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Executive Board

Prof. Krzysztof Pyrć

President of the Board

He graduated in 2003 with a degree in molecular biology from Jagiellonian University. He received his PhD from the University of Amsterdam in 2007 and his postdoctoral degree from the University of Lodz in 2013. As of 2019, he is a professor of biological sciences. He also has a degree in management (IPMA project manager; Master of Business Administration MBA, Cracow University of Economics).  Prof. Pyrć is the creator and head of the Virology laboratory at the Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology of the Jagiellonian University (since 2018) and the Virogenetics research group. He organized a research team and new laboratories in Krakow from scratch, first in BSL2 and then – the first BSL3+ research laboratory in Poland.  Prof. Pyrć is an academic teacher and mentor to young scientists. He has promoted dozens of PhDs, masters, and bachelors. Prof. Pyrć and his team research virus-host interactions.

The scope of research is constantly being expanded and modified, in response to emerging threats and technological developments. Prof. Pyrć’s team specializes in viruses that pose a threat in the twenty-first century, i.e., coronaviruses, flaviviruses, alphaviruses, and influenza viruses. To better understand the processes in the human body, Prof. Pyrć and his team created a unique research workshop based on three-dimensional tissue cultures and the lab is currently working on reproducing the complex ecosystem of the human body. Thanks to the results of research by Prof. Pyrć, it has been possible to learn the course of the infection process for many human and animal viruses, which has led to the creation of new substances with therapeutic effects. 

Prof. Pyrć is the author of over 140 publications in, among others, Nature Medicine, Science Translational Medicine, PNAS, PloS Pathogens, Journal of Virology, and Science Signalling, which scholars have been cited over 7000 times in the world literature (h=41; WoS). Moreover, he is a reviewer and expert at science funding institutions in Poland and abroad (Horizon2020, ERC, FNP, NCN, and others). He holds advisory positions at the level of the European Commission and the Ministry of Health. He has been involved in advisory bodies of local governments, the Ministry of Science, the Prime Minister, and the President of Poland. 

He managed numerous research grants, including those under Horizon2020, IMI2, European Cooperation in Science and Technology, the National Science Center, the Foundation for Polish Science, the National Center for Research and Development, and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, as well as those funded by commercial entities. From 2009 to 2016, he was the Scientific Coordinator of the Molecular Biotechnology for Health program at Jagiellonian University. Since 2017, he has been a member of the Council of the Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology. In 2020, he was appointed to the advisory team of the Minister of Science and Higher Education ‘for activities related to the prevention, counteraction and eradication of COVID-19.’ He is deputy chairman of the advisory team on COVID-19 to the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences and a member of the program board of the Science Against Pandemic initiative. Member of the Medical Council to the Prime Minister. Expert of the Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Tariff System on the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 therapy. He is currently a member of the presidium of a committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences (infectious diseases, health problems associated with climate change). He is a member of the American Society for Virology (ASV), European Society for Virology (EuSV), Association of POLITYKA Scholars, Polish Society of Virology, and Polish Society of Cell Biology. Laureate of Foundation programs: START (2008) and POWROTY/HOMING (2008). Winner of numerous awards and honors, including: the POLITYKA weekly scholarship (2008), the European Society for Virology Award (2010), the Prize of the Minister of Science (2020), the title of the Man of the Year of Gazeta Krakowska (2021), the Nicolaus Copernicus Award of the Polish Academy of Sciences (2021), the City of Krakow Award (2021), the Saint Christopher Medal awarded by the Museum of the City of Krakow (2023), the Prize for Outstanding Achievements in Invention awarded by CITTRU (2023). He has topped the list of the most influential people in Polish medicine of Pulse of Medicine since 2021.

Prof. Pyrć was appointed to the position of President of the FNP’s Executive Board by the Foundation’s Council, effective September 1, 2025.

E-mail:
krzysztof.pyrc@fnp.org.pl
Phone:
693 340 642

Dr Anna Plater-Zyberk

Deputy President of the Board

Expert in science management, particularly international scientific cooperation, with over fifteen years of experience in public and international institutions. She is a member of the advisory team on internationalization at the Polish Ministry of Higher Education and Science. She worked for the Polish Academy of Sciences since 2017 to 2025, where she served as Director of the Office for International Cooperation. In this role, she coordinated bilateral agreements, collaborated with more than 60 international organizations, and implemented support programmes, including initiatives for Ukrainian scholars. As team coordinator at the Polish National Science Centre (NCN), she developed the Centre’s first international programmes and oversaw NCN’s participation in various European research networks and initiatives.

She holds a PhD in linguistics (Jagiellonian University) and two MAs: one in ethnology and cultural anthropology, and a European Master’s in Translation Studies. She has also participated in numerous international programmes in Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States.

In 2022, she was awarded the prestigious Hubert H. Humphrey Distinguished Fellowship (U.S. Department of State, Harvard Kennedy School), and in 2021 she received the Polish Academy of Sciences’ Nicolaus Copernicus Medal for her work on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

She is also the author and editor of numerous publications on the internationalization of science, evidence-based policy and on culture. In 2022, she edited the Polish Academy of Sciences’ anniversary volume In Search of a Better World: 20 Stories of Scientific Figures.

She is fluent in English, Italian, and French.

E-mail:
anna.plater@fnp.org.pl

PhD Tomasz Perkowski

Deputy President of the Board

Born on 9 May 1969 in Warsaw. He graduated from the Faculty of Marine Fisheries and Food Technology at what is now the West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin in 1993. He obtained his doctoral degree cum laude in 1997 at his home university. He has also completed postgraduate studies in Environmental Science and Policy at the Central European University in Budapest and a Master of Business Administration course at Szczecin University. He was a Junior Fellow of the Regional Environmental Centre in Budapest (1994), the German Marshall Fund (1995) and the Open Society Foundation (1998). In 1997 he received a young scientist medal from the Szczecin Scientific Society. During his studies his various duties included being a member of the board of Coalition Clean Baltic, an international nongovernmental organization focused on protecting the Baltic Sea, and a member of the National Selection Committee of the Global Environmental Facility Small Grants Programme. 

In January 1999 he was appointed director of the Social Communication Department of the West Pomeranian Regional Health Fund. From March to December 2000 he was employed at the Szczecin Municipal Board Press Office. He was a member of the National Environmental Protection Fund?s Supervisory Board in 2001. He joined the Foundation for Polish Science in December 2000 as its director for development. Following a decision of the Foundation Council, he was appointed vice-president of the Foundation Board on 1 December 2001.  

E-mail:
tomasz.perkowski@fnp.org.pl
Phone:
+48 22 845 95 01