Young scientists from the UPWr receive START 2021 scholarships

The START program of the Foundation for Polish Science is the oldest scholarship program in Poland, intended for the best young scientists from all fields of science. The winners receive an annual scholarship of PLN 28,000, which can be used for any purpose. This year the 100 best scientists were selected from 1,034 candidates, and 54 percent of the selected candidates are women. Three young scientists from the Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences have received the scholarship: Joanna Kowalska, PhD, from the Institute of Soil Science and Environmental Protection, Sabina Lachowicz-Wiśniewska, PhD, from the Department of Fermentation and Cereals Technology, and Radosław Zajdel from the Institute of Surveying and Geoinformatics, who is preparing to defend his PhD.

– It is not only about distinction or satisfaction, but also motivation – admit all three, while Radosław Zajdel further adds that the dean of the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław, prof. Jarosław Bosy, when congratulating them on their success, emphasised that the START scholarship is a good start in the fight for European grants and building international contacts needed in contemporary research.

From the point of view of soil science

Joanna Kowalska defended her PhD at the University of Agriculture in Krakow. She moved to Wrocław after winning the UPWr competition – under the supervision of prof. Cezary Kabbalah, and admits that this it is time for new challenges and attempting to implement totally new research topics. Among them is a research internship in one of the best research centres in Europe – the University of Zurich in Switzerland, at the Department of Geochronology, where it runs a research project titled "Erosion rates and mixing processes in soils with significant contribution of loess to different types of underlying bedrocks", which is co-financed by the program of the National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA).

– During my research internship, I mainly deal with the extraction of meteoric beryl, which will be used to calculate the degree of erosion in poligenetic soils characterised by the presence of shallow loess covers deposited on various geological substrates, e.g. Permian sandstone, serpentine, granite, fluvioglacial sediments, basalt. The second area of my internship is clay mineralogy, or rather the assessment of the influence of aeolian admixture (loess) on the presence and transformation of clay minerals in the previously mentioned soil variants – explains Joanna Kowalska from the Institute of Soil Sciences and Environmental Protection.

One of the application documents in the START program is a description of the originality of the research achievement. In the case of Dr. Kowalska, the most important achievement is recognising the genesis and potential evolution paths of soils produced from calcium carbonate-rich rocks in the Polish Carpathians, as well as the determination of clay mineral transformations in soils formed from carbonate slope covers.

– During my research I also explored the influence of slope processes on the distribution of the micromorphological features of these soils, I identified the primary and secondary forms of calcium carbonate, and the factors leading to their formation – she explains, adding that she discussed these research problems in five scientific articles, some of which were part of her PhD dissertation.

– I think that recognising the genesis and tracing the evolution of soils developed on rocks rich in calcium carbonate are important for the development of my discipline, because they give the opportunity to indicate the main processes occurring in such soils, and also allow for assessing the role of calcium carbonate in their course. Of course, when dealing with mountain soils, you need to take into account many processes taking place on the slope, the influence of lithological, climatic or biogenic conditions – she continues, emphasising that the problem of identifying various forms of carbonates has already been discussed in scientific publications on soils of different climates, but the circumstances of the formation of pedogenic carbonates in the soils of the Polish Carpathians have not been unequivocally described.

– It is certainly a novelty, perhaps also a starting point for further research on this type of soil – adds Joanna Kowalska, admitting that the Foundation for Polish Science scholarship is undoubtedly an important distinction for her. – I am delighted to have received this scholarship. It is a great honour, not only because of the scientific achievements themselves were assessed, i.e. the number of publications and their point weight, but also the originality of the so-called most important achievement. This offers a great level of support for young scientists, encouraging them to continue further scientific development – emphasises the young scientist.

As Dr. Kowalska admits, at this stage of research experience and skills that are needed in science are gained, such as research planning, constructing the concept of articles or obtaining financial support. This is just the beginning of a journey, where science seems quite complicated, often not transferring the expected results. This is why she emphasises that it is very important to support and encourage young scientists not to give up too early, and to believe in themselves.

– This scholarship is also proof that our scientific achievement is gaining, or has even already gained, recognition. This creates an obligation on our side. Especially that the one hundred that were distinguished are people who are trying to be scientifically active and want to remain so in the future – she adds.

One of the elements of the scholarship application was for the young scientist to present their professional plans for the next year, i.e. to show the experts and management board of the Foundation for Polish Science that apart from what was achieved in the past, each participant also has science related plans for the near future. Among the plans of Dr. Joanna Kowalska is the successful completion of her internship in Switzerland, i.e. the publication of two scientific articles directly related to her scientific activities carried out while abroad.

– After my return I would like to finish and send to the editorial office an article that I have been working on for some time, in cooperation with employees from the Department of Soil Science and Agrophysics of the University of Agriculture in Krakow and the Institute of Botany of the Jagiellonian University. The topic is related to heavy metal pollution of soils in the Kaffiøyry area of Spitsbergen. I will focus on soil micromorphology in the near future, and I want to improve my skills in the interpretation of micromorphological features, not only in carbonate soils, but also in other types of soils characterised by primary and secondary characteristics different to carbonate soils - says Dr. Joanna Kowalska, who this year intends to write a research project as part of one of the programs of the National Science Centre.

Could Galileo still help to understand the Earth?

Radosław Zajdel will be defending his PhD in a few months time, and at the end of the year he is planning a postgraduate trip to the German Space Agency. His plans were thwarted by the pandemic, as he was supposed to be there as part of a grant from the Etude program of the National Science Centre, but the Agency switched to a remote work system.

- For me, sharing experiences is crucial. The cooperation of the global community related to satellite geodesy is very intense. Together with the supervisor of my internship, we decided to postpone the internship to the end of the year to maintain the best possible quality of direct cooperation - says Radosław Zajdel, who jokingly adds that the START 2021 scholarship is like winning a game show. Scientists don’t generally expect such gratifications, especially that the scholarship is not intended for a specific research purpose, but as a breath of fresh air in scientists' constant pursuit for funding.

– Simply put, it lets you focus on work, new ideas and searching with less stress. And there is also the satisfaction, because being among the 10 percent of applicants for a scholarship is something to be proud of and happy that you have been noticed and appreciated, that your not only reliable, but also very tedious work has been noticed - admits Radosław Zajdel, who after defending his PhD intends to address a few questions that arise from his work so far, but still remain open. He therefore recently applied for a grant under the NCN Opus competition, although he does not yet have a PhD. Instead, he has a few ideas on how to develop the methodology he managed to create for his PhD.

– In my work I dealt with the determination of global surveying parameters using GNSS systems, i.e. GPS, GLONASS or Galileo, which ordinary users use to position their smartphones or as part of car navigation. These systems provide us with very accurate positions and can navigate us from one place to another, but I use them for Earth observation and to show that the use of data from each of these systems should be carefully considered. Depending on which one we use, we can see various phenomena, which may also differ in their intensity - explains Radosław Zajdel, adding that the European Galileo system is constantly being developed, and one of its co-founders is Poland - within the budget of the European Union.

Currently Radoslaw Zajdel is the manager of the ETIUDA 8 National Science Centre grant, which was awarded to him for the completion of his PhD dissertation and a foreign research internship at DLR, i.e. the German Space Agency, which brings together the best scientists and the most modern equipment and technologies available in the satellite and space, aeronautics, transport and energy industry. The supervisor of the internship from the side of the internship centre will be Prof. Oliver Montenbruck - a pioneer of GNSS research and the creator of computational methodologies in the field of GNSS data processing, initiator and head of the research group of the International GNSS Service – Multi-GNSS Pilot Project (IGS MGEX).

As a result of the research conducted so far, the Foundation for Polish Science scholarship holder has shown differences in the determined global surveying parameters, i.e. the parameters of the Earth's rotation and the movement of the center of masses of the Earth system, determined on the basis of GPS, GLONASS and Galileo system observations. As a result of his research to date, Radosław Zajdel was the first person in the world to characterise the rotation of the Earth and the movement of the planet's centre of mass (the so-called geocentre), on the basis of observations of the European Galileo system satellites. The discovery of systematic errors in the GNSS technique resulting from the use of GPS, GLONASS and Galileo satellite systems is of fundamental importance not only for surveying, but also for the development of all fields of science that increasingly use GNSS systems, such as e.g. geography, climatology, oceanography and economics.

Food of the future – for our health

Sabina Lachowicz-Wiśniewska, PhD, who found a moment for an interview, is in the laboratory, and she jokes that she is working to pay for the scholarship she won.

– When I received money for a research grant from the National Science Centre, it was my first time I was happy, the START scholarship is the second time, but it is also the culmination of my work so far. For me, it is first and foremost an appreciation of laboratory work that requires attention and diligence, where there are no fireworks at first glance. I was also surprised that my research on food was appreciated among so many applicants for the scholarship – she says, admitting that everyone goes shopping and eats meals, but not everyone knows how important it is to know what they eat.

From the beginning of her scientific career, Dr. Lachowicz-Wiśniewska has dealt with functional food, which she designs so that active compounds that can positively affect the human body also work in the final product, i.e. in what is finally on the plate.

– In order for these bioactive compounds to be absorbed, and have a beneficial effect on our health, I assess their availability in photographed products in a model system of simulated gastrointestinal digestion in vitro, I check whether the enrichment will be effective, so whether the food will actually fulfill its function and be food functional – explains Dr. Sabina Lachowicz-Wiśniewska, emphasising that there are no doubts in the scientific world: functional food is the future, not only for conscious consumers who pay attention to both the origin of the products they buy and its composition. This is a necessity, for example due to civilisation diseases or obesity.

In a series of publications, Dr. Lachowicz-Wiśniewska presented a detailed analysis of chokeberries, obtaining dried microcapsules from these fruits and determining their influence on the health value and potential bioavailability of ingredients in the model system of enriched wheat and rye bread in vitro.

– The quality of enriched products and their pro-health value largely depends on the quality of the raw material, in particular on the content of nutrients and compounds with a health-promoting effect. The results that I obtained show that enriching rye and wheat bread with fruit is an effective way to improve its biological value. The addition of strawberries to bread, especially microencapsulated fruit powders, resulted in an increase in the content of polyphenols and an improvement in the biological value and potential bioavailability of bioactive ingredients in comparison with control samples – emphasises Dr. Lachowicz-Wiśniewska, adding that the conducted research about optimising the entire technological process of enriched wheat and rye bread with strawberries in a dried and additionally microencapsulated form brings great value to the development of the discipline of Food and Nutrition Technology.

The young scientist plans to implement a research project from the Sonata-16 NCN competition, concerning the microencapsulation of synbiotics enriched with polyphenolic compounds as a factor shaping a pro-health potential, the survival of microorganisms and stability of compounds in relation to bioavailability in model systems for simulated in vitro digestion of the gastrointestinal tract of both synbiotics and the synbiotic food obtained. Probiotic microorganisms, including the psychobiotics that I shall use in my research, maintain correct intestinal microflora, strengthen the immune system, show anti-cancer properties, inhibit the growth of pathogens, and affect our overall well-being.

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