Eleven outstanding scientists from UG will compete for the title Personality of the Year 2020 in the category of Science. The annual nationwide poll in Pomerania is conducted by Dziennik Bałtycki, www.dziennikbaltycki.pl and www.naszemiasto.pl. Readers can cast their votes for the candidates until June 8.
- 'The past year 2020 was exceptionally difficult. A coronavirus pandemic suddenly affected every area of our lives, changing many aspects of it forever. Despite the odds, however, many wonderful people from our region have been involved in their local communities, standing out for their achievements in various fields. Despite limitations, many people achieved success, developed their creativity, talent and helped others to endure difficult times,' - we read in Dziennik Bałtycki.
Voting will be conducted in five categories: Culture, Social and Charitable Activity, Business and Politics, Local Government and Community and Science. In the Science category, voting will be conducted in one stage across the entire voivodeship and will last until Tuesday, June 8.
Among almost forty nominees in the science category, as many as eleven outstanding scientists are from the University of Gdansk. Their profiles are presented below.
Winners from our voivodeship will also have a chance to win awards across Poland. This year the poll is conducted simultaneously in all voivodeships in the country. Winners from each region will take part in the national final, in which they will compete for the title of 2020 Personality of Poland in each category.
- 'This year, due to the pandemic, we are starting another edition of the Personality of the Year action later than usual,' says Bogusław Kaczmarek, the originator and manager of the poll. - 'However, we've decided to maintain the long-standing tradition and award exceptional personalities from our region this year. All the more so because last year's pandemic restrictions made it impossible to organise the gala of the previous edition of the poll. This year the winners of the Personality of the Year 2019 titles will be awarded together with this year's winners,' he adds.
The voivodeship gala of the 2020 Personality of the Year poll will be held after the voting, to which all winners from cities and districts, as well as winners of the previous edition of the 2019 Personality of the Year poll, will be invited.
- 'We hope that in the summer the epidemic situation will allow us to organise such a meeting,' - says Bogusław Kaczmarek. - 'We would very much like to present the winners with statuettes and diplomas in this way. However, if the coronavirus once again makes the meeting impossible, the gala will be held online and broadcast on our website. It will be honoured with performances of selected winners in the Culture category from both editions of the poll,' - he adds.
The entire poll will be wrapped up by a nationwide gala, during which the main titles - Personality of the Year of Poland 2020 and Personality of the Year of Poland 2019 - will be awarded.
You can vote for the 2020 Personality of the Year in the Science category on the website.
SCIENTISTS FROM UG NOMINEES FOR THE PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR 2020 POLL, CATEGORY: SCIENCE
Dr Jacek Barańczuk - Assistant Professor at the Department of Limnology, Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, University of Gdansk, and head of the SCORE project. Nomination for the project 'Smart Control of the Climate Resilience in European Coastal Cities'. - SCORE, which addresses specific challenges regarding the risks of coastal cities. The SCORE project aims to establish a Coastal Cities Living Lab at the University of Gdansk. Located in 10 European cities, the labs will act as centres for co-design and co-development of coastal cities to combat climate change. The lab will use current climate change models and projections. The use of innovative platforms in cities collecting heterogeneous data on local urban and environmental processes and their linkage between coastal cities will enable the creation of a new platform for providing up-to-date information to the citizens of Gdansk.
Dr Łukasz Rąbalski - Assistant Professor at the Department of Recombinant Vaccines of the Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdansk and Medical University of Gdansk. Nomination for isolation of the full genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus directly from the Polish patient. The originator of the project 'SARS-CoV-2 co-infections. COVID-19 co-infections database', which received funding from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the amount of PLN 985 000, which was transferred as an additional subvention to the University of Gdansk.
Dr hab. Ewelina Król - Dean of the Interuniversity Faculty of Biotechnology UG and GUMed. Nominated for conducting work on SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and research on a potential vaccine. Winner of the National Science Center competition 'Fast Track Access to Funds for COVID-19 Research', in which she received funding for the project 'Road to a safe vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus - modifications of the structural protein »Spike« leading to the elimination of the ADE effect' for almost PLN 1,000,000.
Prof. dr hab. Jerzy Zajadło from the Department of Theory and Philosophy of State and Law at the Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Gdansk. Nominated for outstanding scientific work in the humanities entitled 'Minima Iuridica. Refleksje o pewnych (nie)oczywistościach prawniczych' and nomination to the Sixth prof. Tadeusz Kotarbiński Award of the First Rector of the University of Łódź. Elected member of the Committee of Legal Sciences of PAN for the term 2020-2023.
Prof. dr hab. Krystyna Bieńkowska-Szewczyk - Head of the Department of Molecular Biology of Viruses at the Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology of the University of Gdansk and Medical University of Gdansk. Nominated for the initiative of creating a laboratory (the second such laboratory in Poland) with an increased level of safety class BSL 3+, which will allow research on the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Appointed to the advisory group for activities related to the prevention, counteraction and eradication of COVID-19 by the Minister of Science and Higher Education.
Dr Marta Tymińska - Assistant Professor at the Department of Film and Media of the Institute of Cultural Studies, University of Gdansk. Nominated for co-creation of the educational project 'Spacją się skacze' [You jump with spacebar], which resulted in several podcasts and articles on video games, available for everyone on the website. Her academic work focuses primarily on digital games and avatars, about which she wrote her doctoral dissertation. She organises events devoted to pop culture, organises local culture, is a member of the Arteria Association and an equality activist.
Dr Alicja Chmielewska - Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology of Viruses at the Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology of the University of Gdansk and the Medical University of Gdansk. Nominated for her research project aimed at determining whether stimulation of non-specific immunity, including IFITM proteins, will allow inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Her project 'Antiviral activity of interferon-induced membrane proteins (IFITM) as a new therapeutic strategy in the control of viral infections - in vitro and in vivo studies' received funding of PLN 799,963.00 under the Foundation for Polish Science RETURNS program.
Prof. zw. dr. hab. Józef Borzyszkowski - historian of the 19th and 20th centuries specialising in Kashubian and Pomeranian subjects in a broad cultural, social, political and economic context. Until 2016 associated with the Faculty of History of the University of Gdansk. Author and editor of several dozen books and hundreds of scientific and popularising articles. He is the creator and editor of the 'Pro memoria' series (so far more than 20 volumes devoted to people of culture and science of Kashubia and Pomerania), editor of very many memoirs and recollections, editor of many collective works, including several monographs of Pomeranian villages and towns, organiser of dozens of conferences, etc. Nominated for a comprehensive compendium on the history of Kashubians 'History of Kashubians in the History of Pomerania'. Prof. Józef Borzyszkowski for many years has also participated in social scientific life as a member of e.g. Polish Historical Society, Gdańsk Scientific Society, Scientific Society in Toruń, Wojciech Kętrzyński Scientific Society in Olsztyn. He is also an initiator, co-founder and long-term president of the first-ever Kashubian scientific society, the Kashubian Institute in Gdańsk. Prof. Józef Borzyszkowski is a member of the Committee of Historical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and in 2013 he became a correspondent member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Krakow.
Dr Marcin Kaleciński, prof. UG - Head of the Department of Modern Art History at the Faculty of History of UG. Nominated for being an extraordinary and tireless propagator of knowledge about old Gdansk. Prof. Marcin Kaleciński is a laureate of the Stankiewicz Award - awarded by SARP and the Association of Conservators. Member of the Association of Art Historians and the Gdansk Scientific Society. He is a laureate of the Rev. prof. Dettloff Szczęsny Award of the Association of Art Historians in Poland, Awards of the Rector of the University of Gdansk, he was also a Scholarship Holder of the Foundation for Science in Poland. He received a prestigious scholarship of The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies at Villa I Tatti in Florence, scholarships of the Lanckoroński Foundation in Rome and the Robert Anderson Foundation in London.
Dr Wojciech Glac - Assistant Professor in the Laboratory of Neurobiology at the Department of Animal and Human Physiology of the Faculty of Biology, University of Gdansk. Nominated for popularisation of science and invention and development of the board game 'Infection', in which the players' task is to defend an organism infected with the coronavirus. Winner of the 2019 Popularizer of Science competition in the 'Scientist' category organised by the PAP Science in Poland website and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. The researcher is a respected didactician and populariser of knowledge about the brain and the originator and organiser of Brain Days at the University of Gdansk.
Dr Wacław Kulczykowski and Mateusz Sokalszczuk - archaeologist from the Historical Faculty of UG and programmer Mateusz Sokalszczuk from Scriptwelder Studio, finalists of the competition Popularizer of Science 2020 in the Team category. Nominated for popularising science and creating, based on archaeological research, another strategy game, this time 'Waterworks!', which tells the story of the former system of supplying water to Grudziądz. Dr Wacław Kulczykowski and Mateusz Sokalszczuk have been working together since 2015 creating computer games. So far they have created Excavate! (2015) and Waterworks! (2020), free online games that have been played over one million times worldwide to date.
More information and voting on the website