The winners were announced last week during the award ceremony at the Gallery of 19th Century Polish Art in the Kraków Cloth Hall. During the evening ceremony, the awards were also presented to last year's winners - Professor Jakub Growiec, Professor Wojciech Fendler and Dr. Michał Tomza. The 2020 Award ceremony did not take place due to the pandemic situation.

The National Science Centre Award is a distinction for young researchers under 40, awarded for significant achievements in research carried out in Poland. It has been awarded since 2013 in three areas: Arts, Humanities, Social and Sciences, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering.

Director of the National Science Centre Professor Zbigniew Błocki said during the ceremony that the institution has been focused on the people of science since its beginning, and 'an important part is supporting young scientists, a great example of which is this award'.

He said: “We direct a large part of the funds to young scientists, and the system that we have introduced supports and sometimes even enforces their independence. It also supports the internationalisation of Polish science and facilitates the functioning of researchers from abroad.”

Professor Jacek Kuźnicki, Chairman of the National Science Centre Council pointed out that the Krakow ceremony was an opportunity to meet the NCN Award winners, examples of people who had managed to achieve great goals. “I believe that this award confirms that it is worth it to have dreams, and that it will initiate even greater scientific achievements,” he told the winners.

Minister of Education and Science Przemysław Czarnek congratulated the 2020 and 2021 NCN Award winners in a letter and expressed the highest recognition of their achievements. He wrote: “I believe that the award will be a motivation for further innovative ventures and the harbinger of future research success. Your contribution to the development of Polish science is invaluable.”

Dr Paweł L. Polkowski, an archaeologist employed at the Archaeological Museum in Poznań and the Polish Centre for Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw, won this year's award for his work in Arts, Humanities, Social and Sciences. Dr. Polkowski studies the rock art of Egypt and Sudan, as well as other issues related to iconography, landscape and theory in archaeology. He ranks as one of the most competent researchers of North African rock art in the world.

The winner in Life Sciences was Dr. Sebastian Glatt from the Malopolska Centre for Biotechnology of the Jagiellonian University. His research group specializes in studying the three-dimensional structure of proteins and nucleic acids with the aid of cryoelectron microscopy and crystallography. 

Professor Jonatan Gutman from the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences received the award in the Physical Sciences and Engineering category. He specialises in dynamical systems theory, especially topological dynamics and ergodic theory. His results, especially those concerning the optimal dimensions for embedding dynamical systems into Hilbert cubes and the theory of nilspace structures, are considered groundbreaking.

Over 600 researchers could nominate candidates for this year's NCN Award. They could nominate researchers born after 1980. A total of 71 people were nominated.

As announced, the 2020 and 2021 NCN Award winners will deliver lectures for the general public, organized by the National Science Centre in cooperation with the Copernicus Center. The lectures will be available at: https://www.youtube.com/user/CopernicusCenter. The first lecture is scheduled for 20 October; subsequent lectures will follow in November and December.

PAP - Science in Poland was a media sponsor of the NCN Award ceremony.(PAP)

autor: Rafał Grzyb

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