The first Copernican World Congress in Toruń has launched the actual activities of the Copernican Academy. It is attended by five Nobel Prize winners, 700 researchers and experts. The opening of the Congress marked exactly the 550th anniversary of Nicolaus Copernicus’ birth and was combined with the celebration of Nicolaus Copernicus University. The ceremony was attended by the Minister of Education and Science, Przemysław Czarnek.

“You can see a magnificent monument in honour of Nicolaus Copernicus, made up of scientists from all over the world. The Copernican Chambers and the Copernican Academy are not competition for Polish universities, it is a platform for the exchange of experience, ideas, and scientific achievements”, said Minister Czarnek during the inauguration of the academy.

The Copernican Academy will be managed by scientists from all over the world. It will be an international institution consisting of half Polish and half foreign scientists. It is expected to facilitate the Academy’s primary objective, which is the internationalisation of Polish science.

The activities of the Copernican Academy will focus on selected research areas determined by the thematic scope of the chambers operating within it including Astronomy and Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Medical Sciences, Economics and Management, Philosophy and Theology and Legal Sciences. There will also be a Chamber of Laureates of the Copernican Awards.

The Academy will implement a programme that includes financing of scientific research, such as the awarding of Copernican scholarships, Copernican grants, support for the Copernicus School, the awarding of prizes or the appointment of Copernican Academy ambassadors.

The Copernican Academy is based on five pillars, corresponding to the areas of Nicolaus Copernicus’ achievements that formed the basis for the organisation of the Chambers. They are: astronomy, economics, law, medicine and theology and philosophy.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński