Marta Du Vall

About Marta Du Vall

Marta du Vall, scientist, university professor, post-doctoral degree holder in social sciences, experienced researcher, academic leader. Certified Project Manager (IPMA-D) with nearly 15 years of practice in strategic management, implementing social innovations, science promotion, and building relationships with stakeholders. Specializes in combining scientific rigor with the pragmatism of management.

Posts by Marta Du Vall:

01 31 2026

Time capsules from the depths of the Earth: how “detective” Alessia Borghini deciphers ancient climate secrets

Marta Du Vall Projects, Research, Science

Let’s imagine the harsh, wind-swept landscape of Norway or the ancient, forested hills of Poland’s Sowie Mountains. It is there, with a geological hammer in hand, that Dr. Alessia Borghini works. The sharp sound of striking rock is not just the sound of crushed stone; it is the first step on a journey deep into time. Dr. Borghini, a metamorphic petrologist, does not see a mere dead object in a rock chip. For her, it is a book, written in the language of minerals and pressure, telling a story from hundreds of millions of years ago.

Photo from the fieldwork in Norway, Dr. Borghini’s archives

Dr. Borghini is like a detective at the scene of a crime that happened in the unimaginably distant past. Her work involves collecting evidence – rocks that witnessed the birth and death of continents. The central mystery she seeks to solve is one of the most important for our civilization: how does our planet regulate its climate on a geological timescale? And what can rocks that formed between 420 and 100 million years ago tell us about Earth’s future in the face of today’s challenges?

The answers to these questions lie in the microscopic world. Dr. Borghini studies tiny “time capsules” – melt inclusions trapped in minerals. These microscopic bubbles are like fossilized samples of the atmosphere and chemistry from deep within the Earth, from times when great mountain ranges were forming. By analyzing them, Dr. Borghini and her colleagues piece together the history of our planet’s deep climate engine. This is a process of fundamental importance for understanding current environmental changes and the challenges we face. Every stone she picks up is not just a fragment of the Earth’s crust; it is an artifact that has traveled both in space – from depths of tens of kilometers to the surface – and in time, from the distant past to the present.

Key witnesses in Dr. Borghini’s investigation are metamorphic rocks. Their name comes from the Greek word metamorphosis, meaning transformation. And that is their essence: these are rocks that formed from already existing rocks – sedimentary, igneous, and even other metamorphic – subjected to extreme conditions. Imagine a piece of coal that, under unimaginable pressure and temperature deep underground, transforms into a diamond. This is a perfect analogy for the process of metamorphism. These rocks are subjected to temperatures exceeding 150-200°C and pressures of 100 megapascals or more, causing profound changes in their physical structure and chemical composition.

Where do such extreme conditions come from? The theory of plate tectonics provides the answer. The Earth’s surface is not a uniform crust, but a mosaic of gigantic lithospheric plates that are constantly moving, drifting over the Earth’s plastic mantle. When two such plates collide, one of the most dramatic geological processes occurs – subduction. Typically, a denser oceanic plate is pushed or pulled under a lighter continental plate, submerging deep into the Earth’s mantle. It is in this collision zone, tens of kilometers below the surface, that rocks are crushed, heated, and transformed, becoming metamorphic rocks.

This process is inextricably linked to mountain building, or orogenesis. When continental plates collide, the marine sediments that separated them are folded and uplifted, forming mighty mountain ranges. This means that mountains are not static elements of the landscape. They are dynamic scars of planetary collisions, and the rocks from which they are built are eyewitnesses to these cataclysms. The Sowie Mountains, where Dr. Borghini conducts some of her research, are precisely the remnants of such an ancient mountain range, built largely of gneisses – a type of metamorphic rock. Thanks to geological processes that brought these rocks to the surface, places like the Sowie Mountains become an accessible laboratory, allowing us to study processes that normally occur hidden, deep beneath our feet.

After collecting samples in the field, Dr. Borghini’s work moves from the macroscale of continents to a world invisible to the naked eye. Her main tool becomes the optical microscope, and the object of study – melt inclusions. It is these that Dr. Borghini calls “tiny time capsules,” and this analogy perfectly captures their nature. These microscopic traps store a perfect, chemical “screenshot” of the conditions prevailing in the subduction zone at the moment of mineral formation.

Dr. Borghini’s work perfectly illustrates this fundamental principle of science: progress often involves re-evaluating what was considered “noise” and discovering that it is, in fact, a crucial “signal.”

Dr. Borghini’s research focuses on rocks from hundreds of millions of years ago, but its implications are thoroughly contemporary. As she herself emphasizes: “A better understanding of how these cycles worked in the past allows us to better understand how the Earth evolved to its present state.” The movement of water, carbon, nitrogen and other elements caused by tectonic shifts (known as the deep volatile cycle) is a key element of our planet’s long-term “carbon budget.” The release of vast amounts of volatiles into the atmosphere – whether as a result of massive volcanic eruptions in the geological past, or as a result of human industrial activity today – has dramatic consequences for the climate. By understanding the natural rate and scale of carbon circulation in the geological cycle, we can fully appreciate how unprecedented current anthropogenic emissions are. Disrupting this delicate balance, honed over eons, leads to consequences we are already experiencing: a rapid increase in global temperatures, increasingly frequent and severe droughts, fires, and extreme weather events.

Dr. Alessia Borghini, originally from Italy, is carrying out her project in Poland as part of the prestigious Polonez Bis scholarship. Her experiences perfectly illustrate what modern science looks like: it is a global undertaking, based on cooperation and the exchange of ideas across borders.

Sources: Dr. Alessia Borghini’s archives

Her work at the host institution in Krakow has been, as she says, “a very positive experience.” She emphasizes the support from the team, openness to scientific discussions, and a friendly atmosphere. Importantly, she did not notice any cultural barriers or differences in work culture compared to institutions where she had worked before. Her mentor is accustomed to working with international scientists, and his research group consists of people from various countries and at different stages of their careers. This international and open environment has made her work in Poland extremely pleasant and productive.

01 20 2026

War stress, hypertension, and refugees

Marta Du Vall Projects, Research

This is a story of how war is inscribed in the bodies of female refugees and how science tries to heal these wounds. Fleeing to a safe place is only the first step. For millions of people who have had to leave their homes due to war, physical salvation is the beginning of a long and complicated journey. When the sirens fall silent and the immediate threat to life passes, invisible wounds remain – deep psychological scars that war trauma leaves in minds and souls. However, these wounds are not always exclusively psychological. Increasingly, science is discovering that they can penetrate deeper, inscribing themselves in the body in the form of specific, measurable physical ailments.

This leads us to a fundamental question that has become the heart of a groundbreaking research project at the Medical University of Gdańsk: can extreme stress associated with war and forced migration physically damage the cardiovascular system? Can trauma literally break the heart, leading to the development of life-shortening diseases? The answers to these questions are sought by the WARSCAR project team, led by Dr. Anna Shalimova. Her story is inextricably linked to the research topic – as a Ukrainian scientist from Kharkiv, she is not merely an objective observer, but a person who has personally experienced the drama of war.

Source: dr Anna Shalimova archives

The WARSCAR project is more than just a scientific analysis. It is a story of extraordinary Polish-Ukrainian solidarity, human empathy, and the search for healing in the shadow of conflict. Significantly, this study goes beyond passive observation to active intervention and offering treatment to participants diagnosed with arterial hypertension and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).. This methodology fundamentally changes the relationship between researcher and subject, blurring the lines between data collection and providing real medical assistance. The social goal of the project, which is to improve the health and well-being of female refugees, is as important as the scientific goal, making this initiative a humanitarian mission embedded in rigorous scientific frameworks.

Source: dr Anna Shalimova’s own materials

To understand the importance of the WARSCAR project, one must first understand arterial hypertension (AH), the leading cause of morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases worldwide. This condition, often called the “silent killer,” may not show any symptoms for years, systematically destroying blood vessels, heart, brain, and kidneys, ultimately leading to heart attacks, strokes, and organ failure.

The main hypothesis of the WARSCAR project assumes a direct link between extreme psychological stress and the development of arterial hypertension. The research team hypothesized that exposure to trauma can raise blood pressure and contribute to the development or worsening of AH and the progression of cardiovascular diseases. The mechanism of this phenomenon is complex and involves interconnected neurohormonal and immunological pathways. The human body is equipped with a “fight or flight” system, which, when faced with danger, releases stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. These raise blood pressure and heart rate, preparing the body for immediate action. This mechanism is extremely effective in the case of short-term dangers. However, war trauma keeps this system in a state of permanent readiness. Chronic stress maintains high levels of hormones that constantly bombard the circulatory system, leading to its gradual damage and the development of hypertension.

Preliminary analysis of the collected data has already yielded an extremely important discovery. Researchers noted that the health of women is affected not only by the primary stress caused by war, but also by an additional, powerful factor – stress related to forced migration. This means that female refugees bear a double burden. The first blow is acute trauma related to violence, fear, and loss of loved ones. The second, chronic blow is the stress resulting from the very fact of being a refugee: loss of home, disruption of social ties, uncertainty about tomorrow, language barriers, and difficulties adapting to a new country.

This distinction is of great importance and can influence health policy towards refugees worldwide. It suggests that support systems must be designed to deal not only with past trauma, but also with current stressors related to the integration process. Interventions focused solely on treating PTSD may prove insufficient if they do not take into account daily challenges such as housing instability or lack of employment. The results of the WARSCAR project can therefore “pave the way for a specific approach to managing cardiovascular risk in people exposed to chronic violence, war, immigrants, and refugees” – as Anna said, not only by identifying the problem, but by breaking it down into its constituent factors.

It is worth emphasizing that the success and very existence of the WARSCAR project are not a matter of chance. It is the culmination of many years of scientific cooperation and a personal relationship built on mutual respect and trust. The history of this cooperation dates back to the end of 2016, when Dr. Anna Shalimova first met Professor Krzysztof Narkiewicz and his team from the Department of Hypertension and Diabetology at the Medical University of Gdańsk. In 2017, she completed a one-year scientific internship under his supervision, during which, as she recalls, she saw “how well-coordinated Professor Narkiewicz’s team is and how comfortably scientific research is conducted in a team of true professionals.” After returning to her hometown of Kharkiv, contacts were not broken, and cooperation continued.

This previously built foundation proved invaluable in the face of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Dr. Shalimova emphasizes that the support she received from her Gdańsk colleagues from the first days of the war was extremely important to her. “It is extremely important to me how my Gdańsk colleagues worried about me and supported me so much!” – she says. It was this deep, human bond that made her decide to continue her scientific work.

In the face of the need to leave the country, the choice of location was obvious to her. “I did not consider any other country besides Poland and no other city besides Gdańsk to continue my scientific work,” states Dr. Shalimova in an interview with us. This powerful testimony shows that her decision was dictated not only by professional considerations, but above all by personal trust and the sense of security provided by the presence of trusted friends and scientific partners.

This story shows that the ability to quickly launch a complex and ethically sensitive research project in the midst of a humanitarian crisis was not a matter of luck or funding. It was a direct result of a pre-existing, long-term relationship. This network of trust and communication acted as critical infrastructure that allowed the scientific community to respond quickly and effectively to a global crisis. Long-term international scientific collaborations are therefore not only a tool for developing knowledge in times of peace; they are a form of resilience that allows science to act when it is most needed.

Conducting research in Poland created a unique opportunity to fill a critical knowledge gap. While in Ukraine research on post-traumatic stress focuses mainly on military personnel and people who remained in the country, in Poland there was an opportunity to examine the specific challenges faced by refugees. The WARSCAR project therefore provides data that could not be collected anywhere else, creating a comprehensive picture of the health consequences of war.

Significantly, the WARSCAR project gained recognition in the international scientific community from the very beginning. Its results were presented at the most prestigious forums, including meetings of the European Society of Hypertension, the International Society of Hypertension, and the European Hypertension Forum. Information about the project also appeared in the main bulletin of the International Society of Hypertension, “Hypertension News,” which emphasizes its importance and credibility in the eyes of global experts.

The project led by Dr. Anna Shalimova becomes a bridge connecting different worlds. It translates the subjective experience of trauma into objective physiological data. It creates a bond between the vulnerable community of female refugees and the Polish healthcare system, offering real help. Finally, through actions such as the planned film, it builds a bridge between the academic world and the general public, becoming a voice in defense of the needs and rights of refugees.

12 18 2025

Mountains, Finance, and Clean Air

Marta Du Vall Research, Science

Imagine two scenes. In the first, a man hikes a trail leading towards Morskie Oko, with the mighty silhouette of Giewont looming in the distance. The clean, crisp air of the Tatras fills his lungs, and the silence is broken only by the rustle of the wind and the crunch of boots on stones. This is a time for reflection, for being close to nature, whose fragile beauty is both an inspiration and a cause for concern. In the second scene, the same man stands at a podium in an air-conditioned conference room at American University in Washington. Before him sit leading economists and decision-makers from around the world. On the screen behind him, complex econometric models, full of Greek letters and statistical coefficients, are displayed. He speaks about the correlation between fiscal decentralization, human capital, and carbon dioxide emissions.

Source: Dr Hassan Taimoor’s private archive

These two seemingly distant worlds are the everyday reality of Dr. Hassan Taimoor, an economist from Pakistan, who conducts his research in Poland as part of the Polonez Bis Program. His work, rooted in the field of environmental and energy economics, touches upon one of the most pressing questions of our time: how to reconcile humanity’s pursuit of development and prosperity with the necessity of protecting the planet on which this prosperity depends? How can countries, especially developing ones, improve the quality of life for their citizens without simultaneously condemning the environment to irreversible degradation?

His scientific journey brought him to the University of Łódź, and also to the heart of the Polish environmental protection system – the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in Warsaw. It is here that Dr. Taimoor seeks answers to global questions, analyzing data, building models, and confronting theory with practice.

Dr. Taimoor’s work does not occur in a vacuum. It is a response to hard data. Despite decades of international negotiations and growing ecological awareness, global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion reached a record level of 37.5 billion tons in 2022. The main culprits are sectors that form the foundation of our civilization: energy, heavy industry (steel and cement production), and the chemical industry. These drive economic growth but simultaneously pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at an alarming rate. In this context, economists have struggled for years with a fundamental dilemma, best illustrated by the concept known as the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). In its simplest terms, this theory suggests that there is a relationship between economic growth (per capita income) and the level of environmental degradation, and its graphical representation resembles an inverted “U” shape.

This theory, though simplified, is a powerful tool for understanding global climate policy and inequality. Dr. Taimoor directly refers to it in his work, placing both his country of origin and Poland on it. As he himself says, Pakistan, as a developing country, is still on the ascending part of the curve – it still needs to reach a “threshold level,” beyond which income growth will no longer contributeto the pollution of the environment. Poland, on the other hand, as a high-income economy, should in his opinion, already be in the second phase, where further growth in wealth should lead to an improvement in environmental quality.

This distinction reveals a fundamental tension in global climate negotiations. Developed countries, which have already passed their “dirty” phase of industrialization, often pressure developing countries to limit emissions. From the perspective of the latter, this can look like “cutting the ladder of development.” Research such as that conducted by Dr. Taimoor is thus an attempt to find a way to “flatten” this curve – to discover mechanisms that will allow developing countries to achieve prosperity without incurring such enormous environmental costs as today’s economic powers did in the past. This is a search for an economic shortcut to a sustainable future.

Source: Dr Hassan Taimoor’s private archive

Dr. Taimoor’s research, the results of which he presented at conferences in Paris and Washington, has yielded a series of fascinating discoveries that shed new light on how to effectively combat emissions. Firstly, the analysis confirmed what seems obvious. Economic development and the exploitation of natural resources, in themselves, drive emissions. Greater production and consumption mean greater energy consumption, which still largely comes from fossil fuels. On the other hand, as expected, investments in new technologies and green finance work in the opposite direction – they help to reduce pollution. This was the starting point, a confirmation of basic assumptions.

The truly intriguing results, however, concerned more complex interactions. The research revealed the paradox of human capital. It turned out that in the initial stages of development, an increase in the education and skills of society actually contributes to the reduction of emissions. People become more aware, innovations emerge, and efficiency increases. However, at higher levels of development (in the so-called “later quantiles” in statistical jargon), this relationship can reverse. Higher human capital, leading to greater wealth, can result in an increase in consumption on such a scale (more cars, larger homes, more frequent air travel) that the negative impact on the environment begins to outweigh the benefits of innovation.

And here, however, appears Dr. Taimoor’s most important discovery, which can be called the “political amplifier effect.” It turns out that the negative effects of the human capital paradox can be counteracted, and the positive effects of other tools can be multiplied if they are combined with a management structure that gives financial power and resources to local communities. The most effective climate policy is not one imposed from above, but one that grows from the bottom up, driven by the knowledge of residents and financed in a way that meets local needs. This is a departure from thinking about one universal solution towards creating a flexible system in which individual elements mutually reinforce each other.

12 11 2025

How one scholar rebuilds a bridge to motherhood, cell by cell

Marta Du Vall Projects, Research, Science

Imagine a doctor’s office. A young woman sits there, having just received a diagnosis – cancer. Treatment must begin immediately. But there is another piece of information, equally shocking: life-saving chemotherapy will most likely destroy her fertility. She faces a tragic choice – to start the fight for life, risking the chance of motherhood, or to delay therapy to undergo a weeks-long process of hormonal stimulation and freeze mature egg cells. Time she may not have.

This dramatic scenario is an everyday reality for many oncology patients. It is also a medical and ethical challenge that became the driving force behind the research of Dr. Taisiia Yurchuk, a Ukrainian cryobiologist and embryologist. Working at the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn, Dr. Yurchuk dedicated her career to finding better, faster, and safer methods of fertility preservation. Her story is all the more moving because she herself had to leave her country due to the war, and her scientific work – focused on rebuilding and preserving life – takes on a deeper, personal dimension in this context.

Source: Dr. Taisiia Yurchuk’s private archive

The dilemma of oncology patients sheds light on a dynamically developing field of medicine: oncofertility. As cancer therapies become increasingly effective and survival rates rise, the attention of doctors and scientists shifts from mere survival to quality of life after illness. The possibility of having offspring becomes a key element in returning to full health and normality. Dr. Yurchuk’s work is therefore not just a small improvement to existing techniques. It is a fundamental contribution to creating a new standard of care, in which saving lives goes hand in hand with protecting dreams of the future.

The key to solving the “race against time” problem is a technique called IVM, or In Vitro Maturation. Unlike the standard in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure, which requires intensive, multi-week hormonal stimulation to obtain mature egg cells inside the woman’s body, IVM takes a different approach. It involves collecting immature egg cells (oocytes) from the patient and then bringing them to full maturity in laboratory conditions, in a specially prepared environment.

For years, IVM remained in the shadow of conventional IVF for one reason: lower effectiveness. Although the concept was elegant, recreating in a Petri dish the extremely complex and delicate maturation process that nature has perfected over millions of years proved to be an enormous challenge. It was this problem – how to make the promise of IVM fully materialize – that became the central point of Dr. Yurchuk’s research.

To understand why laboratory maturation of egg cells is so difficult, we must abandon the image of an oocyte as a solitary cell. In reality, it is like a queen surrounded by her court – hundreds of specialized cells called cumulus cells. Together, they form a structure called the cumulus-oocyte complex (COC). These cells are not just a passive shield. They perform key, life-giving functions: nutrition, communication, protection.

The latest scientific discoveries have brought a true revolution in perceiving this relationship. It turned out that the oocyte is not just a passive recipient of support. On the contrary, it is the conductor of this orchestra. The oocyte itself secretes oocyte-secreted factors (OSFs), which actively control the development and function of the surrounding cumulus cells. This creates an extremely sophisticated feedback loop, in which the egg cell itself “designs” and controls its ideal environment. Any disruption of this delicate communication – for example, during freezing – is not just damage to the protective layer. It is silencing the conductor, which leads to developmental chaos.

In the face of this challenge, Dr. Yurchuk and her team proposed a simple yet brilliant solution. Instead of treating the cumulus-oocyte complex as a monolith, they decided to treat it as a system composed of separate parts, each with different needs and requiring a different approach. Their innovative method consists of three precise steps: 1. separate (separation) – the immature oocyte is gently separated from its surrounding cloud of cumulus cells; 2. preserve (dedicated cryopreservation) – each component is frozen using the optimal method for itself. The robust oocyte is cooled rapidly to prevent the formation of ice crystals while the more delicate cumulus cells undergo a gentler slow-freezing method; 3. combine (rebuilding connections) – after thawing, the oocyte and its own cumulus cells are placed together in a special culture medium. This medium is enriched with hormones that naturally stimulate maturation. The goal is to encourage the cells to rebuild broken gap junctions and resume crucial dialogue.

Dr Yurchuks’s research was successful. Her team identified optimal conditions that allow for the recreation of these life-giving connections, which translated into better development of egg cells in the laboratory. This approach is more than just a technical innovation. It is an expression of deep respect for biology and an attempt to imitate it (biomimicry). Instead of using a universal chemical cocktail, Dr. Yurchuk’s method restores to the oocyte its unique, personalized environment – its own supporting cells. This is a shift from a forceful approach to a more subtle, “ecological” strategy of cell culture, which can find application far beyond the field of infertility treatment.

The implications of this discovery are enormous. By increasing the efficiency of laboratory oocyte maturation, the new technique can significantly raise the success rates of the IVM procedure. This can make it a much more reliable and attractive option for patients.

The story of Dr. Taisiia Yurchuk’s research resonates with her personal fate. The experience of fleeing war is a story of a violent rupture of ties – with home, country, loved ones. Her work, both in the laboratory and outside it, is an act of rebuilding these connections. In Poland, Dr. Yurchuk not only continues her groundbreaking research but also actively works for her community. She organized Science Festivals for Ukrainian refugee children, conducted in their native language, so that despite the trauma they would not lose contact with education. She founded a folk dance group to cultivate and share the richness of Ukrainian culture. These activities are not a hobby – they are an extension of her identity as a person who protects and rebuilds what is most precious: life and culture.

Source: Dr. Taisiia Yurchuk private archive

In the laboratory, Dr Yurchuk meticulously reconstructs the delicate connections between cells, essential for the creation of new life, and outside of it, with equal passion, rebuilds cultural and social ties for people uprooted from their origins. Her positive experiences and strong cooperation with Polish scientists further strengthen this motif of building new, lasting bridges. A universal message of hope flows from this: even after the greatest catastrophe, thanks to determination, ingenuity, and deep respect for the complex bonds that sustain us, life and culture can be saved and reborn.

11 06 2025

The Kilowatt Dilemma. Surprising connections between your bank, global trade, and the future of the planet

Marta Du Vall Projects, Research, Science

Imagine a nation on a growth path. Factories are opening, families are buying their first refrigerators, and cities are shining brighter every night. This is a picture of progress. However, behind it lies a crucial question: can a country lift its citizens out of poverty without simultaneously plunging the planet into an even deeper climate crisis? This fundamental tension between economic development and energy consumption defines one of the greatest challenges of our time, especially for emerging economies aspiring to the prosperity long enjoyed by developed countries.

At the heart of this challenge lies a concept that, although technical, is extremely intuitive: “energy intensity.” Think of it as a country’s “energy mileage.” How much gross domestic product – that is, economic value – can it generate from each unit of energy consumed? A country with low energy intensity is like a car with low fuel consumption; it can travel further on less fuel. For emerging economies, improving this “mileage” is essential for achieving sustainable growth as it allows for development without a proportional increase in emissions and environmental burden.

The race is on to find levers that can reduce this energy intensity. While engineers work on more efficient turbines and solar panels, Dr. Syed Anees Haider Zaidi at the University of Warsaw is looking for answers in much more surprising places: in a local bank branch and in a global shipping container. What if access to credit or the flow of international goods holds the key to our energy future? It is this innovative perspective that drives research that could redefine our approach to climate policy and economic development.

Source: Dr. Syed Anees Haider Zaidi’s private archive

Dr. Syed Anees Haider Zaidi is a researcher whose career is a testament to dedication and deep expertise. His credentials are not merely a list of achievements, but proof of his commitment to solving complex problems. He obtained his doctorate in management science and engineering in 2020 from the School of Management and Economics at the Beijing Institute of Technology in China, and his impressive output includes 46 manuscripts published in highly regarded and influential scientific journals.

Dr. Zaidi is the principal investigator in the POLONEZ BIS project “The Impact of Globalization and Financial Inclusion on Energy Intensity” which aims to provide policymakers with valuable information to help them design effective strategies for a sustainable energy transition. Zaidi seeks to answer how financial and trade policies can become an unexpected but powerful tool in the fight against climate change.

Dr. Zaidi’s research explores two powerful yet seemingly unrelated mechanisms that shape the modern world: access to financial services and the global flow of goods and capital. His hypothesis is that the intersection of these two forces holds the key answers regarding nations’ energy efficiency.

Source: Dr. Syed Anees Haider Zaidi’s private archive

Dr. Syed Anees Haider Zaidi’s work delivers a fundamental message: solving the energy and climate crisis requires a holistic approach. We must look beyond factory chimneys and solar panels, to the economic and financial systems that shape our choices. Sustainable energy policy must be integrated with strategies for financial inclusion and intelligent globalization. His research shows that a loan for energy-efficient equipment in a small village or a trade agreement promoting the transfer of clean technologies can be as important for the future of the climate as building a new wind farm.

In our conversation, the researcher highlighted several specific advantages of the Polish academic environment that proved crucial for his project. These insights offer a unique perspective on how international scientific mobility drives progress. Firstly, he noted better access to key econometric tools and databases compared to his home country. Simply put, it’s like giving an astronomer a more powerful telescope. Access to advanced software and comprehensive, international datasets allows him to conduct more advanced and precise analyses, which translates into greater credibility and depth of his results. Secondly, the research culture in Poland, with its emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration, proved to be a huge asset. As Dr. Zaidi says, an environment where economists, sociologists, and energy policy experts can freely exchange ideas helped him refine his methods and, as he states, added “depth and rigor” to his work. Finally, the strong emphasis on sustainable development policy regulated by the European Union created a unique context for his research. Conducting analyses in an ecosystem where these issues are not just academic but are at the center of real political action gives his work additional weight and urgency. This means that his theoretical models are confronted with one of the world’s most advanced regulatory systems in the field of sustainable development, making his conclusions more robust and globally applicable.

Dr. Zaidi’s experience in Poland extends far beyond the walls of the laboratory and library. His time in Warsaw was also an opportunity for personal and cultural enrichment. He enthusiastically explored the city’s rich historical and cultural heritage, including iconic sites such as the Old Town, the Royal Castle, and Łazienki Królewskie. His travels across Poland took him to Krakow, Łódź, and Ostróda. This shows that the life of a scientist is more than just data and publications; it is also about building bridges between cultures and drawing inspiration from the surrounding world.

05 06 2025

Satire and humor as one of the dimensions of real and discursive analysis of armed conflicts

Marta Du Vall Multiculturalism, Research, Science

Mocking, ridiculing and joking are now common ways of describing and commenting on social and political phenomena. Political humor, meme-making has become a form of political discourse. But can we talk about a serious armed conflict and comment on it in this way?

Dr. Orest Semotiuk, originally from Ukraine, heads the project entitled “Humoresearch. Laughter during the war: Russian aggression in Ukraine in political cartoons and memes”, tries to answer this question. As a researcher who was forced to leave his homeland due to the war, he can continue his research at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences thanks to the Polonez Bis program.

The purpose of the Humoresearch, according to Dr Semotiuk, is to explore the inherent interdisciplinarity of humor. The starting point for his research, conducted in Poland, is the assumption that modern wars differ from classical ones in that they use not only military equipment and regular troops. Values, ideology, culture, symbols, media, humor have become weapons in the 21st century.

As Orest explains, the objective of his research is to investigate the discursive dimension of the Russian-Ukrainian military conflict which began in 2014 and escalated on 24.02.2022 after Russian full-scale invasion in Ukraine. His project aims to analyze the implementation and evolution of the actual dimension of the Ukrainian-Russian military conflict in political humor (cartoons and memes), taking into account the parameters of target, focus, social acceptability, presentation, and context.

The project explores how logical reasoning about the Russian-Ukrainian war is reflected in political humor, focusing on the connection between real-world conflict and its portrayal in discourse. It examines how international military-political assistance to Ukraine is mirrored in both national and international political humor. This correlation is determined by the fact that political humor in the Russian–Ukrainian War operates in two registers: first in support of Ukraine on the international level), and second, as an invitation to foreign audiences to see the fairnessof the Ukrainian cause on the national level. The project is both multidimensional and multicultural. The corpus combines both traditional and modern genres of political humor (6000 cartoons and memes) from North and South America, Australia, Afriсa, Asia, and Europe (65 countries), represented by the largest number of cartoons and cartoonists. The project is based on „conceptual pragmatism“ and combines theoretical and empirical approaches with quantitative and qualitative methods regarding the social context.

Dr Semotiuk and his team have applied the results of their research in several impactful ways. They have broadened the scope of Slavic studies to include cross-cultural aspects, enriched the set of methodological tools of media linguistics, and introduced a modern approach to scientific use that is relatively new among Ukrainian scholars. The project aimed to explain how media linguistics can be linked to other disciplines (social anthropology, discourse and humor studies, political communication) and identify the added value it brings to these disciplines.

Source: private archive of Dr Orest Semotiuk,

In the photo Dr. Olha Tkachenko, former director of the Scientific Research Service Center at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, now an adiunkt at the institute, Dr Semotiuk, Dr Anton Dinerstein and Dr Anna Becker- principal investigators of other projects within the Polonez Bis program

During the project implementation, the research results were presented at many conferences and meetings in Poland and around the world: France, United States, Estonia, Germany, Great Britain. The project website (https://humoresearch.ispan.edu.pl/) also features a blog providing a commentary on current events related to the Ukraine-Russia conflict. . The blog entries are accompanied by satirical images, which are one of the main subjects of research conducted by Orest’s team.

01 24 2025

Eastern goddesses – the cult through the lenses of people

Marta Du Vall Projects, Research, Science

Beliefs, gods and goddesses have long aroused interest and stimulated the imagination, not only of fantasy and mythology lovers but also of scientists who use research methods to investigate various aspects of this phenomenon.

Dr Aleksandra Kubiak-Schneider is an epigrapher and historian of religions. Her Polonez Bis project concentrates on people who worshiped two prominent Eastern goddesses: Allat and Atargatis. The first is a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess, at one time worshipped under various associations throughout the entire Arabian Peninsula. She symbolizes peace, war, resilience and prosperity. Atargatis is the great goddess of northern Syria. According to Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Atargatis) “primarily, Atargatis was a goddess of fertility, but, as the mistress of her city and people, she was also responsible for their protection and well-being”.

Aleksandra wants to understand the cult of these goddesses through the lenses of the people involved, their functions and social roles, especially women. She is looking at the interplay of the geographical features and topography of the cult. Together with her PhD student collaborator, Sebastien Mazurek MA, they built a visual database in the NodeGoat, which connects people and places on the map in order to visualise the diffusion of the cults and ethnicities of the worshippers. To date, the data set comprises 120 inscriptions from the entire Mediterranean and distant territories of the Roman Empire, including Britain, where the cult of Atargatis is attested. Researchers are currently unifying the data ientered in the database. At the end of the project, they plan to prepare a paper on the role of women in the cult of Atargatis. As one of the preliminary observations, they have identified the significant contribution of immigrants from Syria in the dissemination and training of new cultic personnel in the case of the cult of Atargatis.

By using mapping and the epigraphic data collection tools, dr Kubiak-Schneider was able to determine the strong connection of the Allat goddess to the desert, caravan mobility and the netherworld. Furthermore, she points out that the worship of this goddess was not spread beyond the East, it remained confined to the rocky, desert areas of the Near East. The findings of this part of research were published in an open access paper “Allat and the Desert. Kulturlandschaft of Allat in the Near East” in the Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology (http://www.jaha.org.ro/index.php/JAHA/article/view/932).

It is worth noting that a significant outcome of the project is the collaboration between Polonez Bis project and the IDEA (International Dura-Europos Archive) project lead by Anne Chen in Bard College, NY USA and Yale University. Aleksandras’ role is to analyze the inscriptions from the temple of Atargatis, work with the Linked Open Data tools (e.g. Wikidata) and provide expertise in the domain of the Semitic epigraphy.

Epigraphist (digital era), archive of dr Aleksandra Kubiak-Schneide

Dr Kubiak-Schneider is also engaged in many activities associated with her research, including participation in international conferences. One example is the conference in Madrid (last year in November), where she presented a paper (now in print) about connections between the ancient goddesses and modern female superheroes (e.g. Wonder Woman). The gender hybridization of the goddesses does not influence the role of a woman in the society, who is rather conservatively attached to the household, as can be seen in the structure of the temple personnel, where the women remain largely invisible (at least in the Parthian and Roman periods). The worship of the goddesses in the first three centuries of the Common Era did not serve to empower the women, but it served men, as can be observed from the epigraphic material. Aleksandra also participated in the Arabian Seminar in Oxford, where she presented her first significant outcome connecting Allat and the desert landscape. This talk is available on the YouYube channel for those interested in viewing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_lGIgfqwyM&pp=ygUWa3ViaWFrLXNjaG5laWRlciBhbGxhdA%3D%3D).

Participants of the Melammu Workshop Serving the Gods at the University of Wrocław, archive of dr Aleksandra Kubiak-Schneider

As Aleksandra notes, the Polonez Bis programme, has given her opportunity to develop the discipline of West Semitic epigraphy, mainly Aramaic, which is underrepresented in Poland, „Even though this field is very narrow in Poland, I can contribute to the epigraphical research of the colleagues in my research team and institute. I am building up the library sources with the book budget in order to potentially attract new students to my field of study in the future ”.

09 23 2024

The extraordinary world of vegetables

Marta Du Vall Projects, Research, Science

Vegetables, something ordinary for the common person. But have you ever wondered what processes at the genetic level make them grow, making it possible for us to eat them in various forms (e.g. frozen, cooked)

Dr. Pablo Cavagnaro’s team conduct a research project at the University of Agriculture in Krakow, in which they are trying to identify the genes responsible for transitions in plants from the vegetative stage to the reproductive stage, known to all of us as flowering.

The project focuses specifically on vernalization which is the process by which plants use an extended cold period, such as winter, to get ready to flower. The researchers decided to concentrate on the carrot because it is one of the ten most economically important and consumed vegetables worldwide.

In order to produce flowers and seeds, many vegetable plants – including the carrot – first need to overcome their juvenile stage and reach “adulthood”, which happens when the plant reaches a certain vegetative growth threshold (e.g., in carrots the juvenile stage is considered over when the plant has 8-12 leaves and a root diameter of ~ 4-8 mm)Then they need to accumulate a certain number of hours of cold to shift from the vegetative to the reproductive stage. These physiological and biochemical changes take place in the meristem of the plant which is a type of tissue composed of f cells that can divide and grow into all the other tissues and organs in plants.

After the necessary changes are produced in the meristem, the plant is ready to flower, which usually happens after the winter is over. The amount of cold that a given species, or a variety within a species, needs to be exposed to in order to start flowering is called “vernalization requirement” (VR) and it is genetically determined – a given plant variant has a gene, or a set of genes, that condition the amount of cold it requires for flowering. . Previous studies have already helped to narrow down the possible chromosome region where these genes might be located, but the actual genes controlling carrot vernalization requirements have not yet been identified. Dr Cavagnaro’s project is bringing us closer to their discovery!

To accomplish this, the researchers are comparing three early flowering and three late flowering carrots (that is six carrot cultivars with contrasting VR) ) and looking at how their complete set of genes (the “transcriptome”) behaves in vernalized and not vernalized plants. This helps them identify genes that are expressed at different rates in both groups and are related to flowering or vernalization processes. The fact that research is conducted in Poland allows the project to combine different approaches, different expertise, different equipment from the Polish host institution and Argentinian universities, where the Principal Investigator conducted his earlier research.

If we understand more about how vernalization requirements are regulated, we would be able to develop molecular breeding strategies for future crops.

Principal Investigator: prof. dr Pablo Federico Cavagnaro

Project Title: Understanding the genetic basis of carrot vernalization

Project’s website: www.projekty.urk.edu.pl/index/site/8791

01 25 2024

The concept of Responsible Research and Innovation from the perspective of intersectoral cooperation

Marta Du Vall Research, RRI, Science

The operations of socially responsible NGOs and scientific entities fall within the concept of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). This concept was and is a key feature of the Horizon 2020 programme (EU website, 2022). In the EU’s framework programme for the period 2014-2020, six main aspects of RRI were assumed to be cross-sectional issues. This means that institutions applying for funding in order to carry out research and development work as part of the Horizon 2020 programme refer, in their project applications, to public engagement, gender equality, science education, open access, ethics and governance.

In the Horizon 2020 programme the issue of disseminating the RRI approach in the research and innovation process was considered in particular in competitions announced in the field of Science with and for society (EU website, 2022). It is worth emphasising that some countries (such as agencies funding research in Holland, the United Kingdom, and France), based on the model of the European Commission, have incorporated aspects of RRI into their domestic research competitions. The RRI approach directly connects such issues as: technology assessment, which is primarily concentrated on public perception or the need for a given solution and, to a lesser degree, considers the technical aspects of innovation; as well as corporate social responsibility which assumes that a company at the strategy-building stage voluntarily considers the interests of society and protection of the environment, as well as relations with different interest groups.

The view of European Commission representatives and the research community implementing their own ‘RRI code’, understood as a change in the cultural sphere and not an ISO-style standard, results in better adaptation of the process of research and innovation, as well as its results, to the values, needs and expectations of European society. Above all, RRI is an ‘inclusive approach to research and innovation’ which ‘is aimed at better adaptation of both the process and the results [research and innovation] to the values, needs and expectations of European society.’ It is assumed that the development of scientific activity should go hand-in-hand with scientists’ sense of social responsibility, as well as social awareness. Achieving this state of affairs will be impossible without active collaboration between science and society, without a dialogue in which representatives of both of these spheres are engaged.

Here one should observe the fact that the term RRI, similar to its predecessors was not thought up by the research community. The concept was rather first initiated by science policy-makers or organs funding research and implemented in a top-down fashion. We may observe a long-term process of change in the priorities of European science policies which currently place more emphasis on the specific characteristics of a described phenomenon.

When we look more closely at the concept of RRI, we see that although it is complex, this does not mean it is impossible to implement. Its energetic use has become significantly more visible, as pointed out earlier, in countries such as the United Kingdom or the Netherlands than in Eastern Europe. RRI, as a new approach to research and innovation, places great emphasis on the issue of responsibility and points to a large group of interested parties who should indeed share this responsibility. The most frequently quoted definition of RRI, that proposed by René von Schomberg, assumes that ‘Responsible Research and Innovation is a transparent, interactive process by which societal actors and innovators become mutually responsive to each other with a view to the (ethical) acceptability, sustainability and societal desirability of the innovation process and its marketable products (in order to allow a proper embedding of scientific and technological advances in our society).

Such a view is, unfortunately, neither very clear nor comprehensible in layman’s terms. This is why it is worth referring to another explanation proposed by experienced popularisers of science. Here, the issue is much simpler: as research and innovation have an influence on society, scientists, as particular individuals and a research and innovation community bear social responsibility as an entire system for their activities, and conversely – politicians, industry and citizens may not place the burden of responsibility only on the shoulders of scientists: they must define their aims, aspirations, future and engage themselves in research programs which will lead us there.

In short, it is important that society participates in the debate on the subject of the direction of science and its influence on shaping the modern world and society, as well as the consequences of the processes of research and innovation previously mentioned, whose beneficiaries or victims will be the next generation.

As the same time, it is difficult not to notice that: the rapid development of science and technology often arouses controversy. The numerous examples of research which has been questioned or rejected by public opinion have perfectly shown that the fears of society should neither be ignored nor limited to a question of risk. Science does not enjoy a special status in society while citizens are more and more interested in the aims and motives behind conducted research and demand to be included in the decision-making process concerning a subject and the scope of the research being conducted.

It is from here that increasing social awareness referring to the role of scientific and technological innovations has become crucial, along with the stimulation of interest in the processes of their creation and their consequences.

Of course, it is easy to point out a range of factors which may negatively affect the readiness of citizens and third sector entities to become involved in research and research and innovation policies. This, including a lack of relevant knowledge and skills, a lack of feeling of the real significance and impact on the research subject, their scenarios and possible effects, a lack of trust and critical views of the environment (the poor image of researchers, academia etc.), a lack of time and funding, as well as a lack of actual legitimacy to participate in the research process. Perhaps the way to treat this reluctance to become involved in collaboration with NGOs may be the popularization of scientific knowledge itself. What is necessary during the process of education is to foster the building of positive approaches, responsible citizens who are creative and innovative, capable of collaboration, completely aware of and familiar with the challenges which society has to confront. We must keep in mind that a two-way flow of knowledge is essential – this helps citizens understand the achievements of scientists, develops their critical thinking facilities while, in exchange, scientists gain a new perspective which up to now they could not have secured through the walls of universities and laboratories.

In conclusion, the concept of responsible research and innovation places emphasis on the scientific-research and academic communities remembering that they do not operate in a vacuum but in a complex and demanding social, political and economic environment. Consequently, they must keep in mind the expectations of all interested parties who should become partners involved in the entire research process (from conception to results). Undoubtedly, it is crucial that both universities and interested parties, particularly including NGOs, open themselves up to this kind of collaboration and are aware of the mutual expectations, the most important of which is taking responsibility and sharing, understanding and becoming familiar with it. In this aspect, the Polonez Bis program is an example of inter-sectoral cooperation, where non-governmental organizations are involved in order to more fully implement the RRI assumptions. Although this is conducive to the process of learning together, it should, above all, become a bridge between the scientific world and the social world, between understanding and culture, between practitioners and researchers.