The Institute's 2024 Microsymposium and recognition of the Best Posters

Every January, the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) organizes a Microsymposium, which serves two primary purposes: to present the research endeavors of the past year and to stimulate academic discourse among the diverse groups, teams, and labs within the institute. Our speakers, carefully selected from young researchers, both pre- and post-PhD, have demonstrated excellence through their published work in the preceding year, either as first or corresponding authors.

 “We are committed to maintaining a gender balance in our speaker lineup. This year, we also introduced two 'free spots' for those eager to contribute as speakers. Poster sessions are open to all participants, with selected posters earning recognition through the voting process by our esteemed scientific committee.” – highlighted Prof. Jan Paczesny, the Institute’s Deputy Director of Scientific Affairs.

In 2024, our Microsymposium was held from the 9th to the 10th of January. The 12 oral presentations, organized into four sessions covering nanotechnology, light-related processes and materials, theory and modeling, and the physical chemistry of biological systems, along with 88 in-person posters, highlighted the research achievements of the Institute in 2023.

We appreciate the participation of all attendees who joined this annual event. The involvement of over 80 scientists present in person and 50 more connecting via online streaming contributed to the success of the Microsymposium. We also value constructive discussions and contacts between teams and laboratories. This scientific summit provided an opportunity for the IPC PAS community to unite, fostering collaboration and enriching the overall academic experience.

The Commission for the evaluation of scientific works presented at the Microsymposium has recognized the following posters as outstanding:

• Poster nr 8. Controlling regioselectivity of catalytic transfer hydrofunctionalization reactions by non-covalent interactions - Aleksandra Zasada, Dawid Lichosyt
• Poster nr 36. Time-resolved diffusion NMR. a tool for study reactions and internal structure of heterogenous materials - Marek Czarnota, Mateusz Urbańczyk
• Poster nr 61. Plasmon Resonances Responsible for the Dispersive Line Shape of Surface-Enhanced Femtosecond Stimulated Raman Signal - Patryk Pyrcz, Sylwester Gawinkowski
• Poster nr 88. Opto-mechanical design of multi-spot air-puff OCT clinical prototype - Jadwiga Milkiewicz, Onur Cetinkaya, Rafal Pietruch, Ewa Mączyńska-Walkowiak, Patryk Młyniuk,  Andrea Curatolo, Bartłomiej Kałużny, Maciej Wojtkowski, and Karol Karnowski.

The audience award went to the following work:

• Poster nr 75. Insights into the in-cloud aging processes of secondary organic aerosol in the atmosphere using kinetics and mass spectrometric tools - Katarzyna Pawlak, Agata Błaziak, Bartłomiej Witkowski, Krzysztof Rudziński, Tomasz Gierczak, Rafał Szmigielski.

We warmly congratulate all the co-authors of the above works and sincerely thank everyone who participated in the IPC PAS Annual Microsymposium in 2024!