The publication Gdańsk, moje miejsce bez granic (Gdańsk, 2015) edited by Professor Maria Mendel (and illustrated by Daniel Krajnik) is the result of a competition announced in preparation for the tenth year of the Mayor of Gdańsk’s Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit Academic Scholarship in 2014.

Professor Maria Mendel writes extensively on the subject in her introduction to the book:

The scholarship jury looked at scenarios of various kinds, which invariably featured curiosity over the fate of the Scholars, in particular their personal experience of studying outside Poland and the development of the interests, problems and opportunities which open up before them after their studies. So the Scholars themselves had to be at the centre of attention during the anniversary celebrations, with the concentration on the biographical aspect of their achievements. It was under these conditions that the idea was born for a competition to relate their studies abroad, free speculation but, most definitely, from a ‘Gdańsk perspective’, more specifically from the starting point of these studies, i.e. their hometown of Gdańsk, a city which, as is mentioned in the discussions, has since the times of Hevelius sent its most talented youth to study abroad, thereby disseminating itself across the world. The multidimensionality of this relationship between Gdańsk, its scholars and the world they enter for their studies was the subject of broader reflection, to which members of the jury have often given expression while underlining the reciprocity evident in the gratification of developmental needs. From here, it is a small step to thinking of a city with no borders which disseminates itself in the thinking of the students and in the world they encounter. “Gdańsk, my place with no border”, as a motto announcing the competition and inviting “Fahrenheit scholars” was launched in February 2015.