The Minister of National Defence presented the Marian Rejewski Awards to young scientists conducting research in the field of cybersecurity and cryptology. The second prize in the category of best doctoral dissertation was awarded to dr Marek Winczewski, currently an assistant professor at the Department of Quantum Informatics at the Institute of Informatics, University of Gdańsk.

The award-winning dissertation entitled Fundamental Limitations Within the Selected Cryptographic scenarios and supra-quantum theories was written under the supervision of dr hab. Karol Horodecki, prof. UG, partly at the International Centre for Theory Of Quantum Technologies UG, and partly at the KCIK in Sopot. It was defended at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science of the University of Gdańsk in July 2023. The thesis was about quantum cryptography: quantum symmetric key distribution, upper limits on the number of cryptographic keys in various cryptographic scenarios/security paradigms, quantum networks, as well as research on the nature of quantum mechanics and alternative theories.

‘I was very surprised by the award, I was hesitant to even submit my work to the competition. Of course, I am very happy, it is a great honour,’ says dr Marek Winczewski, and when asked about his plans for the future, he adds: ‘Now I have focused more on open quantum systems and quantum thermodynamics. I am also interested in quantum algorithms and the energy costs of quantum calculations and quantum network tasks. I will soon be leaving for a postdoctoral internship in Lyon, at the Inria Lyon Centre institute. There, I will be working on an alternative approach to quantum computers (in the physical sense). However, the long-term plan is, of course, to return to Gdańsk.’