Petr Jancar

Petr Jancar is a Professor at the Department of Informatics, Faculty of Science, Palacký University in Olomouc. He has previously held academic positions at VŠB-Technical University of Ostrava and the University of Ostrava. His research is centered in theoretical computer science, with deep contributions to automata theory, Petri nets, system verification, and computational complexity.

Education

• RNDr, Theoretical Cybernetics and Mathematical Informatics, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague (1982)
• CSc. (PhD equivalent), Dissertation: "Questions of Decidability of Dynamic Properties of Petri Nets", Charles University (1989)
• Appointed Associate Professor in Informatics, Faculty of Informatics, Masaryk University (1996)
• Appointed Professor in Informatics, VŠB-TU Ostrava (2008)

His primary research interests include theoretical computer science, focusing on language and automata theory, computability and complexity, algorithm theory, and mathematical logic. A significant portion of his work addresses system verification, particularly using Petri nets and infinite-state systems. He investigates fundamental questions of bisimilarity, equivalence checking, decidability, and complexity in models like pushdown and one-counter automata.

Jancar's recent publications (2020–2025) show a strong trend in advancing the theory of Petri nets, especially structural liveness, reachability, and home-space problems, often establishing high complexity bounds (e.g., Ackermann-complete). His work combines deep theoretical insight with formal rigor, frequently published in top venues like LICS, CONCUR, and LogMethCS. He has long-standing collaborations with researchers such as Jérôme Leroux, Zdeněk Sawa, and Antonín Kučera.

Scientific Service and Recognition

• Member, Editorial Board, Information and Computation (since 2015)
• Member, Scientific Councils at Masaryk University, VŠB-TU Ostrava, Palacký University, and Brno University of Technology
• Chairman, GAČR Panel P202 Informatics (2015–2017)
• Member, Program Committees of major international conferences

He has been a co-investigator and researcher on multiple GAČR projects, including those on algorithms for infinite-state systems, computational complexity of verification, and modeling of parallel systems. He has also participated in the Center for Applied Cybernetics. He has held research stays supported by grants in Germany, France, Sweden, and the UK.

Laboratories and Research Groups

• His work is closely associated with formal methods and verification research groups at Palacký University and former affiliations. He has contributed to collaborative projects involving MPI verification and infinite-state system analysis.