The Polish Returns is one of NAWA flagship programme, which allows talented Polish scientists working abroad to come back to Poland and continue their research at Polish academic institutions. One of the grant winners is Dr Patryk Lipka-Bartosik, who will soon leave the University of Geneva for the Jagiellonian University, where he will run a project from the field of quantum thermodynamics.
The programme of the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) is to allow talented Polish researchers pursuing careers abroad to come back to Poland and become employed in Polish universities and research institutes. The grant covers remuneration for the returning scientist, members of his/her research team, and the inviting person as well as the costs of the researcher’s resettlement to Poland. Within the framework of the programme, the researchers are provided with attractive and stable employment in Polish research institutions. Thanks to the NAWA’s collaboration with the National Science Centre and the National Agency for Research and Development, the programme participants are also offered a starting grant aimed to cover the costs of their research during the first 18 month of the grant implementation.
In the 7th edition of the programme, the funding was awarded to 11 out of 30 projects. The beneficiaries will come from the USA, Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, Romania, and France to carry out their projects at the Jagiellonian University, the University of Warsaw, the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Rzeszów University of Technology, the Silesian University of Technology, the Institute of Computer Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the SWPS University based in Warsaw.
The Jagiellonian University will host the project ‘Quantum Thermodynamics: from Theory to Applications’ by Dr Patryk Lipka Bartosik, who will conduct his research at the JU Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science. He will move to Kraków from the Faculty of Physics of the University of Geneva.
‘Quantum thermodynamics is a rapidly growing field with great potential. Even though much effort has been made to explore its theoretical basis, its practical applications are still at a nascent stage. The project aims to bridge the gap between theory and application using three complementary paths. Then we will investigate how thermodynamical phenomena impact conducting calculations and data processing. Finally, we are going to analyse the quantum aspects of thermal machines, with the intention of using their potential for new technological applications’, explains Dr Lipka Bartosik.
The grant winner is a physicist specialised in quantum computer science. In 2021 he obtained a PhD degree from the University of Bristol and since then has been working as a postdoc at the University of Geneva. His research interests focus on quantum computer science and quantum thermodynamics, and especially on building links between these two disciplines.
During previous editions of the Polish Returns, six researchers decided to continue their careers at the Jagiellonian University: Dr Tomasz Kościółek and Dr hab. Rafał Mostowy (Małopolska Centre of Biotechnology), Dr Ewa Kowalska, Prof. UJ and Dr Łukasz Woźniak (Faculty of Chemistry), Prof. Jerzy Weyman (Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science), and Dr Marcin Zagórski (Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science).
