaplankova@upol.cz

There are different definitions of volunteering, and the motivation is completely different for each volunteer. I am a volunteer coordinator at the Palacký University Volunteering Centre. My job is to organise, recruit and evaluate, as well as motivate and care for volunteers. One of my first experiences with volunteering was when I went as a leader to a church camp in the woods with no electricity. You might already be volunteering, and not even know it! 

Sandra Šimková (Volunteer coordinator)

sandra.simkova01@upol.cz

I got into volunteering by chance through university events at UP, where I help out. I take care of the volunteers and help them connect with the organisations where they would like to volunteer. Together with my team, we plan different volunteering events so that everyone can get involved. 

doc. PaeDr. Tatiana Matulayová, PhD.

is the guarantor and founder of the volunteering centre. She provides methodological support, supervision and consultation to students, employees, and organisations interested in volunteering and cooperation. She participates in strategic planning. She is the main author of the methodology research reports that make up the Volunteering Centre. She brings inspiration and innovation based on her own creative and teaching activities at universities, as well as her own specific volunteering experiences. 

Vladimíra Sedláčková

vladimira.sedlackova@upol.cz

She is the manager of the volunteering centre, and also the one who determines the direction we take. She is mainly involved in planning and organising events, where you can often find her. She also manages our budget and plans the long-term development of the centre to make it as useful as possible for you. 

Nika Tótová

nika.totova01@upol.cz

She is a great support for us at the centre in handling the administrative agenda and organising events. She is a PhD student at OUSHI.