Professor Arkadiusz Wójs was born in Wrocław in 1971. In 1990, he graduated from the 3rd Comprehensive School in Wrocław, and in 1995, he completed his master's degree programme in physics at the Faculty of Fundamental Problems of Technology at Wrocław University of Science and Technology. He received his doctorate in physics in 1997 at WUST’s Institute of Physics, and 2002, he received his post-doctoral qualification at WUST’s Faculty of Fundamental Problems of Technology. In 2009, he obtained the title of professor of physical sciences. Since 2017, Professor Wójs has been a member of Academia Europaea, and since 2019, of the Polish Academy of Sciences. As for his professional life, he has been an employee of Wrocław University of Science and Technology since completing his doctoral studies (Assistant Professor - since 1997, Associate Professor - since 2008, Full Professor - since 2014). He has also worked as a visiting researcher at the National Research Council of Canada (MSc and PhD placements), at the University of Tennessee (post-doctoral placement 1997-2000, visiting professor 2001-2007), and at the University of Cambridge (Marie Curie 2008-2010 scholarship holder). He has lectured at universities around the world.

Research career

Professor Arkadiusz Wójs’s main research area is theoretical and computational solid-state physics. He has co-authored six books (including Quantum Dots, Springer-Verlag 1998 – over 1,200 citations in the Scopus database and Quantum Hall Systems, Oxford University Press 2003) and 180 articles indexed in Scopus, quoted more than 2,200 times by other authors (Hirsch index of 29). Also, his achievements in the field of science include 50 lectures that he has delivered at international scientific conferences. He supervised five completed PhD dissertations and is currently supervising six.

Professor Arkadiusz Wójs is a winner of the main award granted by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education for outstanding scientific achievement in the field of basic research (2011), as well as other awards and distinctions, including the American Physical Society Outstanding Referee award (2013), a professor's subsidy from the Foundation for Polish Science Master (2012), Wojciech Rubinowicz Polish Physical Society Award (2008), Marie-Curie European Fellowship (2008), Prime Minister's Awards for post-doctoral dissertations (2003), Stefan Pieńkowski 3rd Division of the Polish Academy of Sciences Awards (2002), and Awards for PhD dissertations from the Ministry of Science and Education (1998). Besides, Professor Arkadiusz Wójs is the chairman of large-scale conferences’ scientific committees (the Congress of Polish Physicists 2017, Jaszowiec 2019), a member journals’ editorial committees (Condensed Matter, Progress in Physics)), a reviewer in competitions for grants and awards (domestic and foreign), and a reviewer at leading scientific journals (including Science and Nature).

Activity in organisations

From 2015 to 2020, Professor Wójs held the role of Dean of WUST’s Faculty of Fundamental Problems of Technology. He was head of the Department of Theoretical Physics (from 2014), chairman of the Discipline Council and the Committee for Degrees in the discipline of Physical Sciences (from 2019). Also, he chaired the Interdisciplinary Scientific Seminar and he still serves on the Board of the Alumni Association. Moreover, He is a member of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Low Temperatures and Structural Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław, a member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, and the Academic Director of Wrocław Knowledge Hub of Academia Europaea.

Private life

Professor Arkadiusz Wójs is father of Natalia and owner of a dog called Bourbon. In his free time, he plays tennis, jogs, swims, and reads. He is primarily interested in the subtle connections between science, art, and the human mind. His passions are people and music, which is why, as a holder of the music lover's card of the National Forum of Music, he attends most concerts organised by the Wrocław Philharmonic.

Prof. Staniec graduated from the Faculty of Electronics and Electrical Engineering at Łódź University of Technology in 2001, obtaining, with honors, the degree of Master of Science in Electronics and Telecommunications. That same year, he began his doctoral program at Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Electronics, which he completed in 2006, defending with distinction his thesis on deterministic modelling of radio wave propagation in confined spaces.

After the defence of the thesis, he joined the Institute of Telecommunications and Acoustics at Wrocław University of Science and Technology, focusing his research interests on digital radio systems, short-range wireless systems, and intrasystem electromagnetic compatibility in wireless sensor networks.

He was awarded a postdoctoral degree in 2014 for his achievements in the latter area. In the period before the conferral of the title of professor, he was concerned with issues related to the Internet of Things (IoT) in the context of electromagnetic cybersecurity in IoT systems, which culminated in the publication of his original book entitled “Radio Interfaces in the Internet of Things Systems. Performance studies” (Springer, 2020). He received a professorial nomination in 2022.

Prof. Staniec actively cooperates with the industrial environment in the fields of teaching, research, and engineering, which has resulted in certified implementations in companies including Nokia, Toyota or radio broadcasters. He also oversees the “LokalDAB” network of three digital radio transmitters operating in the DAB+ standard in the Wrocław municipality (the largest national multiplex in terms of the number of radio stations served, i.e., currently 15), designed and launched as a result of a project managed by him at the National Centre for Research and Development.

He is deputy head of the Department of Telecommunications and ICT and head of the information and communication technology discipline of education at Wrocław Tech’s Doctoral School (since 2019 until the assumption of the office of vice-rector). He also holds the role of supervisor for the telecommunications programme.

Professor’s wife Anna (economist), daughters Oliwia (14) and Jagoda (11), and his dog Nutka (Greek harehound) are the centre of his private life. He holds a first-class music school degree in piano and does simultaneous interpreting between Polish into English and road cycling as hobbies. He unwinds by reading, among others, Ci Xin Liu, Umberto Eco, Stanisław Lem, Olga Tokarczuk, and Ildefonso Falcones.

Since the beginning of his scientific career, Professor Andrzej Ożyhar has been employed at the Faculty of Chemistry of Wrocław University of Science and Technology, where he held the role of Dean. Currently, he is Head of the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biotechnology. Previously, he was also Head of Doctoral Studies and Vice-Dean for Science.

As early as when he was a student, he was fascinated by biochemistry and he remains faithful to this passion until today. Together with his colleagues at the department, he investigates the relationship between the structure and function of proteins at the molecular level.

In addition to Wrocław University of Science and Technology, he can be met virtually every week at the National Forum of Music.

Professor Tomasz Nowakowski is the Chairman of the Discipline Council for Mechanical Engineering, Head of the Department of Technical Systems Operation and a member of the Transport Committee at the Polish Academy of Sciences. The roles he has held include Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Institute of Machine Construction and Operation.

His scientific interests concern the evaluation and modelling of mechanical objects’ reliability, engineering issues related to the operation of complex technical systems and logistics and transport systems’ resistance to disturbances.

Professor Nowakowski's achievements in the field of science include over 340 studies, including 270 scientific papers and 70 reports. He designed and coordinated works at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering connected with the launch of the Transport degree programme in 2002. He has supervised theses of more than 150 engineers and masters in three fields of study. Furthermore, he has supervised 15 successful doctoral dissertations.

Privately, Professor Nowakowski has always been a keen skier, and more recently, he has been practising horseback riding. The music he enjoys listening to the most is the Portuguese genre fado. Also, he likes reading memoirs and crime stories. He grows cacti.

Professor Dariusz Łydżba’s roles at Wrocław University of Science and Technology included Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Director of the Institute of Geotechnics and Hydrotechnics, and Head of the Department of Geotechnics, Hydrotechnics, and Civil Engineering.

Professor Łydżba’s scientific interests and research conducted by him are connected with large-scale mathematical modelling of physical processes in soil and rock media, identification of microstructure measures and their relations with effective parameters of composites, reverse issues of the homogenisation theory, and the problems of mathematical modelling of large-scale geotechnical issues in terms of random fields theory and rational design of earthwork and underground structures.

He has authored or co-authored 120 published scientific papers and more than 100 reports (SPR reports), as well as expert opinions on research conducted for business purposes. For his monograph entitled “Applications of the Asymptotic Homogenization Method in Soil and Rock Mechanics", he received the scientific award of the 4th Division of Technical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 2003.

The professor is happily married with an adult daughter. He has been collecting pens for years – his collection comprises over 100 items.

Piotr Górski, PhD, Eng. works at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, where he held the roles of Deputy Dean for Students' Affairs. He was also Rector's plenipotentiary for students’ and doctoral students’ social, cultural, and sports activities and entrepreneurship, as well as Dean’s plenipotentiary for the promotion of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

Doctor Piotr Górski's scientific interests include modelling and simulation of spatial mechanisms employing multi-module systems and PLC programming.

He has carried out many research and development projects, including the construction of a hair reimplantation machine using the FUE method and the development and implementation of a new technology to produce personalised steering wheels for passenger cars. He has also developed training projects for technical secondary school students from Lower Silesia.

In his private life, Piotr Górski finds time for downhill skiing, ballroom dancing, bicycle and mountain tourism, and new technologies.