On October 10, 2024, the Foundation for Polish Science and the French Academy of Sciences officially bestowed the 2024 Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie Polish-French Science Award in the Column Hall of the University of Warsaw. Numerous representatives of the Polish and French scientific community and science-related institutions appeared at the event. The FNP channel on YouTube streamed the ceremony live.
The Polish-French Science Award was established in 2019 and is awarded through a competition every two years. A jury composed of prominent scholars from France and Poland selects the winners. The Award is a sum of EUR 15,000 for each winner and is jointly funded by the Foundation for Polish Science and the Zygmunt ZaleskiStitching.
The Polish-French Science Award 2024 went to Professor Denis Jacquemin (Université de Nantes and Institut Universitaire de France) and Professor Daniel Gryko (Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences). The winners were recognized for their development of high-performance fluorescent dyes.
Distinguished Guests
In addition to the winners, the ceremony hosted representatives of the Polish and French scientific community and science-related institutions, including Lucie Stepanyan, Chargée d’Affaires of the French Embassy in Poland, Jadwiga Czartoryska and Tomasz Jackowski, members of the Board of Directors of the Zygmunt ZaleskiStitching and Professor Francies-Andre Wollman, Vice-President of the French Academy of Sciences.
Speeches on the Importance of International Cooperation
The Polish-French Science Award aims to honor outstanding scientific achievements resulting from Polish-French research cooperation. And it was the importance of scientific cooperation – including international cooperation – that was one of the strongest themes in the speakers’ speeches.
“By inviting the best scientists from different countries to cooperate, one obtains a mix of cultures and experiences that results in scientific theses and questions no one has ever asked before” said Prof. Maciej Żylicz, President of the Foundation for Polish Science, referring to his own rich experience in international scientific cooperation.
“When you build a network of collaborators and friends – that network stays with you forever and really helps achieve something significant and meaningful in science. It is a network of people you trust. And trust is something extremely important in science,” Professor Żylicz added.
Not Only Maria Skłodowska-Curie: Women’s Role in Science
Another theme in the speeches of the speakers was the role of women in science.
Lucie Stepanyan, Chargée d’Affaires of the French Embassy in Poland, recalled the extremely important role played in science by Maria Skłodowska-Curie – the Award’s patroness – and the priority France gives to the promotion of women in science. In turn, the winner, Professor Denis Jacquemin thanked his team, pointing out the fact of cooperation with many independent scientists, of whom most were women.
Joint Presentation of the Winners: About the Awarded Research
One of the most important parts of the ceremony was the joint presentation of the winners, who presented their awarded achievements and talked about the research they conduct together.
The winners, Professors Denis Jacquemin and Daniel Gryko, were recognized for their collaboration on organic synthesis and computational chemistry, which resulted in the development of high-performance fluorescent dyes. Their research represents significant advancement in the field of luminescent materials and offers novel avenues in the exploration of light-emitting materials.. The researchers designed and synthesized fluorescent dyes, which could potentially be used in organic light-emitting diodes and in fluorescence imaging of living cells.
We would like to thank the winners, all the guests, and those who watched the live stream of the ceremony via FNP’s YouTube channel, which is available for replay in the form of a video report. We invite you to watch it!
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fot. Paweł Kula