Structure Polish Academy of Sciences

Wishing you a wonderful, healthy and peaceful Christmas. Have a promising New Year.

Our health in the time of an epidemic largely depends on our behavior – the decisions made by government officials and people’s readiness to comply with restrictions.

“Rather than a World Trade Organization patent waiver, COVID-19 vaccine equity requires measures with immediate effect on the manufacturing and distribution of vaccines in the Global South and improved compulsory licensing mechanisms” – scientists from the ALLEA write in their newest statement. The Polish Academy of Sciences is a member of the ALLEA.

What is trust? Can we trust social media? What does it mean to trust experts? These are just some of the topics on which students from across Europe may prepare their projects in the Youth on Trust Awards. The main theme of the competition is public trust. The deadline for submitting works is March 1, 2022. 

Six researchers representing different fields of science were honored with the Awards of the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences for their outstanding achievements in 2021. These awards were granted, inter alia, for research on the causes of cerebral edema, the discovery of nanographene analogs, and a monograph on plant diversity of Middle Asia – one of the richest flora in the world.

According to recent reports, a new and potentially dangerous variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus named Omicron (variant B.1.1.529) has been discovered. The European Commission is considering banning flights to the countries where this variant has appeared. Some countries, including the United Kingdom, Italy and the United States, have already taken such measures. The United States has placed restrictions on travel from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Lesotho, and Eswatini. Is there reason to be concerned?

In confrontation with the fourth wave of COVID-19 infections in Poland, each of us has been left to our own devices. In this situation, we are making an urgent appeal to all those who have previously shown responsibility and received the COVID-19 vaccine to get vaccinated with a booster dose as soon as it becomes possible for them.

Two doctoral students from the institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences – Natalia Ochocka-Lewicka from the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology and Magdalena Dąbrowska from the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry – received fellowships in the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women and Science competition. 

The best students in doctoral programs and doctoral schools run by PAS research institutes have been awarded with the scholarships of the President of the Academy. Congratulations to all the winners!

Reconstructing what extinct dinosaurs looked like requires not only paleontological imagination but also deepen studies on anatomy of those animals. In the latest issue of Academia magazine Agnieszka Kapuścińska from the Museum of Evolution of the PAS Institute of Paleobiology reveals how depictions of prehistoric creatures have evolved over time along with the changing state of scientific knowledge.

PAS Institute of Geophysics have sent a special expedition to the A.B Dobrowolski Antarctic Station. It is the oldest Polish station in Antarctica, unused since 1987. The Polish researchers will analyze, among others, deeper structures of the Earth as well as the process of generating the Earth's magnetic field.

35 foreign scientists will come to the institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences to conduct their research. The winners of the first Call of the PASIFIC Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme have just been selected.

Scientific institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS) are introducing gender equality plans (GEPs). Departments entrusted with the preparation of these documents will find help in the guidebook prepared by the Polish Science Contact Agency "PolSCA" of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Brussels. Implementing gender equality plans in research institutions will soon be mandatory for all Horizon Europe competitions, including MSCA and ERC.  

Members of the COVID-19 Advisory Team to the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences met with scientists from Taiwan. They talked about the course of the pandemic in both countries and ways to fight the coronavirus.

Two PAS researchers, Prof. Bożena Kamińska-Kaczmarek from the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology and Prof. Grzegorz Pietrzyński from the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, were among the laureates of the 2021 Foundation for Polish Science Prizes. The FNP Prizes, widely recognized as the Poland’s most prestigious distinctions, were awarded for the 30th time.

Some plant species of alien origin once introduced to Polish habitats have become a permanent fixture in our flora, growing e.g. in cemeteries and their surroundings. Scientists from the PAS Institute of Nature Conservation examined what kind of necropolises could act as the hubs of alien plant species. 

The European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities welcomes the choice of theme for the 2021 International Open Access Week – “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity” – and publishes statement on this occasion. The Polish Academy of Sciences is a member of the ALLEA.

38 representatives of scientific institutions around the world signed a letter to support participants of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in achieving the conference goals, including commitments to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and to limit the global warming to 1.5^oC. Among the signatories of the letter is Prof. Jerzy Duszyński, president of the Polish Academy of Sciences.