The National Science Center has announced the results of the last stage of this year's Miniatura competition. The winners include Bogusław Szczupak, PhD from our faculty and nine people from Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, who will soon begin their preliminary and pilot research as well as consultation trips.

Bogusław Szczupak, PhD from the Department of ICT and Telecommunications received funding in the amount of PLN 48,400 for preliminary research on "The Impact of Irradiating the Core of a Silica Fibre With Laser Radiation on the Sensing Properties of This Fibre."

– The main goal of the project will be to conduct experimental research that will determine the effect of irradiating the core of a silica fibre with laser radiation having different wavelength and power on the sensing properties of this fibre. The proposed research will be a continuation of the already started work demonstrating the relationship between the level of germanium admixture in the fibre-optic core and its thermal sensitivity – explains Bogusław Szczupak.

Additional investigations will include the influence of irradiation with laser radiation of different wavelength and power on the strength parameters of optical fibres. The results of the planned research will be used to develop a technology for the production of optical fibres which would have a much greater thermal sensitivity than those currently available and a reduced cross-sensitivity to selected physical quantities, and which could be successfully installed in new types of sensors, in the most demanding industrial conditions.

The researcher graduated from the Faculty of Electronics, Wrocław University of Science and Technology in 2000, and received his doctoral degree at the Faculty of Physics, the National University of Ireland, Galway, in 2009. Between 2007 and 2009 he was employed as a researcher at the Nanoscale Biophotonics Laboratory there. In 2010, he completed a one-year postdoctoral fellowship at CIC biomaGUNE, in San Sebastian, Spain, and between 2011 and 2016 he was the head of the pre-clinical imaging laboratory there.

Since 2016, he has been working as a research and teaching assistant at the Department of ICT Telecommunications. In 2018, he also became the head of the Laboratory of Sensors for Intelligent Objects and Data Transfer Systems, which is part of the GEO-3EM research complex. His research interests are focused on fibre optic sensors and networks, laser spectroscopy and molecular imaging.

The Miniatura competition is addressed to scientists with a doctoral degree who have not supervised the implementation of research projects or have not been laureates of scholarship and internship competitions financed by the National Science Centre. The grants are between 5,000 PLN and 50,000 PLN.

In the latest edition, more than 300 people have obtained funding for their projects, including nine from Wrocław University of Science and Technology. The grants totalled 11.9 million PLN in total. It was possible to award such a large number of grants, among others thanks to an increased funding of the National Science Centre offered by the Ministry of Education and Science.

The grants were also given to the following WUST researchers:

• Robert Dziedzic, PhD (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering), "In-situ nanocomposites on a titanium matrix reinforced with titanium boride particles obtained with the use of additive technology – Electron Beam Melting (EBM)" (preliminary / pilot studies), funding: 49,995 PLN, • Anna Kisiela-Czajka, PhD (Faculty of Mechanical and Power Engineering), "Assessment of the influence of surface functional groups on the mechanism of adsorption-catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxide and ammonia from boiler flue gas" (preliminary / pilot studies), funding: 49 940 PLN,
• Urszula Nawrot, PhD (Faculty of Electronics, Photonics and Microsystems), "Micromechanical optical biosensors" (preliminary / pilot studies), funding: 49 500 zł PLN,
• Martyna Dymek, PhD (Faculty of Chemistry), Modifying the physicochemical parameters of alloys based on the TiFe intermetallic compound" (research trip), funding: 49 624 PLN,
• Marcin Madeja, PhD (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering), "Structure and properties of TZM alloy processed in the Selective Electron Beam Melting technology" (preliminary / pilot studies), funding: 44 880 PLN,
• Tomasz Czapka, PhD (Faculty of Electrical Engineering), "Production of polymer nanofibers with zinc oxide nanoparticles using the electrospinning method" (preliminary / pilot studies), funding: 36 014 PLN,
• Małgorzata Gazińska, PhD (Faculty of Chemistry), "Mechanotransduction effect in elastomeric composites of poly(glycerol adipate)" (consultation trip), funding: 33 000 PLN,
• Lidia Fijałkowska-Lichwa, PhD (Faculty of Civil Engineering), "Determining the Rn-222 detection level in the technical corridor of a hydroelectric dam" (preliminary / pilot studies), funding: 17 930 PLN.
As part of the program, funding can be allocated, among others, to preliminary and pilot studies, queries, research internships, research or consultation trips. The complete list of the winners is available here.

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