University of Wrocław students are finalists of the Student Nobel Prize
Two of our students Bartosz Rusin, a physics student, and Kacper Rosner-Leszczyński, a history student, are in the finals of the Student Nobel Prize. The finals are coming up on May 25!
Bartosz Rusin is among the finalists of the Student Nobel in the Physics and Astronomy category, while Kacper Rosner-Leszczyński is among the finalists in the Social Sciences category.
The Student Nobel Prize is a scholarship competition organized by the Independent Students’ Association. The competition aims to distinguish students who have achievements various fields: scientific, artistic or social. The laureates are chosen in nine categories. Thanks to this, they have the opportunity of taking advantage of their achievements and creating a name for themselves in the world of business, science or culture.
Bartosz Rusin is a second-year student of the Experimental Physics Master’s degree programme. – My current scientific interests are solid-state physics, mainly superconductivity, especially superconductivity in high-entropy alloys and theoretical calculations for the density functional theory – recounts Bartosz.
What are high-entropy alloys? -Generally speaking, they’re alloys endowed with better physical and chemical properties than conventional materials.
But that’s not all, because Bartosz also has – as he calls them – „more casual scientific interests” – Topological superconductivity, quantum computers or machine learning – he adds.
Bartosz already holds many achievements: Rector’s Scholarship 23/24, a scientific publication in the international Materials journal or a presentation of a poster on a scientific conference in Pittsburgh, where he presented a newly found high-entropy superconductor and it’s superconductive properties.
Near the beginning of his Master’s degree, he also began volunteering at the Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research of the Polish Institute of Sciences, where he worked on the experimental part of research on high-entropy superconductors.
Bartosz is also the winner of the IDUB „Young Researcher 2023-25” grant in the first and second editions. He also worked for the research and computational grant. Both projects involve high entropy—the first is concerned only with experimental research, while the second is only theoretical research—Bartosz explains. His Master’s thesis supervisor is prof. Rafał Idczak.
But a person can’t live on science alone – I like rap music, a good movie and soccer – says Bartosz humorously. He is a fan of Real Madrid – I’ve always been a fan of Ronaldo and when he transferred to Real I became a fan of them – he adds jokingly.
At this point he is linking his future with scientific work. – I think in the field of solid-state physics or related – says our student. – I’d like to touch the industry related to quantum computers.
He was encouraged to take part in the competition by a fellow student. – He sent me a link with the entry, I sent it and got qualified for the first stage. And that’s how it happened – he says.
The scientific interests of Kacper Rosner-Leszczyński concentrate around the social history and the history of medicine within the so called Recovered Territories (after 1945).
– Interdisciplinarity is very important to me. The studies I conduct are on the edge of different disciplines. I have devoted myself to these subjects ever since I’ve been studying on the University of Wrocław – says Kacper Rosner-Leszczyński, second-year Master’s degree history student.
During 2021-2022 he studied at Università di Catania in Italy (as part of the Erasmus+ program). He’s the beneficiary of a scholarship in the scientific project funded by the National Science Centre realized in the Warsaw School of Economics („Long-term change in economic inequality and intergenerational mobility in Poland”). Author of 16 scientific texts and 27 popular science entries.
In 2023 Kacper was awarded the scholarship of the Minister of Education and Science, and in 2024 the scholarship of the Minister of Science for notable achievements in science. Two-times laureate (first and second edition) of the “Young Researcher” grant of the University of Wrocław. He actively participated in dozens of domestic as well as foreign of scientific conferences, in the United States (Central Connecticut State University) among others.
In 2024 he was a visiting research fellow at the Centre for Historical Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Berlin. – I’m a member of the Polish Society for the History of Medical Sciences and of the Heritage and Cultural Memory Studies Section of the Polish Ethnological Society – our student enumerates.
What does he do in free time? – this free time is pretty limited – jokingly says Kacper. – I like to read books and visit lower Silesian towns, I also like strategy games and TV series. – he says.
He ties his future to science and conducting advanced research. The supervisor of his thesis is prof. Grzegorz Strauchold.
How did he enter the competition? – I learned about the competition two years ago, but decided not to participate then. The achievements I have achieved since then motivated me to apply this year – he admits.
We are keeping our fingers crossed for our finalists!
Katarzyna Górowicz-Maćkiewicz
Translated by Kacper Piotrowski (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.
