Three UPWr students receive the ministerial scholarship

• Łukasz Sobol has already received the minister's scholarship twice.
• Małgorzata Leśniak's main scientific interest is the study of emissions of volatile organic compounds..
• Krzysztof Kotlarz is simultaneously pursuing a master's degree and a doctorate at the UPWr Doctoral School, but has many more achievements.

Learning is important, but work-life balance is more important

Łukasz Sobol, a student of renewable energy and waste management, once again received the scholarship: – I admit that the level of excitement is a little lower, but still high. It is a fantastic feeling to once again be among the few students in Poland to have been awarded in the discipline of environmental engineering. This is a great driving force for further work and development – admits the winner, adding that he plans to use the scholarship to buy new IT equipment, which will be used for research purposes, as well as a bicycle for long-distance expeditions. – Maintaining a work-life balance is important to me – he says.

The scholarship was awarded to Łukasz for his academic achievements – including six publications in scientific journals and participation in two research projects.

The publications concerned the topics of valorisation of waste biomass and sports grass surfaces. – These are the two main areas that I deal with scientifically. In one publication we even managed to combine them, which I am very pleased about. It concerned the technical and economic analysis of using waste grass trimmings to power a microbiogas plant for a golf course in Tuscany, which belongs to Castelfalfi, a large tourist resort  – says Łukasz.

In turn, the research projects in which he has been recognised for mainly concerns biomass. In the BECoop project, the team of Prof. Arkadiusz Dyjakon, in cooperation with the Municipality of Oborniki Śląskie is supporting the inclusion of biomass and bioenergy technology in the heating sector. – Apart from that, I am also leading one of the winning projects of the Young Minds competition, in which together with Dr. Sylwia Stegenta-Dąbrowska we are trying to determine the level of gaseous emissions generated during storage of grass trimmings on soil. In order to reduce the costs of export they are usually stored until complete decomposition or significant volume reduction – explains the winner of the minister's scholarship.

A surprise scholarship

– The information about the scholarship came as a surprise to me, because in the midst of my duties I forgot about the application I had submitted! However, I am very pleased with this distinction. I don’t know what I will use the scholarship for yet, but I will certainly use some of it for self-development – says Małgorzata Leśniak, a student of renewable energy sources and waste management, who was awarded a scholarship for her involvement in scientific activity at the university. 

Małgorzata is currently mainly involved in her own research project, which received funding as part of the Young Minds competition. It focuses on volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from biochar under different storage conditions. – As part of the project I’m building a test rig to analyse VOC emissions from resulting biochar – explains the winner, adding that her master's thesis also deals with the topic of VOCs and their harmfulness to humans. In addition, she is also the co-author of a peer-reviewed scientific article on the conversion of medicinal peat into carbonised solid fuel.

In addition to conducting her own research, Małgorzata is participating in the FertiWaste project on the development of a modern soil substrate based on compost and biochar from bio-waste, conducted at the Soil Science and Environmental Protection Student Science Club.

Master's and doctoral student

A scholarship was also awarded to Krzysztof Kotlarz, who is simultaneously pursuing master's and doctoral studies at the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences. Although it may seem that this achievement alone deserves a ministerial scholarship, Krzysztof has many more scientific successes. Among others, he published a scientific article in a high-profile journal and is participating in a research project financed by the Preludium Bis programme on the use of deep learning in the analysis of genome sequences of breeding animals, carried out under the supervision of Prof. Joanna Szyda. He also has experience in public speaking, because he gave a speach at the Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science at the   international conference in Davos, Switzerland.

– I treat this scholarship as a distinction summarising all my work during my master's studies. Bioinformatics is a broad field, so I intend to use the scholarship for further development, courses and workshops. I hope it will help me broaden my knowledge, which will contribute to further scientific success – says the winner.