This is the 16th time that the Foundation for Polish Science has awarded its MASTER/MISTRZ academic grants for professors to outstanding and experienced scientists undertaking new directions of research. The official presentation of diplomas to the beneficiaries of the current edition (chemical and materials sciences) and the 2012 edition (mathematical, physical and engineering sciences) will take place on
24 October 2013. We would like to invite you to attend this event at which the guest of honour will be Prof. Brian Kobilka, winner of a Nobel Prize in chemistry. He will deliver a lecture (in English) entitled ?Structural insights into G protein coupled receptor activation?.

At the meeting, diplomas will be presented to 19 leading Polish scientists who will receive academic grants in the amount of up to 300,000 zlotys each. The money is divided into a stipend part (for financing stipends for young scientists who are members of the beneficiary?s research team) and a research grant part which the beneficiary may spend on things like books or equipment and activities involved in the presentation of research results (e.g. organizing conferences, seminars, open lectures etc.). The beneficiaries will receive a total of 57 million zlotys. The group of beneficiaries of the MASTER/MISTRZ programme, including the winners of the most recent competitions, now numbers 193 researchers.

Beneficiaries of the MISTRZ programme?s 2013 edition (chemical and materials sciences):

• Prof. Grzegorz Chałasiński from the University of Warsaw, whose research involves expanding the power of density functional theory (DFT) towards quantitative predictions for supramolecular chemistry and organic electronics;
• Piotr Garstecki, PhD hab., from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences, whose research involves microfluidic tools for chemistry, biology and diagnostics;
• Prof. Ewa Górecka from the University of Warsaw, who will investigate whether nematics really are simple liquid crystal phases;
• Prof. Daniel Gryko from the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences, who will study the synthesis of polycyclic heterocycles via aromatic dehydrogenative coupling mediated by Lewis and Br?nsted acids;
• Prof. Grzegorz Karczewski from the Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, who will carry out research on molecular beam epitaxy and the physical properties of CdTe/Bi/ Pb1-x SnxTe /Bi/CdTe quantum wells;
• Prof. Janusz Zbigniew Lewiński from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences, who will investigate a bottom-up approach to nanoscaled functional materials;
• Prof. Józef Adam Liwo from the University of Gdańsk, who will develop a unified coarse-grained model of biological macromolecules based on mean-field multipole-multipole interactions with extension to multiscale treatment;
• Prof. Marek Samoć, PhD hab. Eng., from the Wrocław University of Technology, whose research involves nonlinear nanobiophotonics, namely femtosecond scale studies of nonlinear optical processes relevant for bioimaging and light-activated therapies;
• Prof. Jacek Ulański from the Łódź University of Technology, who is working on multifunctional nanostructured materials for organic electronics.

 

 Beneficiaries of the MISTRZ programme?s 2012 edition (mathematical, physical and engineering sciences):

• Prof. Andrzej Bartoszewicz from the Łódź University of Technology, whose project involves optimal sliding mode control of dynamic objects;
• Krzysztof Belczyński, PhD hab., from the University of Warsaw, who is studying dense objects: SNIa, ULX and GR sources;
• Prof. Bożena Czerny from the N. Copernicus Astronomical Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences, whose research topic is quasars as indicators of dark energy distribution;
• Prof. Teodor Paweł Gotszalk from the Wrocław University of Technology, who is studying nanometrology applying advanced methods of scanning probe microscopy (NanoMetSPM).
• Prof. Lech Tadeusz Januszkiewicz from the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, whose field of research is geometric group theory;
• Prof. Piotr Kossacki from the University of Warsaw, whose project involves spin manipulation in semiconductor nanostructures;
• Prof. Mieczysław Mastyło from Adam Mickiewicz University, who is investigating interpolation methods in operator and Banach space theory;
• Prof. Robert Moszyński from the University of Warsaw, whose project involves theoretical modelling of fundamental molecular processes in low-temperature regimes using advanced electron structure theory methods;
• Prof. Maciej Ogorzałek from Jagiellonian University, who is working on new computational methods for designing next-generation microelectronic systems;
• Prof. Arkadiusz Wójs from the Wrocław University of Technology, who is studying the magneto-optics of semiconductor nanostructures with 3/2 spin carriers (with a view to application in quantum information processing).

 

 

 

Press contact:

Justyna Puławska, Foundation for Polish Science: tel. +48 22 845 95 03, +48 604 125 874, justyna.pulawska@fnp.org.pl

We have complete descriptions of the projects being carried out by the beneficiaries as well as biographical notes and photos. If you have any questions, we will be happy to help you contact the beneficiaries.

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The Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) has been active since 1991. It is a non-governmental, self-financing, non-profit organization with a mission to support science. It is Poland?s largest non-governmental source of funding for research. The FNP?s statutory tasks include supporting leading scientists and research teams, encouraging the transfer of scientific achievements to economic practice and participating in various initiatives serving the development of science in Poland. The Foundation operates in accordance with its guiding motto: Supporting only the best, so that they can become even better as well as the following principles: support is provided directly to scientists and research teams; all grants, prizes and stipends are awarded by way of a competition; the leading criterion in awarding support is scientific excellence, and the achievements and output of FNP competition entrants is evaluated by scientists respected in their fields – both Polish and international. By the end of 2012 the Foundation had transferred more than 427 million zlotys from its own funds to science as well as almost 239 million zlotys from EU structural funds.