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Physical Science and Engineering

Two areas will be investigated within the research group: Poland and the Arctic.

Research scopes for Poland:

  • Reconstruction of climate and the most important extreme Weather, Climate and Water events (WCWs) according to the WMO classification, including the most hazardous (droughts and floods) in Poland in the pre-instrumental period (1001–1800) and to compare them with contemporary conditions. Another important goal will be to identify the causes (meteorological, hydrological and other) of some WCWs, but particularly droughts and floods.
  • Search for relationship between climatic and environmental conditions and social and economic development consequences of the climate changes for the human population.
  • Assessment of future climate changes in Poland under Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase (CMIP6). The main objective of this task is to evaluate the key meteorological variable (i.e. temperature, precipitation) variations under climate change scenarios and their impact on extreme events (i.e. floods and droughts) in Poland for a future period based on the latest report of IPCC (IPCC 2021) and novel climate change scenarios (SSP scenarios) from CMIP6.
  • Two large databases will be constructed combining existing data and the new data gathered within the project. The first one will contain weather descriptions about all studied WCWs using the documentary evidence and their critical evaluation. The second one will gather dendrochronological data (mainly negative/positive pointer years), which can be useful for analysis of climate and the WCWs.

Research scopes for Arctic:

  • Data rescue activity aiming at collecting as many meteorological data from early instrumental period as possible. We plan to visit some archives and libraries in the European countries (e.g. Germany, Denmark, Switzerland) and based on gathered sources to construct the electronic climatic database.
  • Climate and bioclimate reconstructions for the period from the end of the 18th century to the mid-20th century. We particularly want to concentrate on Greenland and Labrador Arctic regions where weather observations and measurements were conducted by the Moravian Missionaries. For the first time for the Arctic there will be a possibility to make a weather indexations for the mentioned regions since the end of the 18th century based on weather excerpts available in many narrative sources.
  • New weather and climate knowledge will allow for more reliable estimations of causes of climate changes in historical times in the Arctic.
  • Climate and bioclimate changes from historical to present times.

Prof. Dr hab. Rajmund Przybylak was Head of the Department of Meteorology and Climatology of NCU in the years 2000–22. Since September 2020, he has been the Director of the NCU’s Centre for Climate Change Research. In the years 2020–22, he headed the priority research team known as the Climate Change Research Unit (CCRU). His didactic achievements include: supervisor to five successful doctoral promotions, 123 master’s degrees and 28 bachelor’s degrees. His scientific research concerns the climate of the Arctic and Poland and its modern and historical changes, as well as topoclimates and urban climate. To date, he is the author or co-author of more than 380 publications. He has participated in 21 research projects for the State Committee for Scientific Research of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, NCN, etc., including twelve as Project Manager (and is currently managing two research projects for the National Science Centre), and has been Principal Researcher on three international projects. In his scientific career, he has taken part in eight scientific expeditions to Spitsbergen, Tanzania and Nepal. He received a 2003 Minister of Science and Higher Education Award and is a twenty-times recipient of an NCU Rector’s Award for scientific activity. In recent years, he has given several invitational lectures at national and international conferences and, throughout his career, has made 31 scientific and research visits to various European countries and sat on scientific committees at several national and international conferences. Professor Przybylak is actively engaged beyond the university. For example, he represents Poland in the International Permafrost Association (since 2011), and in 2010–18 was a member of the Atmospheric Working Group of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC). He has been the President of the Polish Geophysical Society since 2018, a member of the Polar Research Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences since 2007, a member of the Polish Polar Consortium since 2012 and, since 2018, Chairman of Division III of the Scientific Society in Toruń.

Staff

  • Piotr Oliński
  • Marcin Koprowski
  • Andrzej Araźny
  • Marcin Nowak
  • Aleksandra Pospieszyńska
  • Garima Singh
  • Konrad Chmist

The group’s research goal is to develop optimal control and identification methods for complex systems and plants, such as robots, CNC machines, and drives. High-performance control and identification will be obtained using modern control theory supported by artificial intelligence.

The scientific activity of the OCIAI team is focused on the following fields:

  • Trajectory optimization of multi-axis parallel kinematics machines, robotic arms, and mobile robots providing time- and energy-optimal velocity profiling, path planning, and motion scheduling.
  • Advanced control structures for electrical drives applied in electromobility, providing energy-efficient and high-performance control.
  • Iterative learning and repetitive control for mechanical systems described by uncertain plant models providing high-performance trajectory tracking and suppression of unknown but repetitive disturbances.
  • Estimation methods in the time and frequency domain to characterize the thermal transport of novel materials at a wide range of temperatures.

Developed innovative control and identification methods may be applied in industrial applications such as electromobility, mobile robots and robotic arms, multi-axis machines, and power electronics.

The research group cooperates with research teams from national universities: Warsaw University of Technology, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, and abroad ones: the University of Rostock, University of Southampton, Institute of Electrical Engineering Serbia, Chongqing University China, Ruhr University Bochum, University of Toronto.


Tomasz Tarczewski, Ph.D., D.Sc., Associate Professor of NCU – head of the Department of Automatics and Measurement Systems at the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus University. The main research interests of prof. Tarczewski focus on the synthesis and analysis of optimal, predictive, and adaptive control for novel electrical drives. He cooperates with leading national technical universities (e.g., Warsaw University of Technology, Wrocław University of Science and Technology) and with Electrical Institute Nikola Tesla in Belgrade. Prof. Tarczewski has been the principal investigator and the co-investigator of grants funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and the Ph.D. student’s assistant supervisor. He is the supervisor of four Ph.D. students, a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and a member of the Polish Academy of Science – Power Electronics and Electrical Drives Section. Since 2019 he has been the director of the Institute of Engineering and Technology.

Staff

  • Krystian Erwinski
  • Sławomir Mandra
  • Łukasz Niewiara
  • Michał Pawlak
  • Rafał Szczepański
  • Mateusz Tejer
  • Gabriel Karasek
  • Robert Surus
  • Ankur Chatterjee

The scientific activities of the team focus on:

  • the formation of new materials based on biopolymers (including alginates, chitosan, and starch) and determining their physicochemical properties as a result of physical and chemical modification,
  • designing and the study into properties of biodegradable packaging materials based on polylactide and cellulose derivatives with the addition of surfactants and natural compounds characterized by biocidal properties.
  • obtaining active, edible polymer packaging enriched with natural antioxidants,
  • determination of the functional properties of the new materials, important from the packaging and food industry point of view.
  • understanding the mechanisms of biodegradation of polymers with incorporated biocidal substances in natural and anthropogenic environments
  • study of the effect of biocomposites introduced into the environment on metabolic and enzymatic activity of microorganisms in the environment
  • enzymatic analyses of biofilms formed on the surface of biopolymers
  • development and improvement of microbiological preparations that accelerate polymer degradation

The scientific research focuses on developing novel, active food-packaging films formed:

  • from chitosan (Ch) and different additives (phenolic acids and naturally derived extracts containing antioxidants). The mechanical properties (i.e., flexibility, strength) of these films are modified using classic plasticizers as well as a novel group of plasticizers: natural-based, biodegradable, and non-toxic deep eutectic solvents (DESs). The possible application of materials to extend the food shelf-life will be analysed based on the assessment of several physicochemical and functional properties.
  • from polylactides and cellulose derivatives with the addition of surfactants and natural compounds characterized by biocidal properties. The mechanical, thermal, structural, antioxidant and storage properties of the obtained materials will be analysed.

Moreover, the aim of the project is to determine the biocidal activity of the polymers, and the cytotoxic and antioxidant activity. An important aspect is to test the biodegradability of polymers in natural and anthropogenic environments. Analyses include: determination of biological oxygen consumption by micro-organisms in the presence of polymers, the abundance, viability, enzymatic activity and biodiversity of the biofilm formed on the polymer surface. In order to accelerate the biodegradation process, bacteria will be isolated from the polymer surface for biochemical analysis and identification. The most active strains will be used to develop a formulation to aid polymer degradation and introduced into the environment.


Dr hab. Ewa Olewnik-Kruszkowska, prof. UMK – graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, specialising in polymers. She completed her master’s thesis partly during the Erasmus-Socrates scholarship under the supervision of prof. Andre Larbot at the Institut Européen des Membranes in Montpellier (France). She received her PhD in chemistry in 2007. During the research for the doctoral dissertation, dr hab. Olewnik-Kruszkowska completed an internship at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris. Subsequent scientific internships were concluded in 2015 at the Blaise Pascal University – Clermont-Ferrand (France) and the University of Zaragoza in 2022 (Spain). Dr. hab. Ewa Olewnik-Kruszkowska was also a member of the “Polymer Materials” Team of the Materials Science Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In addition, so as to further her scientific career, she was the principal investigator of 4 grants, including the Sonata grant awarded by the National Science Centre. As the chief researcher she implemented the Grant of the Minister of National Defense in cooperation with the Naval Academy in Gdynia and was an assisting researcher in the grant of the National Center for Research and Development in the project entitled “BioDive Fin – innovative biomimetic swimming fins for civilian applications”. Thanks to extensive cooperation with the industry, dr hab. Ewa Olewnik-Kruszkowska took part in the following programs: “NiP Knowledge Transfer Program – Science and Practice” and the Scientist Success Internship II edition organised by the Poznań Academic Incubator of Entrepreneurship. She co-implemented two Research Vouchers and two Innovation Vouchers for SMEs under the Smart Growth Operational Program 2014-2020. Her scientific interests focus mainly on designing polymer composites based on dielectric elastomers, polyolefins and biodegradable polymers, modification of montmorillonite, as well as developing packaging materials with biocidal properties. In addition, her scientific works concern research into the progress of the decomposition processes in composite materials when exposed to various environmental factors.

Staff

  • Maria Swiontek Brzezinska
  • Magdalena Gierszewska
  • Beata Kaczmarek-Szczepańska
  • Agnieszka Richert
  • Weronika Kujawa
  • Martyna Stawicka
  • Ewa Frankowska
  • Magda Ringwelska
  • Katarzyna Dembińska
  • Lidia Zasada

Light-ContrOlled Materials For sOft RoboTics (COMFORT) – the subject of research covers the following fields: physical sciences, chemical sciences, materials engineering, chemical engineering.

Team leader – dr hab. Beata Derkowska-Zielińska, prof. NCU

Research conducted within the Research Group COMFORT (hereinafter referred to as Group) is interdisciplinary. Using the experience of the members of the Group from the Faculty of Chemistry NCU (WCh NCU) in the synthesis of organic materials, it is planned to prepare new materials containing azobenzene reacting to light. The proposed photoactive materials will be studied by scientists from the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics NCU (WFAiIS NCU) using linear and nonlinear optical methods to optimize the properties necessary for the use of such materials in soft robotics (SR).
The newly established Group will develop SR at the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics NCU.
Close collaboration is planned between members of the Group from WFAiIS NCU and WCh NCU, as well as close collaboration with existing and new international partners from e.g. Japan, France, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany and Finland.

Light-ContrOlled Materials For sOft RoboTics (COMFORT)

Recent years brought a significant increase in interest in the development of materials that mimic the abilities found in nature. During evolution, leaving creatures have become highly functional and productive, using environmental stimuli to trigger adaptive behaviors that help species to survive. The best solutions from the nature people replicate mostly using the “hard” robots, where rigid segments limit the adaptability and versatility of devices. In contrary, soft robots fully composed of susceptible polymers, better mimic living organisms with their soft body. In order to free robots from clinging to external or heavy onboard control units, it is necessary to use stimulus-responsive polymers that undergo macroscopic deformation in response to remote triggering. Such responsive materials can convert the energy contained in chemical or physical stimuli into macroscopic deformation. Among many actuators, light gained a lot of interest by being remote, non-destructive and precise activation stimulus. Therefore, many photosensitive materials have been already developed and studied in soft robotics. However, the vast range of possible applications as well as progress in nanotechnology and nanoscience allows fabricating novel materials that can outperform the ones that has been proposed before.
The aim of this research is to establish develop soft robotics (SR) at NCU (i.e. design and study the response of various photoresponsive materials and to optically control their shape change). The first goal (1) is motivated by the need for new materials for SR. The knowledge and expertise of our chemists allows to design new azobenzene-containing light-responsive polymers (ALRP). By changing the concentration of chromophores or groups that are linked to azo functionality in designed photoresponsive materials, the response to illumination can be tuned and optimized. The second goal (2) results from the fact that new materials require detailed analysis. Complementing the available experimental techniques with other tools will be used to better understand the mechanisms of photoactivation and the possibility of using their nonlinear optical (NLO) properties. The third goal (3) is to use designed and optimized materials for demonstration of SR applications.

The Group will deal with:

  • design and synthesis of new light-responsive polymers containing azobenzene (azobenzene-containing light-responsive polymers – ALRP) for soft robotics
    Based on the experience of the scientists from the Faculty of Chemistry NCU, specializing in the chemistry of chalcogenides, the Group begins their research on highly efficient azo-selenoorganic materials for soft robotics. Unsymmetrical azo-derivatives functionalized with alkyl selenium groups will be obtained through the azo-coupling of 8-hydroxyquinoline with aromatic or aliphatic p-aminophenylselenides (azoselenides). Additional group of unsymmetrical azo-derivatives, containing a selenazole ring, will be synthetized through the azo-coupling of 1,3-selenazol-2-amines with various p-substituted anilines.
    The hydoxy group of quinoline, in the structure of the obtained azoselenides, and the primary amine moiety of the selenazole function will be further converted to metacrylic esters and amides, respectively. The unsaturated double bond of the metacrylate function will be used for radical polymerization reaction to obtain the final Se-material. The designed Se-polymers, that combine the light-responsive azo function with the organoselenium scaffold, will be used in soft robotics as azo-materials responsive to light activation (ALRP).
  • Study of light-controlled materials
    The Group will focus on basic and comprehensive studies of optical properties of newly synthesized molecules and study of changes under the influence of light illumination.
    It is well known that one of more significant trademarks of azo compound are two forms of azobenzene and its ability for reversible photoisomerization between thermally stable trans state and metastable cis upon light irradiation. The isomerization causes structural changes in azobenzene configuration and significantly affects its spectroscopic, photo-physical and physico-chemical properties. This is the key to the unique optical and photomechanical effects observed in azo-dyes. In order to observe such effect, the material has to absorb light, therefore the knowledge of optical properties plays a key role in tuning the properties of next generations of designed and synthetized molecules.
    The actuation of ALRP when exposed to irradiation with polarized light can show through photoreorientation (trans–cis–trans) due to the nearly equivalent absorption of trans and cis isomers at chosen wavelengths. However, it has been shown that such effects are generated by lower strains than the more commonly used trans-cis isomerization. Additionally, the activation of ALRP dyes can cause intermediate deformation states that are temporarily stable, even after removal of illumination, because photochromic dyes remain in light-induced cis state until they return to their initial stable trans state. Such clean photochemistry gives rise to the numerous remarkable photo-switching and photo-responsive behaviors observed in these systems. The latter will be observed by performing surface-relief grating (SRG) experiment, where material is illuminated with two overlapping beams and the dynamics of material modification under the light exposer is probed with third beam. Thus, the exposed material undergoes surface or volume changes what results in creation of grating that diffracts the probe beam.
    We also plan to expand the capabilities of SRG experiment by performing all-optical poling (AOP) technique and induce holographic gratings. This method brings the benefit of inducing non-centrosymmetric contributions to molecular ordering. We expect to obtain SRG created in newly synthesized materials. To investigate the nonlinear optical (NLO) response of newly synthesized molecules, Z-scan, third-harmonic generation (THG) and photoinduced birefringence measurements will be used. Z-scan is a technique that allows to measure the magnitude and sign of nonlinear refractive index of material and value of its nonlinear absorption coefficient. A complementary technique to learn about third-order NLO properties is THG, where a laser light of fundamental frequency generates, through nonlinear polarization in material, an optical field at tripled frequency. Based on THG, we can determine purely electronic molecular second hyperpolarizability of material. Generation of optical anisotropy in azo dye-containing materials results from the orientation of azo chromophores induced by linearly polarized light due to processes of selective absorption and reactions of trans–cis isomerization. After numerous trans–cis–trans isomerization processes, the long axes of azo molecules tend to align in directions perpendicular to the polarization of light. As a result, the material becomes birefringent and dichroic in the plane perpendicular to the direction of light propagation. NLO measurements allow to find the materials with fast optical response, however, depending on the speed of the grating formation process, materials with the possibility of holographic grating writing can be used for different application.
    We plan to use the existing experimental setups and build the ones that complement proposed study. Further improvement of ALRP will be possible based on the initial results from the experiments. Apart from improved optical properties, we plan to focus on improvement of properties that are crucial for real applications such as elasticity, durability, air resistance, damage threshold, long lifetime.
    All setups will be used to learn about linear and nonlinear optical properties and response time under the light illumination.
  • Demonstration of SR applications
    One of the key goals of the Group’s research will be to  perform an experiment of a change of ALRP’s shape (applied on an elastic substrate) under light illumination. This behavior can be observed because, as described earlier, material undergoes macroscopic movement. Under the light irradiation, azobenzene dyes exert a force on the surrounding lattice through light-induced geometric changes in its structure, from the stable trans isomer to its metastable cis state. The force is referred to as the “lattice stress” or “push-pull effect” and causes a disturbance of the molecular order, causing a volumetric contraction along the molecular director and a perpendicular expansion. Such effect is often accompanied by the formation of a free volume representing changes in molecular volume. This, in turns, can be used to design the devices that bent or move when exposed to light. Therefore, the light of certain wavelength can be used to control the device. Thus, incorporation of such molecular photo-switches into light-responsive polymers allows for the translation of absorbed light energy into mechanical work, what makes such materials excellent candidates for applications in SR.

Staff

  • Robert Czaplicki
  • Agata Joanna Pacuła-Miszewska
  • Dariusz Chomicki
  • Maciej Zboiński
  • Malgorzata Sypniewska
  • Abdallah Guerchi
  • Mateusz Rojek
  • Arasteh Jahani

The research group conducts research in the field of Crystal Engineering and Solid-State Chemistry, including:

  • Design, synthesis and characterization of crystalline materials with specific structure and properties, for example porous materials based on discrete or polymeric coordination compounds (LD, ZR, conducted in cooperation with KU Leuven, Belgium), or materials showing specific magnetic properties (TM, in cooperation with the Jagiellonian University in Cracow)
  • Synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials applicable in optoelectronics, photo- and electrocatalysis, and photodegradation (RS, in cooperation with the University of Glasgow, UK; GT)
  • Synthesis and characterization of carbon materials for energy conversion and storage (GT, in cooperation with GUT Gdańsk, UG Gdańsk, TUD Darmstadt, Germany)

In addition, the group’s interests include:

  • research on the dynamics occurring in single-crystals (LD)
  • research on the behavior of matter under specific conditions – for example, under elevated pressure (LD, TM, RS)
  • polymorphism studies (LD, ZR, ŁF, in cooperation with Imperial College London, UK)
  • topological studies of coordination compounds (LD, TM)
  • studies of crystalline materials showing non-linear optical properties (LD, RS)
  • testing of materials with nanoscale properties using electron microscopy techniques and spectroscopic methods (GT, in cooperation with the University of Gdańsk, MPI Stuttgart, Germany)
  • quantitative IR and Raman spectroscopy, determination of organic pollutants in clean rooms (GT, RS, in cooperation with ESA, Netherlands).

Initials – LD, TM, ZR, RS, GT, ŁF – refer to the group members (see personnel file)


Dr. hab. Liliana Dobrzańska, prof. NCU – leads the Crystal and Materials Engineering group within the Department of Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy of the Faculty of Chemistry. She spent over 10 years (2004-2015) at foreign centers, such as Stellenbosch University (South Africa) and KU Leuven (Belgium). She was the manager of projects financed by the National Research Foundation, South Africa (NRF) and the National Fund for Scientific Research Flanders, Belgium (FWO). In the period from October 1, 2015 to May 31, 2018, she was the Head of the Crystal Engineering Laboratory at the Center of New Technologies of the University of Warsaw, where she obtained funding from the National Science Center (Sonata Bis). In 2018, she moved to her hometown of Toruń (Faculty of Chemistry, NCU). Dr. hab. Liliana Dobrzańska, prof. NCU cooperates with many foreign units (Belgium, Spain, Japan, UK, India). Her interests oscillate around structural changes taking place in single-crystals, polymorphism, isostructurality and the design of crystalline functional materials.

Staff

  • Zbigniew Rafiński
  • Tadeusz Muzioł
  • Robert Szczęsny
  • Grzegorz Trykowski
  • Łukasz Fijałkowski
  • Piotr Madajski
  • Renny Louis Anto M
  • Paul Le Garff
  • Simran Chaudhary

Life Sciences

Atherosclerosis is a lifestyle disease that is the most common cause of death in developed countries. At the basis of this disease there are risk factors which, when coexisting, are referred to as the metabolic syndrome. The aim of the activity of this scientific group is to create new treatment strategies for both people with metabolic disorders determining a high risk of atherosclerosis, and people who have already experienced complications of this disease, in particular myocardial infarction and heart failure.
Current and planned scientific activity is based on observational studies, randomized clinical trials and meta-analyses. In carrying out our projects, we cooperate with scientists from Austria, Italy, Great Britain, Greece, Finland, Lithuania, Germany, Canada and the USA as part of the COPERNICUS RESEARCH GROUP network, whose annual meetings are held in Bydgoszcz as part of the International Cardiovascular Research Meetings. Our cooperation is based on the SIRIO MEDICINE – Research Network platform, which we manage (https://siriomedicine.com)


prof. dr hab. Jacek Kubica – Head of the Department of Cardiology and Internal Medicine, CM NCU. After graduating from the Faculty of Medicine of the Medical Academy in Gdańsk in 1987, he started working at this unit, initially in the 3rd Department of Internal Medicine, and then in the 2nd Department of Heart Diseases. He obtained subsequent degrees of specialization in internal medicine (1st degree in 1991, 2nd degree in 1994) and cardiology (2001). In 2000, he started working at the Medical Academy in Bydgoszcz as the Head of the Department of Cardiology and Internal Diseases. He obtained his doctoral degree in 1992, and Doctor of Science in 1997. In 2006 he was awarded the academic title of professor. Prof. Kubica’s interests include interventional cardiology, treatment of patients with acute coronary syndromes and heart failure. He is the author of numerous scientific publications in this field. Several times his publications influenced the formulation of therapeutic recommendations of international scientific societies. He collaborates scientifically with numerous foreign centers in the USA, Italy, Germany, Austria and South Korea. During his professional activity, he was the beneficiary of prestigious scholarships (1989 – John Paul II Scholarship of the Institute of Christian Culture; 1991 – Scholarship of the University of Pavia; 1993 – Scholarship of the European Society of Cardiology; 1994/95 – Scholarship sponsored by Knoll Italia). Scientific career of prof. J. Kubica also developed at foreign universities – in Italy – Università degli Studi di Pavia; in the Netherlands – Universiteit Leiden; in the USA – Johns Hopkins University). He is the annual organizer of the international cardiology conference – Intervascular Cardiovascular Research Meeting held in Bydgoszcz.

Staff

  • Aldona Kubica
  • Piotr Adamski
  • Eliano Navarese
  • Małgorzata Ostrowska
  • Piotr Niezgoda
  • Piotr Michalski
  • Łukasz Pietrzykowski
  • Przemysław Podhajski
  • Jakub Ratajczak

Global warming, regardless of the conditions accepted by various groups of scientists, is a fact. Climate change is followed by changes in biocoenoses, including those significantly affecting people’s live. Free-living and parasitic invertebrates are an important element of both, terrestrial and aquatic biocenoses, affecting the food base and physiological processes of humans. Due to the ectothermy the ranges of occurrence of various species of invertebrates are determined by the ambient temperature, which means that in the face of global warming, there are qualitative and quantitative changes in populations. Understanding the mechanisms of adaptation of invertebrates, in particular those representing the two most numerous types – arthropods and molluscs, to climate change is of key importance for the environment and humans. Adaptations concerning both, the life cycle and the interactions of these invertebrates with other organisms occur at the individual level, starting from the earliest stages of ontogenesis, and at the population level. The adaptability of arthropods and molluscs to global changes determine the expected but also unknown effects on the environment and humans. Therefore, we can speculate that global warming brings both, benefits and risks.

Members of the research group, using traditional and molecular methods of species diagnosis as well as field and experimental research tools, attempt to explain the real and potential effects of global warming in selected locations of the Polish Lowlands, primarily regarding changes in the range of occurrence of pollinators, teratological effects of ambient temperature fluctuations, the composition of the microbiota in digestive tracts of model invertebrates and the threat from parasites transmitted by mollusc and arthropod vectors.


Prof. dr hab. Elżbieta Żbikowska – is the head of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology at the Faculty of Biological and Veterinary Sciences of the Nicolaus Copernicus University. Her research include: (i) ecophysiology of molluscs – thermal preferences of freshwater snails, hematological indicators of adaptation of land snails to winter torpor, and symptoms of behavioral fever; (ii) fluke diversity in host populations of snail species – morphological and molecular identification of larval stages of parasites; (iii) interactions in the host-parasite system on the snail-fluke model – somatic gigantism of the host, parasitic castration, behavioral anapyrexia; and (iv) transmission of flukes of medical and veterinary importance in the environment – e.g. the use of an alien species of mollusc to reduce the risk of swimmer’s itch at bathing sites. She managed or participated in the implementation of four research projects (KBN: 2001-2004, MNiSW: 2009-2012, 2010-2012, NCN: 2017-2020), the results of which were published in well-known scientific journals. She reviewed research projects submitted to the Czech Academy of Sciences. For years she has been cooperating with parasitologists from the Charles University in Prague and the Czech Academy of Sciences in České Budějovice. Professor Żbikowska was the promoter of two doctorates – she promoted Anna Cichy PhD and Anna Stanicka PhD, who successfully continue research in the field of parasitology at Nicolaus Copernicus University. She acted as a reviewer of habilitation and PhD dissertations and a super reviewer of the professorship. Prof. Elżbieta Żbikowska is a member of the Association of Polish Malacologists (president in 2017-2022), as well as a member of the Polish Parasitological Society and a member of the board of the Scientific Society in Toruń. She is the author or co-author of numerous scientific publications, including four monographs: „Interactions in the host-parasite system between Lymnaea stagnalis and flukes of the following species: Diplostomum pseudospathaceum, Echinoparyphium aconiatum, Plagiorchis elegans” – Wyd. UMK (2006); „Host manipulations by parasites and viruses” – Springer (2015); „Atlas of Digenea developmental stages. The morphological characteristics and spread within the populations of freshwater snails from the Brodnickie Lakeland, Poland” – Wyd. UMK (2016); „The world and the parasites of man. A guide not only for tourists” – Wyd. TNT (2021).

Staff

  • Anna Nowakowska
  • Teresa Napiórkowska
  • Janusz Żbikowski
  • Anna Cichy
  • Przemysław Grodzicki
  • Anna Stanicka
  • Paulina Idczak

Civilization diseases are one of the largest global health problems. An example of global threats is undoubtedly diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Chronic inflammation is at the root of many of these diseases. Despite the current use of various groups of drugs that target specific pathogenic mechanisms of civilization diseases, the effects of treatment are still not satisfactory.  The problems associated with the treatment of civilization diseases mean that there is a need to constantly search for new, better drugs, both those aimed at a single molecular target and multi-target drugs.

The aim of the research group is advanced, interdisciplinary, multi-directional research on the search for new drugs in civilization diseases, including cancer, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, Cushing’s syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis.  An innovative approach to the problem is expressed primarily in the search for substances of low toxicity, which could have a mechanism of action different from the preparations used so far, and act in one or more targets, which is particularly important in the treatment of diseases with a complex etiology.

The team’s activities include:

1) Designing and synthesis of new substances (mainly compounds with heterocyclic groups) with potential biological activity by chemical synthesis, including:

  • innovative anti-cancer drugs acting on specific molecular targets responsible for the growth, progression and spread of cancer;
  • innovative agents that could be used in the treatment of metabolic diseases i.e. metabolic syndrome, Cushing’s syndrome, type 2 diabetes mellitus;
  • innovative drugs with anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative activity.

2) Multidirectional research on the activity of the obtained compounds:

  • anticancer activity;
  • inhibitory activity of synthesized compounds against selected enzymes playing a role in the treatment of metabolic diseases;
  • anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activity.

The conducted research will allow to selection among the obtained compounds those that are characterized by the highest biological activity and low toxicity and can be subjected to clinical trials.


Dr hab. Renata Studzińska, prof. UMK is the head of the Department of Organic Chemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Collegium Medicum of the Nicolaus Copernicus University. After graduating from the Faculty of Technology and Chemical Engineering of the University of Technology and Agriculture in Bydgoszcz, she started working at the Department of General Chemistry at the Faculty of Medicine of the Medical Academy in Bydgoszcz. In 2005, she obtained a doctoral degree in medical sciences in the field of medical biology. Since 2014, she has been an employee of the Department of Organic Chemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Collegium Medicum of the NCU. She obtained the degree of habilitated doctor in 2019. Her scientific interests focus on the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds and the evaluation of their pharmacological activity. In recent years, she has mainly been conducting research on the search for selective inhibitors of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 and 2 – enzymes considered to be regulators of glucocorticosteroid functions at the cell/tissue level – potential molecular targets in the treatment of metabolic diseases. The second important aspect of the conducted research is the synthesis of new substances with anticancer activity.

Staff

  • Renata Paprocka
  • Krzysztof Łączkowski
  • Szymon Baumgart
  • Tomasz Kosmalski
  • Anna Helmin-Basa
  • Małgorzata Wiese-Szadkowska
  • Daria Kupczyk
  • Katarzyna Piechowska
  • Dominika Kołodziej
  • Monika Przybysz

Archeogenomics, microbiomics, and forensic genomics (ForensOMICs)

Leader – Professor Tomasz Grzybowski

The group was established in life sciences field, but it is definitely multidisciplinary – it brings together archeologists, forensic and population geneticists and bioinformaticians. In principle, the team focuses on a wide range of applications of genomics, the science of genomes that utilizes various technologies of large-scale DNA sequencing (MPS, massively parallel sequencing). ForensOMICs research will be conducted in three main areas:

  • reconstruction of biogeographical ancestry and kinship analysis of human skeletal remains collected from various archaeological sites on the basis of genome analysis,
  • time of death (in forensic medicine) and biogeographical ancestry inference based on microbiome analysis
  • biogeographical ancestry and human visible traits inference for forensic purposes using a variety of genetic markers.

The core of the ForensOMICs team are experienced archaeologists – Prof. Anna Drążkowska, Prof. Dariusz Poliński (Institute of Archaeology, NCU) and forensic, evolutionary and population geneticists – Prof. Tomasz Grzybowski (group leader) and Prof. Katarzyna Skonieczna (Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine CM NCU). Younger scientists within the team are: Sonia Tomczak MSc (Doctoral School Academia Artium Humaniorum) and geneticists and medical doctors from the Faculty of Medicine CM NCU – Urszula Rogalla-Ładniak PhD, Anna Radziszewska PhD, Anna Duleba PhD and Mariusz Gawrych MD. The bioinformatic aspects of the research will be coordinated by Prof. Jarosław Meller from the Department of Applied Informatics of the Nicolaus Copernicus University, an internationally recognized researcher in the field of structural bioinformatics, functional genomics and computational biology.

Regardless of the various applications of genomic techniques, the team also focuses on providing and developing new research services – its members from the Department of Forensic Medicine NCU won twice in a row an open tender for conducting genetic identification analyses for the Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against Polish Nation (INR).


Professor Tomasz Grzybowski – head of the Department of Forensic Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. His scientific interests encompass archaeogenetics, i.e. the application of population genetics and molecular phylogeography in reconstructing histories of populations. Over the past two decades, he has conducted research on many European and Asian populations using various genetic markers. His research based on haploid markers (mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome) allowed for better understanding of emergence and spread of Slavic-speaking populations in Europe. In the second half of 1990s, he was the first in Poland to use mtDNA sequence analysis in forensic genetics; he also pioneered usage of full mitochondrial genome analysis for forensic and population genetic purposes. Owing to close cooperation with the Institute of Forensic Medicine of the Medical University of Innsbruck (Austria), since its foundation over 20 years ago, he contributed to EMPOP – a population mtDNA haplotype database used by the international community of forensic geneticists. In 2000-2004 he conducted genetic identification of skeletal remains from mass graves in the former Yugoslavia, commissioned by the International Commission of Missing Persons (ICMP). In the years 2018-2022 he was the leader of a consortium of medical universities performing genetic identification of victims of communist totalitarianism for the Institute of National Remembrance (INR). He is the Editor-in-Chief (elected) of the Archives of Forensic Medicine and Criminology (70 points MHES), the only scientific journal in Poland intended for publishing forensic medicine research.

Staff

  • Jarosław Meller
  • Anna Drążkowska
  • Dariusz Poliński
  • Katarzyna Skonieczna
  • Anna Duleba
  • Urszula Rogalla-Ładniak
  • Anna Radziszewska
  • Mariusz Gawrych
  • Sonia Tomczak

BIOMATERIALS AND COSMETICS RESEARCH GROUP works in the fields of  biomaterials and cosmetics. This interdisciplinary group of scientists is focused on the research on polymer materials, metallic and ceramic materials, and also on composites. New materials are fabricated on the base of polymers, biopolymers and their blends. Based on polymeric materials the hydrogels, 3D sponges and coatings can be fabricated. The Research Team is focused on fabrication of biomaterials that can be  potentially applied in clinical practise. The research team elaborates innovative cosmetic formulations for skin and hair. The properties of skin and hair before and after treatment with cosmetic products can be tested. Apart laboratory work,  the molecular dynamics simulations is the scope of the group activity.

The members of the research group are:

  • chemists with extensive experience and recognition in the world of polymeric and inorganic biomaterials, and with the specialization of molecular dynamics simulations to be used in the initial design of biomaterials and cosmetics
  • veterinarians – who by virtue of their profession will be the originators of research paths on biomaterials, and at the same time critical reviewers of the properties of these biomaterials in terms of their clinical application,
  • the students of doctoral schools.

Prof. Alina Sionkowska is a researcher who has been working in Nicolaus Copernicus University since 1994. In 1997 she has got PhD degree, in 2006 habilitation, and she became a full professor in 2012. The ongoing research work is characterized by the following keywords: polymeric biomaterials, biopolymer/ceramic composites, scaffolds for medical applications, cosmetic raw materials, controlled release of drug and cosmetic ingredients from polymeric matrix, surface modification of polymers, biopolymers and their blends. She works with the following biopolymers: collagen, chitosan, hyaluronic acid, cellulose, gelatin, silk fibroin and also with synthetic polymers. Moreover, her research interests focus on biopolymeric hydrogels and multifuntional cosmetics. Since 2013 prof. A. Sionkowska is a Head of Department of Biomaterials and Cosmetic Chemistry. She is a member of Committee of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences, a member of Polish Chemical Society and member of Steering Committee of. Polish Society for Biomaterials. In 2017, she was the main organizer and a Chairperson for conference Chemistry for Beauty and Health, which in the year 2018 and 2021 was organized at international level. She is active in international collaborations. She was a Management Committee Member for seven COST Actions within last 10 years. She spent several periods in laboratories abroad: Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden; Faculty of Chemistry University of Camdridge, UK; Collagen Research Group University of Bristol, UK; Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry University of Genova, Italy; Faculty of Biology and Biological Sciences University of Stirling, Scotland, UK; School of Optometry and Vision Science University of Wales, Cardiff, UK; Laval University, Laboratory of Bioengineering and Biomaterials, Quebec City, Canada; Laboratoire de Physicochimie Moleculaire University of Bordeaux, France; Department of Biophysics Tbilisi State University, Georgia. She was a fellow of The Welcome Trust (UK) and The Swedish Institute.

Staff

  • Urszula Pasławska
  • Katarzyna Lewandowska
  • Piotr Piszczek
  • Aleksandra Radtke
  • Maciej Przybyłek
  • Robert Pasławski
  • Marlena Grodzicka
  • Marta Szulc
  • Patrycja Brudzyńska

Humanities, Social Sciences and arts

The research group: “Philosophical Logic: Theory and Applications” consists of scientists associated primarily with the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Nicolaus Copernicus University, and an important part of the group are employees of the Department of Logic. The issues we deal with within the group are:

  • non-classical logics (paraconsistent, relating, positional, deontic, epistemic, non-monotonic, etc.),
  • applications of logic to the construction of formal theories (mereology, pointless geometries, etc.),
  • abstract algebra,
  • constructing and applying logical systems to formalize social science theory and humanities,
  • related problems of philosophy of language and pragmatics.

As a research group, we cooperate with scientific centers from all continents (except Antarctica). We co-organize, among others, the cyclical Non-Classical Logics conference. Theory and Applications, Chinese-Polish Workshop on Applied Logic, and Workshop on Relating Logic.


dr hab. Tomasz Jarmużek, professor NCU – the author of four monographs and dozens of scientific articles. Currently head of the Department of Logic at Nicolaus Copernicus University. Manager and member of the team of national or international projects. Supervisor of two doctoral dissertations. His research interests focus mainly on the metatheory of tableau systems, positional logics, relating logics (relating semantics), non-monotonic logics and applications of logic. Currently the president of the Polish Society of Logic and Philosophy of Science, the second oldest national society of logicians in the world.

Staff

  • Andrzej Pietruszczak
  • Rafał Gruszczyński
  • Marek Nasieniewski
  • Krystyna Mruczek-Nasieniewska
  • Mateusz Klonowski
  • Maria Paula Menchon
  • Michał Oleksowicz
  • Ricardo Arthuro Nicolas- Francisco
  • Łukasz Matelski

The Center for Applied Archaeology (CAA) was established to strengthen one of the main directions of scientific activity of the Department of Prehistory at the Institute of Archaeology of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, related to the use of modern instrumental techniques in archaeological practice and the internationalization of research results. The main research area of the CAA is issues of the oldest metallurgy in the Polish lands, with particular emphasis on the study of the provenance of raw material and the organization of foundry workshops. Geoprospecting research will be carried out at key prehistoric sites in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian province, including relics of the northeasternmost Neolithic rondel in Europe at Tylicki and defensive settlements of the Lusatian culture population of Kuyavia and Chełmno Land. Besides, the CAA’s activities will include research on the production and use of prehistoric ceramic vessels using lipid analysis and paleoproteomics.


Dr. Kamil Adamczak – is an employee of the Department of Prehistory at the Institute of Archaeology of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. From 2008 to 2013 he was employed at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw at the Stone Age Department. His research interests revolve around the Younger Stone Age and Early Bronze Age in Central Europe, and in recent years, also issues concerning the oldest metallurgy and pottery in the Polish lands. In 2017, he led the NCN Miniatura1 grant entitled. “Application of advanced instrumental methods in the study of prehistoric ceramics. Pilot studies.” He is the author of dozens of chapters in scientific monographs and articles, published in Nature Human Behaviour, Antiquity, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Royal Society Open Science, among others.

Staff

  • Jacek Gackowski
  • Kamil Nowak
  • Hanna Połeć
  • Jakub Wojtecki
  • Maciej Urban

The Higher Education, Science and Technology (HEST) Group consists of researchers focused on the study of problems related to science in its broad sense, its social dimension, the functions it performs and, above all, the organizational forms. The following main research topics are being pursued HEST Group:

  1. The functioning of the university boards and council
    The research investigates the role of university boards and councils, structure, composition and scope of power in the system of higher education institutions in selected European countries. This study is carried out by research teams from four universities (University of Tampere, KTH Stockholm, and University of Aveiro).
  1. Public sector of universities of applied sciences in Poland
    This is an attempt to define a strategy for the development of the public non-university sector in Poland by learning about their institutional identity. It aims to diagnosing the challenges they face and mapping the full spectrum of performing functions both within the higher education system, but most importantly for society and the economy.
  1. Equity in university education and students’ trust in learning
    The research examines how students at Polish universities understand and evaluate fair treatment by academics and university authorities. The study wants to establish how (in)fair treatment affects student satisfaction and perceived legitimacy of university authorities.
  2. Knowledge co-creation and environmental activism – the case of air pollution
    The study focuses on the analysis of the mechanisms of knowledge co-creation and its use in the activities of actors (NGOs, society, experts) involved in the fight against air pollution.

dr hab. Dominik Antonowicz, prof UMK – is a leader of Department of Research on Science and Higher Education at Nicolaus Copernicus University. His research interest focuses on higher education policy and governance. He worked as a postdoc in Centre of Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS), University of Twente (2008-2009), Centro de Investigação de Políticas do Ensino Superior CIPES, University of Porto (2016) and visiting professor in Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) University of Toronto (2020-2021). Dominik authored and edited several books and a number peer-review articles in respected international peer-review journals (e.g. Higher Education, Studies in Higher Education, Higher Education Policy) and chapters in edited volumes published by e.g. Oxford University Press, Routledge, Palgrave-Macmillan, Springer or Sense.

Staff

  • Anna Pokorska
  • Dominik Antonowicz
  • Marta Jaworska
  • Jarosław Domalewski
  • Krzysztof Wasielewski
  • Katarzyna Suwada
  • Michał Wróblewski
  • Stanisław Burdziej
  • Filip Gołębiewski

Members of our group share an expertise in urban research. As a team of historians and sociologists of culture, we plan to develop collaborative research on the functionality of urban public spaces. Our group sees urban public spaces, on the one hand, as venues where social practices take place, where ideologies are externalised and where a certain socio-political order is established and reproduced (canvas), and, on the other hand, as elements that shape, provoke and influence social activity (catalyst). In the world where the percentage of people living in cities is close to 60, amidst a range of problems associated with urbanisation we observe an intensified atomisation of social life, which is the opposite of the essence of urban life known since the Middle Ages – community. This raises the question of to what extent changes in the functionality of public spaces contribute to this process; whether an appropriate use and development of contemporary public spaces could help counteract these tendencies.

Historians and sociologists similarly describe and interpret the interactions of urban society and urban public space, especially when power and ideology is entered into the equation; drawing on different sources and referring to different eras, both disciplines perceive mechanisms and processes of long duration on a similar theoretical basis. Bringing historians and sociologists of culture together increases the practical applicability of historical research and provides a broader context for socio-cultural research. The overarching aim of the cooperation is to construct a common methodological and conceptual framework, a model of cooperation between historians and sociologists of culture in the study of long-lived phenomena. Our group’s development should be geared towards achieving this goal.

The focal points of interdisciplinary cooperation include:

  1. spectrums of use and impact of public spaces in relation to models of participation, community, citizenship and power throughout history and today. (e.g. shared use of space vs. sense of community, common good vs. functionality of space, participation vs. hegemony, impact of tourism on the character of public spaces, urban celebrations and festivals, models and modes of communal consumption).
  2. manifestations of the adaptation of public spaces to changing social expectations (livelihoods, aesthetics, e.g. concepts for the development of fringe belts, impact of homelessness on public spaces) and ecological conditions (e.g. protection from and containment of environmental crises, revitalisation of public recreation areas)

Anna Maleszka, PhD – a graduate of two faculties at the University of Toruń – history (MA in 2015) and English philology (MA in 2016), she received her PhD in the discipline of history in 2022 on the basis of the thesis entitled. “Urbanization on the Fringes of Latin Europe. A comparative study of urban development and urban landscape in Prussia, Inflants and Ireland in the 12th-14th centuries,” awarded by the Council for the Scientific Discipline of History at Nicolaus Copernicus University. Since April 2022, she has been employed as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Historical Sciences of the Nicolaus Copernicus University. She is a medievalist, her research interests include in particular the history of cities, the history of the Crusades, ancient and modern narratives about cities and historical processes. Anna Maleszka carried out an internship at Trinity College Dublin (2017), worked and works as a member of research teams in projects funded by NCN and NPRH, including Harmony and National Heritage. From 2017 to 2022, she headed the NCN Prelude project. She remains a member of the team of the historical atlas of Polish cities, awarded by the Marshal of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, among others, a member of the Atlas Working Group operating at the International Commission for the History of Towns, and secretary of the editorial board of Ordines Militares Colloquia Torunensia Historica. Yearbook for the Study of the Military Orders. She is co-founder and organizer of the Torun editions of the Forum of Young Researchers in the History of Towns, held in conjunction with the annual conference of the Commission for the History of Towns at the Committee on Historical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In the first half of 2023, she is doing her first postdoctoral fellowship in Santander at the Universidad de Cantabria.

Staff

  • Wojciech Goszczyński
  • Roman Czaja
  • Tomasz Szlendak
  • Jarosław Dumanowski
  • Krzysztof Olechnicki
  • Michał Targowski
  • Malwina Krajewska
  • Martyna Hoffman
  • Bartłomiej Karnasiewicz

Historically, the right to adopt the budget was the subject of the fights over democratic accountability and still constitutes the ‘crown jewels’ of parliamentary power. The ‘executive financial hegemony’ has affected parliaments for decades and is more or less evident depending on the system of Government. However, the economic and fiscal governance in the EU Member States has further complicated this picture. This evidence is further strengthened by the fact that the European measures of the new economic governance, urging tighter fiscal discipline in a predetermined timeframe, in principle reduce the room that national parliaments have for manoeuvre in a context like that of the EU where these legislatures have normally been considered as the ‘latecomers’ or the ‘losers’ of the European integration. CEDAR aims to explain accountability mechanisms in EU Economic Governance, defined as the ability to scrutinise and contest executive decisions by national parliaments (NPs) and to investigate the comparative political discourse on this policy area in EU Member States, embedded in the European institutional framework (Task 1). The CEDAR will also answer the question of how the EU Economic Governance rules may enhance domestic parliamentary accountability given the two objectives they aim to pursue: to counter the deficit bias of the Government and to re‐balance the information asymmetry on budgetary issues (Task 2).  Therefore, the CEDAR is innovative and important in developing democratic accountability mechanisms in the EU Member States. Hence, this project could also contribute to the debate on democracy in Europe.

The research team will include domestic and comparative constitutional law, EU law, public finance and economic scholars. CEDAR will be also supported by external researchers from Center for Parliamentary Studies LUISS Roma and Sciences Po Centre d’études europénnes and Faculty of Economics and Business University of Granada.


Prof. dr hab. Maciej Serowaniec – Associate Professor at the Department of Constitutional Law of the Faculty of Law and Administration of NCU in Toruń. Author of over 150 scientific publications. A principal investigator of the individual project “Supreme Audit Institutions in the constitutional systems of the Member States of the European Union”, funded by the National Science Center (grant No. 2018/02/X/HS5 /00047). Participated as a co-ordinator and investigator in the project “Responding to Emerging Dissensus: Supranational Instruments & Norms of European Liberal Democracy (Horizon Europe) and in the research project ”BETKOSOL – Better Knowledge for Better Solutions”, founded by the European Union’s Hercule III Programme). Laureate of the Scholarship of the Minister of Science and Higher Education for outstanding young scientists. Laureate of the European Court of Auditors Postgraduate Research Grant Programme (2022). A member of the ICON-S and Scientific Society in Toruń.

Staff

  • Zbigniew Witkowski
  • Cristina Fasone
  • Wojciech Morawski
  • Katarzyna Witkowska-Chrzczonowicz
  • Jacek Wantoch-Rekowski
  • Aranka Ignasiak-Szulc
  • Natalia Daśko
  • Wojciech Włoch
  • Martyna Wilmanowicz- Słupczewska