Dr. Zdeněk Havlas is a research scientist at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences. His research group is currently focused on a process called Singlet Fission with the aim to significantly increase the efficiency of solar cells. The complex study of this process includes quantum chemistry, physics of the process, synthesis of the proposed material, photophysical measurements, and programming.

His research has focused on the application of quantum mechanics in chemistry, including studies of weak intermolecular interactions, structure elucidation, reaction mechanisms, relativistic effects in chemistry, photochemistry, and the development of quantum chemical methods.

He served as director of the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (2002–2012) and as vice-president of the Czech Academy of Sciences (2017–2025). He is also a member of the Board for Research and Innovation of the Government of the Czech Republic. As the director of the Institute, he contributed to the development of original drugs and successfully cooperated with the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr. Havlas has received numerous awards and honors, including the DrSc. scientific title, the Medal of the Czech Learned Society (2001), Honorary Chair of the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Prague (2012), Professorship of Taipei University, Taiwan (2019), and the Silver Medal of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic (2015).