Today, on October 12, the names of the laureates of the NCN 2022 Award have been revealed in the Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art in Sukiennice (a branch of the National Museum in Kraków). This award is the most prestigious scientific award granted to young scientists working in Polish centers. In November and December, the laureates will deliver a series of popular science lectures, which will also be streamed live.
The transmission of the award ceremony is available on Youtube here.
The National Science Center Award is a distinction for young scientists, awarded for significant achievements in the field of basic research conducted in Poland. It has been awarded since 2013 in three fields: humanities, social sciences and arts, life sciences, and science and technology.
The NCN Award is given to researchers under the age of 40 with a substantial record in the field of basic research, documented by publications affiliated with Polish research centres. The award is given in three groups of disciplines: Art, Humanities, and Social Sciences (HS), Physical Sciences and Engineering (ST), and Life Sciences (NZ), and the main criterion in the selection process is scientific excellence and international recognition.
The jury of the NCN Award is made up of NCN Council members and the NCN Director. This year, 650 people were eligible to submit their nominations. These included e.g. previous NCN Award winners, former NCN Council members, and other prominent researchers. Only those born in 1981 and later were eligible for a nomination. The list of nominees included 59 researchers (70 nominations in total were submitted, but some candidates were nominated by more than one person).
The laureates: Professor Piotr Wcisło, Professor Michał Bogdziewicz, and Professor Karolina Safarzyńska.
The laureate of NCN Award in the category of science and technology is physicist Professor Piotr Wcisło from Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. The researcher developed an experimental method of searching for dark matter using ultra-precise laser spectroscopy based on the technology of optical atomic clocks.
#NagrodaNCN Laureatem w kategorii nauki ścisłe i techniczne jest fizyk prof. Piotr Wcisło z @UMK_Torun. Badacz opracował eksperymentalną metodę poszukiwania ciemnej materii przy użyciu ultradokładnej spektroskopii laserowej bazującej na technologii optycznych zegarów atomowych. pic.twitter.com/qz8Bgqcyi3
— Narodowe Centrum Nauki (@NCN_PL) October 12, 2022
“In the field of life sciences, the award was given to Professor Michał Bogdziewicz from Polish Young Academy (Polish Academy of Sciences) in Poznań. The researcher deals with the ecology of forests, the biology of seed years, i.e. those in which trees produce an exceptionally high number of seeds, and the influence of climate change on tree reproduction.
W dziedzinie nauk o życiu nagrodzony został prof. @mic_bog z @UAM_Poznan, członek @PAN_AMU. Badacz z zajmuje się ekologią lasów, biologią lat nasiennych, czyli takich w których drzewa produkują wyjątkowo dużo nasion, i wpływem zmian klimatu na reprodukcję drzew. #NagrodaNCN pic.twitter.com/6e5NlJ073z
— Narodowe Centrum Nauki (@NCN_PL) October 12, 2022
Professor Karolina Safarzyńska from University of Warsaw received the NCN Award in the category of humanities, social sciences and art. He is one of the few people in Poland dealing with complexity, behavioral and experimental economics and climate change.
Prof. Karolina Safarzyńska z @UniWarszawski otrzymała #NagrodaNCN w kategorii nauki humanistyczne, społeczne i o sztuce. Jest jedną z nielicznych osób w Polsce zajmujących się ekonomią złożoności, behawioralną i eksperymentalną oraz zmianami klimatycznymi. pic.twitter.com/JNDC7QaahQ
— Narodowe Centrum Nauki (@NCN_PL) October 12, 2022