On Saturday, June 14, 2025, the Royal Castle in Warsaw hosted the official awards ceremony for the recipients of the START program, who were granted fellowships in the 2025 edition.
The START scholarships, awarded by the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP), support outstanding young researchers (under the age of 30) with significant scientific achievements. The program aims to foster the development of the most talented young scientists in Poland. This year marks the 33rd edition of the START program.
The ceremony gathered this year’s fellows, their families, academic mentors, and a broad representation of the scientific community and research institutions.
The event began with opening speeches by Prof. Maciej Żylicz, President of the Foundation for Polish Science, and Prof. Grażyna Jurkowlaniec, Chair of the FNP Council. Congratulatory letters were sent by Marshal of the Senate Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska and Minister of Science and Higher Education Marcin Kulasek.
This year’s 100 winners were selected from a pool of 725 candidates through a multi-stage competition that assessed the quality of their scientific achievements. The largest number of awards—30 scholarships—went to researchers in the fields of biological, medical, and Earth sciences. Topping the ranking of institutions with the most awardees was the University of Warsaw (15 fellows), followed by the Jagiellonian University (14 fellows), and the Polish Academy of Sciences institutes (13 fellows in total).
Since 2009, the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) has also awarded special distinctions to candidates whose research achievements were rated as outstanding by the competition reviewers. These fellows will receive an increased scholarship amount of PLN 38,000. This year’s distinction recipients are:
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Dr. Jędrzej Chrzanowski – Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Łódź (life and medical sciences)
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MSc Jakub Zakrzewski – Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University (chemical and materials sciences)
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MSc Sebastian Borówka – Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw (engineering and exact sciences)
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MSc Michalina Kowala – Faculty of Law and Administration, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (humanities and social sciences)
As part of the START program, the Barbara Skarga Scholarship is also awarded. It goes to a researcher whose work boldly crosses boundaries between disciplines, opens new research perspectives, and brings new value to science. This year’s recipient is MSc Alexandra Staniewska from the Faculty of Anthropology and Cultural Studies at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.
The total amount allocated by the Foundation for scholarships in this edition is PLN 3,056,000.
Source:
Foundation for Polish Science (FNP)
Forum Akademickie
Nauka w Polsce
