Science · Education · Public Understanding

Advancing curiosity, one student, one page, one lecture at a time.

For more than twenty-five years, the Universe Endowment Fund has supported Czech science and education — sustaining the Vesmír journal, helping students afford essential study literature, and bringing accomplished scholars into public conversation.

Explore our programs → Our history

26+Years of service

4Core programs

1999Founded in Prague

Founding mission

“To support the development of science and education — in print, in person, and in the lives of students.”

Our Mission

A quiet, patient investment in Czech scientific culture.

Established in 1999 by Prof. RNDr. Zdeněk Neubauer, the fund exists to sustain the institutions and small acts that make a scientific society possible — careful writing, accessible reading, and the free exchange of ideas.

The Vesmír journal

Supporting the publication of one of Central Europe’s longest-running popular-science journals, in print since 1871.

Study literature

One-time grants that help students purchase textbooks, reference works and journal subscriptions.

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Student aid

Modest contributions for socially disadvantaged students working through university programmes.

Public lectures

Support for lecture series that bring researchers, teachers and the interested public into the same room.

Journal Vesmír

A century and a half of Czech popular science.

The Vesmír journal has been read in Czech households, laboratories and lecture halls since 1871. It writes about biology, physics, philosophy of science and the natural world in a language that is precise but never distant.

Our fund helps keep the journal financially independent — so its editors can continue to choose subjects for their importance, not their popularity.

About the journal →

Support for students

Small grants that make a real difference.

A textbook that costs a fortnight’s food. A journal subscription that opens a whole field. Our student support is intentionally modest and practical — aimed at the exact moment when a small contribution changes what a young researcher can read, and therefore what they can think.

Read about student support →

Partner with us or apply for support.

We welcome enquiries from students, universities, publishers, and donors who share our patient view of science and education.

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