Nathalia Pavan, Yimer Mekonnen Kasse, and Gilvana Pereira Siqueira started a one-year internship in Poland at the Fahrenheit Universities in January thanks to the Mayor of Gdańsk Daniel Fahrenheit Scholarship Programme. On Friday, February 14, Mayor Aleksandra Dulkiewicz handed congratulatory letters to the winners and, together with prof. Piotr Stepnowski, Rector of the University of Gdańsk, prof. Michał Markuszewski, Rector of the Medical University of Gdańsk, prof. Krzysztof Wilde, Rector of the Gdańsk University of Technology, and prof. Adriana Zaleska-Medynska, Director of The Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, welcomed the winners to Gdańsk.
‘The Fahrenheit Scholarship is an example of Gdańsk's openness, but also a guarantee of even better progress in science and a higher level of education. The third edition of the scholarship proves that it is a development opportunity for students from all over the world,’ said Aleksandra Dulkiewicz. ‘We want doctoral students to feel at home in Gdańsk. And not only to gain knowledge here but also to draw inspiration, develop their passions and create valuable relationships. I hope that your stay in Gdańsk will contribute to your development and success, which I believe will also be the success of our city.’
This is the third edition of the scholarship programme for international doctoral students conducting interdisciplinary research.
‘The one-year stay of doctoral students at our universities enables them to establish cooperation with foreign research centres or to strengthen existing cooperation. What's more, it is also an opportunity to develop new competences in our teams: from knowledge transfer to the development of soft skills, such as working in an international, multicultural team, managing such a team or improving foreign language skills,’ recalls prof. Adriana Zaleska-Medynska.
This year's data shows that 38% of applicants are citizens of Asian countries and 23% are from Brazil. The remaining applications were submitted by people from Hungary, China, Slovenia and Ethiopia. Most of them are currently studying in Europe, for example in Spain, Belgium, Norway or Italy.
During the informal welcome meeting, the doctoral students talked about their scientific work and their impressions of life in Gdańsk. The scholarship holders' supervisors, dr hab. Bartosz Wielgomas, prof. MUG and prof. dr hab. Sergey Samsonov from the University of Gdańsk, also took part in the discussions.
The winners
Nathalia Pavan from Universidade Estadual Paulista plans to explore theoretical approaches to characterising potential ligands associated with fatty acid binding sites in human serum albumin during her internship at the University of Gdańsk.
Host university: University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Chemistry
Supervisor: prof. dr hab. Sergey Samsonov
Yimer Mekonnen Kasse from Ghent University is continuing his research at the Medical University of Gdańsk. The aim of his research is the sustainable disposal of anthelmintics, which are of great concern as emerging environmental pollutants.
Host university: Medical University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Pharmacy
Supervisor: dr hab. Bartosz Wielgomas, prof.of MUG
Gilvana Pereira Siqueira from the Federal University of Uberlândia will complete an internship at the Gdańsk University of Technology, and her research, which she began at the Federal University of Uberlândia, focuses on the use of sustainable materials for the production of modern electrochemical sensors suitable for 3D printing.
Host university: Gdańsk University of Technology, Institute of Nanotechnology and Materials Science and Engineering
Supervisor: dr hab. inż. Jacek Ryl
