Dr Przemysław Swatek from the Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław is the winner of this year?s Artur Rojszczak Award. The prize was presented on 24 May at the annual meeting of the FNP Scholarship Recipients Club, which this year took place in Toruń.
The award was established ten years ago on the initiative of recipients of Foundation scholarships who wished to commemorate the eminent philosopher Dr Artur Rojszczak, one of the Club?s founders and driving forces, who died tragically. It is awarded to young PhDs who alongside outstanding academic achievements also demonstrate impressive humanistic conduct, broad horizons, and the ability to break barriers and go beyond their academic specialities. The prize, funded annually by the Club and the Foundation, is worth 5000 PLN.
Eight candidates were nominated for this year?s ninth edition of the Artur Rojszczak Prize. They were evaluated by 45 members of the FNP Scholarship Recipients Club. Three candidates made it through to the final stage of the competition:
1. Dr Przemysław Swatek of the Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław, acclaimed for his volunteer work: individual lessons for disabled school pupils and students.
2. Dr Małgorzata Perycz of the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, praised for her motivational and cultural activities.
3. Dr Piotr Psuja of the Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław, who impressed with his work popularising exact and technical sciences and the idea of voluntary blood donation and a healthy lifestyle.
The winner of the award, Dr Przemysław Swatek, comes from Kłodzko, which, as he put it in his final speech, is a small town in Lower Silesia to which he will definitely not return to work in science, but where he likes to go back to give others a chance to learn the secrets of knowledge. He attended the University of Wrocław, before joining the Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 2013 he completed his doctorate, with a dissertation entitled ?The Influence of f-d orbitals hybridisation on physical properties in selected intermetallic compounds based on cerium and uranium?. Dr Swatek?s dissertation and publications won the acclaim of his Institute?s Scientific Council, which recommended him for a Prime Minister?s Award, Minister of Science?s Award and Award of the Polish Scientific Society. Apart from his undoubted passion for science, the members of the FNP Scholarship Recipients Club were also impressed by his efforts to popularise science ? for example participating in the activities of the Physics Circus at the Lower Silesia Science Festival and Scientific Club Fairs. But this is not all this year?s Rojszczak Prize winner does: he also goes out into the ?field?, where the Science Festival is unknown, and alongside demonstrating his physics experience he trains young people for their school-leaving and other exams. Swatek also devotes his time to working in a care centre for disabled people, often children abandoned by their parents.
Many congratulations to the winner and the other finalists!