Ten researchers face off in the finals of the INTER science popularization competition

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The finals of the fifth and last INTER science popularization competition, organized by the Foundation for Polish Science as part of the SKILLS project,* will be held on Saturday, 27 June 2015. The 10 finalists will compete not only for the title of the best popularizers of science, but also for monetary prizes enabling them to realize their winning research projects. Their presentations will be presented live at the Industrial Design Institute in Warsaw.

During the gala finals of the INTER science popularization contest, each of the scientists will have five minutes to present their interdisciplinary research project. Their presentations will be evaluated by the members of the competition committee: Prof. Maciej Żylicz, president of the Foundation for Polish Science (chair), Dr Ilona Iłowiecka-Tańska, Dr Monika Marcinkowska (winner of the 4th INTER competition), editor Krzysztof Michalski, editor Dorota Romanowska, and editor Tomasz Rożek.

The finalists will discuss such issues as how to protect aircraft against lightning bolts, the ways that robots can help in therapy for children with serious mental disabilities, and how predators fight pathogens:

  • Anna Zawistowska-Deniziak from the Witold Stefański Institute of Parisitology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw will present a project entitled “They are there: How to detect a silent killer.”
  • Rafał Urniaż from the Faculty of Pharmacy with Medical Analytics Division at the Medical University of Lublin will present a project entitled “Can medicines be designed like fashions?”
  • Piotr Bąska from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences will present a project entitled “Parasites and modern technology as a tool for battling autoimmune disorders and allergies.”
  • Katarzyna Jodko-Piórecka from the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Warsaw will present a project entitled “Catching radicals red-handed: On imaging the oxygenation of cell membranes.”
  • Igor Zubrycki from the Faculty of Electrical, Electronic, Computer and Control Engineering at the Łódź University of Technology will present a project entitled “Robot therapy: Robots helping therapists.”
  • Wanda Niemyska from the Centre of New Technologies at the University of Warsaw will present a project entitled “The mathematics of soap bubbles and entangled proteins.”
  • Andrzej Katunin from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice will present a project entitled “How to protect an airplane against the effects of a lightning strike?”
  • Zbigniew Piotrowski from the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management in Warsaw will present a project entitled “Fast, cheap and accurate: Calculating weather forecasts in accelerators.”
  • Justyna Chałubińska-Fendler from the Faculty of Medicine at the Medical University of Łódź will present a project entitled “A thousand shades of grey: Analysis of textures in radiotherapy of lung cancer.”
  • Robert Mysłajek from the Faculty of Biology at the University of Warsaw will present a project entitled “How do predators combat pathogens?”

The winners of the competition will receive prizes in the amount of PLN 120,000 (1st prize), PLN 100,000 (2nd prize), and PLN 80,000 (3rd prize). Each award is made up of two portions: 80% of the award is a grant portion for realization of the research project, and 20% of the award is an individual stipend for the winner. The competition committee may decide to award a given prize to more than one person. The audience for the event will also pick their favourite—the winner of the audience vote will receive a prize of PLN 10,000!

The public can watch the presentations of the young researchers on Saturday, 27 June 2015, from 4:30 pm to 9:00 pm at the Industrial Design Institute (Prof. Wanda Telakowska Hall), ul. Świętojerska 5/7, Warsaw. The finals of the competition will also be transmitted online at http://www.onehd.pl/transmisje-inter1/.

The media patrons for the competition finals are Nauka w Polsce PAP, Forum Akademickie and studentnews.pl.

For questions about participation in the competition finals, contact Marta Michalska-Bugajska, email bugajska@fnp.org.pl, tel. +48 604 128 182.

In the photo above, Dr Monika Marcinkowska, winner of the 4th edition of the INTER competition, gives her presentation at the finals.

*The SKILLS project is co-financed by the European Union through the European Social Fund.