Two doctorate students of the University of Gdańsk have received commendations in the 12th competition “Complicated and simple. Young scientists on their research” for a popular science article. The competition is organised by the monthly Forum Akademickie and addressed to individuals under the age of 35 ─ researchers from universities and science institutes as well as doctoral students.
Mgr Dominika Bartnik-Światek, with an M.A. in Scandinavian Studies and a student of the Philological Doctoral Studies at the University of Gdańsk, has received a commendation for her article entitled “O czytaniu między wierszami” (On Reading between the Lines). She is currently working on her doctorate on the image of Poles in the Danish press over the centuries.
Mgr Paulina Jędrak, a molecular biologist and a doctoral student at the Department of Molecular Biology of the Faculty of Biology of the University of Gdańsk, has received a commendation for her article entitled “Walka o zdjęcie smoczej klątwy” (The Struggle to Lift the Dragon’s Curse). She is researching the role of mitochondria in the pathogenesis of Huntington’s disease and is looking for new biomarkers for this disease.
Each year the competition receives 100+ articles, the level of which is considered as high by the jurors. This year’s first prize went to Małgorzata Łaciak, a biologist and herpetologist working at the Institute of Nature Conservation of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Cracow, for her article “Naukowe podchody na granicy wody, czyli krótka opowieść o tym, jak śledziliśmy kumaki górskie” (Scientific Chase on the Water’s Edge or the Short Story of How we Tracked Yellow-bellied Toads). Second prize went to Paweł Gora, a mathematician and computer scientist, for his article “Nauka vs. korki” (Science vs. Traffic Jams) and the third prize to Oliwia Kalwasińska, a graduate of Materials Engineering at the Poznań University of Technology and MA studies in the same field at the Warsaw University of Technology for the article “Szkło, które zregeneruje kość” (Glass that will Regenerate Bone).
Alongside the University of Gdańsk doctoral students, those distinguished included Karolina Paulina Gregorczyk, a biologist from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW) for her article “Hulaj świecie, ospy nie ma! Czy na pewno?” (Take it Easy, World, Smallpox is No More! Really?) and Dominik Szulc, a historian at the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences for his article “Tajemnice zaklęte w kamieniach” (The Secrets Hidden in Stones).
The competition jury comprised: Prof. Ewa Bartnik and the journalists Magdalena Bajer, Maciej Iłowiecki and Grzegorz Filip (secretary). 138 articles were submitted to this year’s competition.
