The latest issue of the University Gazette will soon be in your hands. The April issue is quite large, as many as seventy-five pages. We will read about current events, research and the university's successes, as well as about the history and a summary of the jubilee of our Alma Mater.
The issue traditionally begins with a calendar of events including a review of the most important events, e.g. naming one of the trams in Gdańsk after prof. Janusz Sokołowski, the initiator of the creation of our university and its first rector. Changes in the Statutes of the University of Gdańsk and awards for scientists and students are also noted. There is a photo report on the presentation of the UG 50th Anniversary Medals as well as the Taylors and Mrongowians for 2020 and 2021.
The issue opens with an article devoted to the completion of the university's 50th-anniversary celebrations and the UG festivities, in which prof. dr hab. Piotr Stepnowski, Rector of UG, summarises and presents the university's development plans for the coming years. Among the latter, he emphasises the implementation of a new, transparent human resources policy about hiring, promotions, changing career paths or cooperation with retired employees, as well as care in the area of social responsibility of science. He also plans to implement support for academic entrepreneurship and technological and natural solutions in the spaces of university campuses, using renewable energy sources and pro-ecological activities.
- 'We have taken a good and sure course. I hope that it will allow us to avoid the "reefs" of failure and to arrive only at friendly "ports" of didactic excellence, scientific research of the highest quality and only positive impact of our activity on the social and economic environment,' - concluded the Rector.
From the topics covered in the newspaper, it is worth recommending a summary article on the year of the pandemic at the university to find out how students, academic and administrative staff are coping in these difficult times.
We will also read about the discussion on climate change accompanying the International Summit on Climate Change Adaptation 2021, the evaluation of the quality of scientific activity, as well as an interdisciplinary project of the Faculty of Chemistry and Economics within the framework of the Social Responsibility of Science programme.
The editors of the newspaper devoted most space to the university's closing jubilee, including a lot of information on the history and beginnings of the university, but also on its contemporary management, outstanding graduates and the place of UG among national and international academic institutions. In the newspaper, you can read about the history and changes in the university's logo as well as report on the recently opened exhibition entitled 'Droga do uniwersytetu. UG and its predecessors 1945-1970'.
In turn, in the interviews section, the first conversation from the new cycle of the newspaper is published. Let us recall, Stanford University, the publishing house Elsevier and the company SciTech Strategies on the pages of "PLOS Biology" published a list of scientists whose works are most often cited in the scientific literature. In this group of two per cent of researchers - there were seven hundred and twenty-six scientists from Poland, and among them - fourteen from the University of Gdańsk. Starting with this issue, the newspaper will publish interviews with our scientists. The first of them is prof. dr. hab. Ryszard Horodecki, who heads the team of the International Centre for Quantum Technologies Theory (ICTQT) and is a member of the Scientific Council of the National Centre for Quantum Informatics.
Among the conversations, we can find interesting observations by dr Agata Rudnik, director of the Psychological Support Centre UG. In this issue of GU, you will also find a summary of the activities of the Academic Centre of Culture in Pandemic and the successes of university athletes, as well as a review devoted to prof. Dariusz Filar's latest novel entitled Szklanki żydowskiej krwi (Glasses of Jewish Blood).