Let us summarise 2023 at the AGH University

What was our academic community excited about this past year? What was particularly memorable? What are we proud of? What made us happy? We summarise 2023 at the AGH University and present you a subjective overview of the most important events.

A few summer weeks passed in quite a sporting atmosphere as the AGH University Student Campus turned into the Athletes’ Village for the 3rd European Games Kraków–Małopolska 2023. It was officially opened on June 18th, and Robert Korzeniowski, Polish medal-winning athlete, Olympic champion, and former world record holder in race walking, received symbolic keys to the village. The University provided the athletes with rooms in the halls of residence and related accommodation services. For the purpose of the event, the infrastructure necessary to serve visitors was established on the premises of the AGH University Student Campus – catering zones, safety points, as well as spaces for the organisation of cultural and entertainment events.

Our community

Implementing standards

For the academic community of the AGH University, the year 2023 was especially important in terms of the implementation of the “Principles of Equal Treatment”. To increase the sense of safety and raise the standard of work and learning culture – these are the most significant objectives behind the initiative. We would like our university to be a place of equal chances, free from prejudice and discrimination, which ensures safety to its employees and students, guided by respect for another human being, diversity, and equal treatment. Undertaken activities result from the Gender Equality Plan that has been implemented at our University for a few years now.

A website dedicated to the topic of equality at university (rownosc.agh.edu.pl) was created and a series of trainings on equality issues addressed to academic teachers, administrative employees, management staff, doctoral students, and students attracted a great deal of interest.

The HR4R Strategy of the AGH University has been introduced, namely an action plan for the implementation of the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. Issued in 2005 as a recommendation of the European Commission, the Charter and the Code are addressed to the researchers, employers, and entities financing research in the public and private sectors in member countries of the European Union.

Developed for 2023–2025, the strategy includes a detailed action plan with the indication of university bodies and/or organisational units responsible for the implementation of activities. Effective implementation of the Charter and the Code’s principles will contribute to the improvement of working conditions for researchers at the AGH University.

Support on a number of levels

Owing to initiatives and cooperation of university units, we have gained new, practical IT tools and modified versions of the existing ones.

The University Repository, an institutional digital archive of university academic resources for the dissemination of publications and materials created as part of research and teaching activities of our university, has also been given a new look.

In turn, the former Bibliography of Publications of the AGH University Employees was modified and modernised and is now the AGH Database of Authors and Publications (BaDAP). It presents bibliographic descriptions of publications by employees, doctoral students, and students. It also includes information related to the authors (for example IDs from world databases, links to various portals with bibliographical information) and a range of bibliometric data (including citations of publications in various databases).

The AGH University Research Offer has been made available in the form of a platform with information on the university research infrastructure and its measurement possibilities. The platform encompasses all units, so the research capabilities of the university can be found all in one place. The project was carried out as part of the IDUB programme.

The University has also launched a modern system for the support of persons with special needs, HELPI, which makes it possible for students to get help quickly and enables better contact with the Disability Support Department. This institutional, user-friendly platform with a variety of functionalities allows to settle certain matters remotely, for example to submit various applications, schedule an appointment with consultants, get psychological support in crisis situations, and schedule a consultation.

In 2023, the University has gained a new web application, namely the AGH Glossary, which comprises a collection of translations of phrases and expressions used across the university. Its purpose is to standardise the language used at the AGH University and facilitate international communication, as well as provide support in creating content for university websites: the main site, units and faculties sites, and sites of international events. The initiator of the project was the Centre for Communication and Marketing.

Responsible for the development and the implementation of the aforementioned IT tools were: the Main Library, IDUB Programme Management Team, Disability Support Department, Centre for Communication and Marketing, Department of Foreign Languages, as well as IT units.

Additionally, the past year has seen the launch of two other initiatives aimed at providing broadly understood information.

Since 2023, employees have regularly received a newsletter with the most important news on events, competitions, job offers, orders, and announcements. In charge of the preparation and administration of this electronically distributed employee newsletter has been the Centre for Communication and Marketing at our university.

Foreign guests who come to our university, to work or to study, may head to the newly established Welcome Point of the Centre for International Affairs. It is there that they can receive support and all necessary information that will help them move around the university and the city. The Welcome Point is also available online at wtp.agh.edu.pl.

Cooperation

This past year, the AGH University initiated the implementation of numerous ambitious projects.

Leading an international consortium consisting of universities from Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Lithuania, and Estonia, the AGH University began the implementation of the prestigious €10 million SOCCER project co-financed from the European Union funds as part of the first grant programme aimed at creating Security Operations Centers (SOC) within the EU. The development of particular centers will contribute to more effective monitoring, detecting, and reacting to cyberattacks, at the same time helping to protect personal data of students, employees, scientists, intellectual property rights, and key technologies.

What is more, the AGH University of Krakow, Jagiellonian University, Cracow University of Technology, University of Agriculture in Krakow, and Krakow University of Economics signed a cooperation agreement on cybersecurity. The principal objective of the agreement is to create a platform for cooperation and the exchange of knowledge regarding cybersecurity and systems of information and communication technologies in the Małopolska region, but also mutual support of actions for the protection of data which is stored for the purposes of human capital, industry, and agriculture development.

The AGH University together with Krakow Technology Park (KPT) seeks to establish a Polish location of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic within the DIANA programme in Krakow. The objective of the acceleration actions is to support the development of modern dual-use technologies which may be used for the purpose of the Alliance’s security. For Poland, this is an opportunity to support the technological modernisation of the defence sector and to develop companies in the area of new and ground-breaking dual-use technologies. The business acceleration is to be mostly provided by KPT, whereas the technological acceleration and the access to research and laboratory infrastructure by the AGH University.

The rectors of three universities forming the InnoTechKrak University Alliance, namely the AGH University of Krakow, Cracow University of Technology, and University of Agriculture in Krakow, signed an agreement to establish the Inter-university Research Centre WODA (Eng. WATER). The Research Centre will focus its activities on one of the most important challenges of the 21st century, which is the rational management of water resources. Within the framework of the activities undertaken by the unit, research in the fields of hydrogeology, hydrogeochemistry, and water management will be conducted. The aim of the work is to integrate activities that enable the measurement and monitoring of environmental water security, reduction of pollution, elimination of wastewater discharge, and minimisation of the release of hazardous substances into the water environment.

As a result of collaboration between six Krakow universities (Jagiellonian University, AGH University, Cracow University of Technology, Cracow University of Economics, University of the National Education Commission in Krakow, University of Physical Education in Krakow), a repository of open research data from Krakow universities was launched. The platform (RODBUK) collects, archives, and shares (in the open-access formula) all types of research data created by academic employees, doctoral students, and students in their scientific activity. RODBUK supports open science policy – an accessible platform for storing research data collections provides access to investigations carried out at Krakow scientific centres, facilitates the storage of multifarious types of research data, allows scientists to quickly access desired information through a user-friendly browsing interface, makes it possible to obtain a permanent DOI number for each data collection, and normalises citations across the deposited data.

As a result of a cooperation agreement concluded with the Central Office of Measures (GUM), the AGH University has begun the implementation of two projects from the ‘Polish Metrology’ programme of the Ministry of Education and Science. The projects concern two-phase liquid-gas flows and metrological protection for the practical introduction of Weigh-in-Motion systems operating in direct mass enforcement mode (e-WIM) in Poland.

Patients will benefit from cooperation agreements signed with the University Children's Hospital in Krakow and the Holy Cross Cancer Centre. One of the first research projects with the HCCC will concern using artificial intelligence in planning and controlling quality in radiotherapy treatment.

In 2023, the UNIVERSEH "European Space University for Earth and Humanity" has continued to operate but in a new form. UNIVERSEH 2.0 no longer means 5 but 7 European universities. Two more universities joined the consortium: the University of Namur (Belgium) and Tor Vergata University of Rome (Italy). This joint space mission focuses on space education, research, innovation, as well as promotion and facilitation of various student exchanges, and the development of a new, interdisciplinary, international education programme. UNIVERSEH 2.0 was granted funding for 4 more years.

Achievements of our researchers

Like every year, we have plenty of reasons to celebrate in terms of the achievements of our researchers, who have been awarded grants by international and national bodies to carry out their projects.

One of the winners of a competition organised by the CHIST-ERA network was the team led by AGH University Associate Professor Szymon Szott from the Faculty of Computer Science, Electronics, and Communications. Together with partners from Spain, Finland, and France, the AGH University team has been working on a new AI-driven radio interface called MLDR (machine learning-driven radio interface), free from the limitations of existing wireless techniques.

A consortium comprising the AGH University of Krakow, the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology (MRiT), and the National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) has obtained funding from the National Centre for Research and Development to implement a big-budget project as part of the GOSPOSTRATEG competition (Poland’s socioeconomic development amid globalising markets). The project manager is AGH University Associate Professor Łukasz Lach from the Faculty of Management.

Associate Professor Artur Rydosz from the Faculty of Computer Science, Electronics, and Telecommunications has received a grant in the amount of almost PLN 2 million in the SONATA BIS 12 competition organised by the National Science Centre. The research determining technological parameters in order to increase the sensitivity of sensors based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) conducted by Professor Rydosz will facilitate the production of cheap and commonly available sensors used in screening tests for civilisational diseases, such as the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and diabetes.

Dr Ewa Knapik from the Faculty of Drilling, Oil, and Gas received the most important award, the grand prix, and two gold medals at the International Warsaw Invention Show IWIS 2023 for her inventions concerning lithium recovery.

AGH University researchers were among the winners of the competitions organised by the National Centre for Research and Development (LIDER XIV) and the National Science Centre (PRELUDIUM 22, PRELUDIUM BIS 4, SONATA 18, OPUS 24 and 25), received awards from the Prime Minister, the Minister of Education and Science, but also the Polityka Weekly Foundation. Those at the very beginning of their academic path were granted scholarships from the Ministry and the START programme from the Foundation for Polish Science.

Student accomplishments

Our students have given us plenty of reasons to be proud. The most gifted ones received ministerial scholarships. The AGH University Student Research Clubs were in the group of laureates of the ministerial programme for innovative student clubs and the Awards of the Minister of Education and Science granted to young scientists. Student initiatives (AGH University Psychological Support, AGH Święta Dzieciom – Christmas for Children, ÓWKA AGH) as well as projects (Foton solar plane, HALYNA wind turbine, Kalman rover, „Barka” autonomous boat) were awarded in student competitions such as Pro Juvenes, KoKoS, and StRuNa. Constructions by Integra AGH were on the podiums of robotics competitions, and the autonomous boat „Barka” designed and created by the AGH Solar Boat Team was recognised as the best autonomous boat in terms of construction during the international RoboBoat competition in the USA. In the summer, RTC 8.0 had its premiere – AGH Racing’s fast and light combustion engine car (10th vehicle by the team and the 8th combustion vehicle).

Furthermore, AGH University Student Research Clubs can boast of bringing their original ideas into life, such as ceramic chess and a prototype of a shelter with increased acoustic insulation for dogs.

Without a shadow of doubt we can name 2023 the space year! The AGH University SpaceTeam with its TOLRECON 2.0 won the international Over the Dusty Moon Challenge, during which student teams present transport systems created by them for the purpose of moving Moon regolith. The AGH Space Systems team took the first place in the International Rover Challenge 2023 in India and Canada and defended their championship title at the European Rover Challenge in Kielce.

A lot has happened over 2023...

As usual, the calendar of our academic community was filled with a variety of events, some of which will definitely stay on our minds much longer.

We celebrated the following jubilees: 75 years of the Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramics, 50 years of Cyfronet, and 10 years of the Academic Centre for Materials and Nanotechnology.

The AGH University Campus has turned into a space exhibiting canvas prints of pieces from the MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow. The collection may still be found in buildings A-0, U-2, and C-7.

Our actions for the popularisation of science have been rewarded. In a national competition for a creative higher education institution promotional campaign, „Genius Universitatis 2023”, the jury decided to grant two awards for the activities undertaken by the Centre for Communication and Marketing, one in content marketing (“Bunkier Nauki”) and the other in the online video category.

We cheered for the best student teams participating in Chemkaton (AGH University chemistry marathon) and celebrated the National Day of Materials Engineering (ODIM). Both of the events took place for the very first time. Chemkaton is an initiative of the Faculty of Energy and Fuels and the Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramics, whereas the Materials Engineering Day was organised jointly by a dozen of research institutes and universities from all over Poland. On the part of the AGH University, the following faculties were responsible for ODIM: Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramics, Faculty of Metals Engineering and Industrial Computer Science, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics, Faculty of Non-Ferrous Metals, and Faculty of Foundry Engineering.

The participation of the AGH University Academic Sports Association in the Polish Academic Championship aroused plenty of emotions. We congratulated the winning teams of floorball, men’s volleyball, women’s snowboard, and men’s climbing. Team silver was won by female and male mountain bikers, male handball players, male beach volleyball players, and male swimmers, while bronze went to male snowboarders and female and male bridge players. All in all, the AGH University finished the 2022/2023 championship in third place.

The AGH University students who volunteer on Radio 1.7 prepared a radio play set in a world where the cards are dealt by a centuries-old curse, and the morality of the characters is put to the test.

We planted one more tree. This time it was an almost 10-year-old London planetree, moved into the new sports hall, integrated into one of the building’s corners where, according to the architectural concept, it is free to grow in the open space.

The AGH University has been enriched with a new, unique palaeontological exhibit – the first skeleton of a mosasaurus in Krakow. It came to us from Morocco almost as a complete specimen – nearly 80% original! It can be seen in the Geological Museum of the Faculty of Geology, Geophysics, and Environmental Protection.

We played in the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, donated blood in blood donation campaigns, undertook numerous aid measures, and during the Main Library's charity fair we collected donations for the treatment and rehabilitation of little Olga, daughter of our colleague, proving once again that the AGH University is a place where we can all count on one another.