Katharina Boguslawski, Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska and Łukasz Opaliński have been awarded the National Science Centre (NCN) 2023 Prize.

Prof Katharina Boguslawski is a quantum chemist and works at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. She received an award in science and technology.

Her research combines chemistry, physics, mathematics, and applied computer science. She focuses on the development of novel computational methods to model the properties of large chemical molecules without the need for experimental studies.

Dr Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska is a cultural scientist, Bohemian researcher, and ethnologist at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. She was awarded in the category of humanities, social sciences, and arts.

Her research interests include memory studies and the study of things and culture in the “Recovered Lands”. She looks at how the process of re-settlement of areas formerly inhabited by German and German-speaking communities looked in post-war Poland and Czechoslovakia.

In the area of life sciences, the award was received by Prof. Lukasz Opalinski, a molecular biologist from the University of Wroclaw.

Together with an interdisciplinary team, he studies how healthy and cancerous cells transmit signals and transport macromolecules, and uses the knowledge gained to design proteins with therapeutic potential.

The basic criterion used by the chapter evaluating the achievements of candidates for the award is their scientific excellence and international recognition. Winners of NCN grants and individuals who have never headed an NCN project are eligible for the award.

This year, the jury selected the laureates from among 44 candidates submitted by the scientific community.

Each laureate will receive PLN 50 000.

Adrian Andrzejewski