A public habilitation lecture by RNDr. Martin Trnečka, Ph.D., was held.

On Wednesday, March 25, 2026, RNDr. Martin Trnečka, Ph.D. delivered his public habilitation lecture at FIT. Its title? “Boolean matrix factorization”.

Martin Trnečka specializes in the field of data analysis. The key focus of his work is Boolean matrix factorization, which is a method of data analysis. Trnečka earned his Ph.D. in 2017 at the Faculty of Science of Palacký University in Olomouc and has been working at the local Department of Computer Science for many years. He has worked on dozens of projects and completed research stays abroad at institutions such as the French INRIA (Nancy) and the American University of Texas (El Paso). The habilitation process has now brought him to our Faculty of Information Technology. Why here, specifically? “I think it’s good if the habilitation process takes place at a different institution; it’s a challenge. And the choice of FIT? Throughout my career, I’ve specialized at the intersection of computer science and information technology, so that choice felt natural to me,” Trnečka comments on his decision.

Boolean matrix factorization is a method for uncovering deeper patterns, regularities, or common denominators in binary matrices, which often carry extensive data represented by the values 0/1 (true/false). For example, through the method of matrix factorization (decomposition). The purpose of the method is to replace a complex matrix with a smaller number of more comprehensible factors, which constitute the hidden structure of the data. In his research and in his habilitation thesis itself, Martin Trnečka focuses on the development of algorithms that perform factorization more effectively than existing methods. Another contribution of his work is computational parallelization, i.e., the division of the task among multiple processes, which has accelerated computations. A strength of Trnečka’s research is also his emphasis on interpretability. The author demonstrates that it is not enough to find merely a technically sound decomposition of data; rather, it is important that the resulting factors be as comprehensible as possible to the users themselves.

More detailed information on Martin Trnečka’s research and his perspective on the habilitation process itself can be found here.