Dr Aleksandra Maria Kocot from the Faculty of Biology of UG, dr Hanna Obracht-Prondzyńska and dr Marcin Połom from the Faculty of Social Sciences, as well as dr Illia Serdiuk from the Institute of Experimental Physics of the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics of UG, have been awarded the Minister's scholarship for outstanding young scientists for significant achievements in scientific activity in 2022.
The Ministry of Education and Science has already announced the results of the competition for scholarships for outstanding young scientists. Four young talented individuals from the University of Gdańsk have received them.
Dr Aleksandra Maria Kocot from the Department of Microbiology at the Faculty of Biology received a scholarship in the field of agricultural sciences - food and nutrition technology. PhD in agricultural sciences in the scientific discipline of food and nutrition technology, with a specialisation in industrial and food microbiology. Her research to date has focused on bacterial biofilms - assessing the relationship between bacterial cells in mixed biofilms, the effect of interactions on microbial growth and inactivation depending on culture systems and the degree of biofilm development with different groups of disinfectants. She explored the topic of biofilms by carrying out research as part of her PhD thesis, directing a PRELUDIUM project funded by the National Science Centre in Cracow from 2017-2020 and during two trips abroad. Currently, she is a postdoc in the OPUS project led by dr hab. Magdalena Płotka, where she continues her research on biofilms, exploiting the potential of phage-derived lytic enzymes in combating biofilms formed by Gram-negative bacteria.
Dr inż. arch. Hanna Obracht-Prondzyńska from the Institute of Socio-Economic Geography and Spatial Management of the Faculty of Social Sciences was awarded a scholarship in the field of engineering sciences - architecture and urban planning. She is an architect, urban planner and data analyst. She works on a data-driven design using GIS tools and machine learning methods. For her doctoral thesis, defended with honours, devoted to research on the functional and spatial development of small towns and the analysis of the impact of the metropolisation process on changes in the structure of the settlement network of the region, the researcher received five awards, including two from the Ministry and the Polish Academy of Sciences. She is currently involved in the analysis of big data sets and spatial information, including, for example, the evaluation of city perception through social media data.
Dr Marcin Połom from the Institute of Social and Economic Geography and Spatial Management
Faculty of Social Sciences has been awarded a scholarship in the field of social sciences - socio-economic geography and spatial economy. He is a transport geographer and has been conducting research on urban electric transport, particularly trolley buses and electric buses, for many years. His award-winning doctoral thesis was about interdisciplinary analyses of the development of trolleybus transport in Poland after 1989. From 2017 to 2021, he led a grant funded by the National Science Centre on socio-economic, environmental and technical aspects of urban electric transport development in Central and Eastern European countries. His current research and most recent scientific work is on E-revolution in urban transport. He is the author of nearly 150 scientific publications, 15 of which have an impact factor.
Dr Illia Serdiuk from the Institute of Experimental Physics of the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics of the UG received a scholarship in the field of science - physical sciences. He is a scientist who conducts research into the use of organic materials in technologies, including electronics. In 2020, the Project 'Two Current Problems, One Solution: Improved Organic Materials for OLED and Hydrogen Photovoltage', headed by dr Illia Serdiuk, was shortlisted for funding under the LIDER XI Programme and received PLN 1.5 million, and in 2021, dr Illia Serdiuk received the 2021 Scientist of the Future Award in the category Science and Technology for an Innovative Future. A few months later, the scientist was awarded a grant in the Sonata 16 competition of the National Science Centre. Thanks to the awarded amount of nearly PLN 790,000, he will carry out a project with his team for three years entitled Breaking bad in organic materials: do emitters for OLEDs break the rules of photophysics?
In the 17th Edition of the competition, the Minister of Education and Science awarded scholarships to 215 young scientists, including 37 PhD students. They were awarded to young scientists representing all 47 scientific and artistic disciplines. The scholarships were awarded for three years and their monthly amount is PLN 5,390.
Full list of awardees on the page of MEiN