Dr inż. Piotr Kryczka with the Foundation for Polish Science scholarship!
Dr inż. Piotr Kryczka from the Department of Social and Economic Geography of the University of Wrocław has found himself among the hundred most talented Polish scientists before turning thirty. He has received the Foundation for Polish Science scholarship in the START 2025 contest.
START is a contest in which the Foundation for Polish Science has been awarding remarkable representatives of the young researchers’ generation for over thirty years. In this year, scholarships have been allocated for the thirty-third time.
− It is a great joy and honour to be found amongst laureates of such a prestigious programme. Foundation for Polish Science scholarship is an important signal for me that spatial and urban planning research is seen and needed – comments our researcher. – The Foundation’s distinction motivates me to further work on an improvement of the spatial planning around us. What is especially valuable is that I represent a discipline of social-economic geography and spatial economy as the only one in this year’s edition. Simultaneously, general results show that, in Poland, we still have large disparities in the development of sciences – chemistry, physics, or health sciences are considerably stronger represented. This shows that we still have a mountain to climb – we, space researchers – so that our actions and achievements are equally visible and appreciated – he adds.
START scholarship is not only an appreciation of the foregoing academic achievement of dr inż. Piotr Kryczka, but also an expert evaluation of his further plans of research. – The moment of submitting an application in 2024 has coincided with a breakthrough in my research attitude – I have arrived at the decision of studying a new field of study at the time when Lower Silesia has been haunted by another flood wave. These events have brutally shown how crucial the improvement of the relationship between spatial planning and natural disaster risk management is. – emphasises the scientist. – Within the works being the result of the scholarship, I will concentrate on the development analysis of flood risk areas in the Odra basin, with a special emphasis on its middle river. I am planning to analyse, in what way topical projects of landscape planning can contribute to increasing or restricting flood risk. Moreover, I want to examine an elasticity of legal planning tools in the context of withdrawing from fallacious locational decisions. In my view, the most significant essence of this research will be an indication of solutions that could allow municipalities to have more effective protection of residents and the environment from the consequences of extreme atmospheric phenomena.
Biographical note
Piotr Kryczka – urban planner, doctor of technical sciences in architecture and urban planning, alumnus of spatial geography. He is specialising in the theory and practice of spatial and urban planning, combining academic knowledge with professional experience. Since 2022, he has been an assistant professor in the Department of Social and Economic Geography, the Institute of Geography and Regional Development, at the University of Wrocław, as well as a member of the International Association on Planning, Law, and Property Rights. An author of domestic and international research papers, expert opinions, and a speaker in domestic and international conferences devoted to spatial and urban planning. His research interests concentrate on legal aspects of integrated planning on the local scale, urban morphology, and planning processes digitalisation.
Translated by Maja Zaucha (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.
Date of publication: May 14, 2025
Added by: E.K.
