Rector prof. dr hab. Piotr Stepnowski talks about the changes to University Newspaper.
- Next week the University of Gdańsk community will have the opportunity to see and, of course, read a brand new edition of University Newspaper. Please tell us what "brand new" means in this case?
- Above all, the newspaper will be a monthly as it once was. It is not intended to provide all current news, but the frequency with which it has appeared in recent years has meant that it has ceased to be regarded as a systematic vehicle for information about the university. Although we now have a revised, expanded and constantly improving news website, the newspaper nevertheless provides opportunities to convey extensive information, which in a shorter form appears on the news page and soon "drops" below. Besides, there are still many people who simply enjoy "reading the paper".
- The change in release frequency isn't the only one - just look at the cover...
- I decided to change the cover - the layout refers to the good tradition of academic newspapers. It is more frugal, we have abandoned the dark blue colour - the colour of the cover will change every month. Thanks to this, subsequent issues will look different.
- However, the volume has not increased significantly. Why?
- Increasing the volume unfortunately costs money. And it is important to remember that copies are free. Besides, for the time being during the pandemic, there is not as much audience in the university as usual. We will gradually increase the number of pages. It is also possible that advertisements will appear in the newspaper, of course well selected. I am not worried about the number and quality of the articles, because the editorial team is supported by our new press team and dr Beata Czechowska Derkacz.
- What's new in the paper?
- We intend to make the pages more accessible to the faculties and other units of the university. We all know what departments there are at the university, who roughly works in them, but the university is a huge institution and it's simply not possible to know everything about everyone. So we've given you the opportunity to introduce yourself to the units, the people who run them and the staff. I hope everyone will take advantage of this opportunity and these self-presentations will be interesting. We start in March with the Faculty of Languages.
- The February issue will be No. 1, even though it is the next issue after the January one. Is this not a mistake?
- No - the January issue was a special issue dedicated to the 50th anniversary, this one begins the usual monthly cycle. However, given the changes, I don't think the word "ordinary" is appropriate, because this is an extraordinary issue in many ways. I invite you to read next week's edition of the University Newspaper.
- Thank you for talking to us.
In a new, easy-to-read form, the magazine brings you up to date with the events of January at our university. We begin with successes and awards in the field of research and science. And here the event of the year is the Johannes Hevelius Award for 2020 in the humanities and social sciences from the City of Gdańsk, granted to the well-known and respected researcher prof. Maria Mendel from the Institute of Pedagogy, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Gdańsk, for outstanding achievements in the field of social sciences, the concept of the pedagogy of place and the theory of commonplace, as well as her contribution to the development of research into spaces of subjectivity. Dr Beata Czechowska-Derkacz talks with the winner of the so-called Gdańsk Nobel Prize about her research areas, school and Gdańsk.
The newspaper also praises the successes of the outstanding molecular biologist prof. Grzegorz Węgrzyn from the UG Biology Department, who received the prestigious Vebleo Scientist Award. We should add that his team of scientists has developed a new and first effective method of treating Sanfilippo disease.
The laurels of young academics are also mentioned. Mgr Magdalena Chułek from the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of History, University of Gdańsk, won the main prize Anthropological research of the year 2020 in the competition of the Social Anthropology Section of the Polish Sociological Association.
In the February issue, we can read about the National Scientific Conference organised at the University and entitled 'Psychologia – Konsumpcja – Jakość Życia' and 'Kół naukowych sposoby na COVID-19', as well as about the success of the 10th edition of the Biologists' Night, which offered lectures, workshops, films, shows and competitions to a wide audience and was held in a unique formula - online.
Mgr Dawid Gajos, a doctoral student at the Doctoral School of Humanities and Social Sciences, talks about socialist ideology and life in North Korea. Piotr Sierzputowski, coach of Iga Świątek, winner of the French Open, talks about tennis and more.
The newspaper also reaches back to archival memories of scientific life, citing impressions of our geography students' first scientific expedition to Afghanistan in 1977.
The editors also mention the staff who left us this year, prof. dr hab. Małgorzata Czerska and prof. dr hab. Bogusław Antoni Cygler.