Meet the ambassadors of the Silesian Science Festival KATOWICE!

Researchers, journalists, and science popularisers are the Ambassadors of the Silesian Science Festival KATOWICE. We present profiles of people who represent the Festival in Poland and internationally.

They are true science lovers who have been cooperating with the Festival for years and who are close to the idea of the Silesian Science Festival as an open and accessible place for all who want to gain knowledge from various fields of science. Meet the people who together with us create the Silesian Science Festival KATOWICE!

The unique group of Silesian Science Festival ambassadors include:

•   Jarosław Juszkiewicz – radio journalist, owner of the Polish Voices teacher studio. Since 2021, he has been part of Radio 357, where he prepares podcasts and a weekly broadcast “Rzecz Technologiczna”. Currently, he cooperates closely with the Planetarium – the Silesian Science Park, where he organizes popular science screenings. Winner of numerous awards, including The First Prize in the Silesia Press Journalism Competition for the series of documentaries “Divine Equation – in Search of the Theory of everything” (2021).
•   Ewelina Zambrzycka-Kościelnicka – popular science journalist, associated with National Geographic Polska, Focus and the reporter magazine Weekend.Gazeta.pl. She is the co-author of the books “Human. Cosmic being,” “Cosmic challenges” and “Dare to Do Great Things,” as well as a spokesperson for the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
•   Dr Tomasz Rożek – scientific journalist and physicist, populariser of science. He runs his own program on the radio eM entitled “Labyrinths of Knowledge,” he also participates in the morning program of Radio 357, answering the listeners’ “Questions from the moon”. He has cooperated with many national magazines, including “Gazeta Wyborcza,” “National Geographic” or “Gość Niedzielny,” where he is currently the head of the “Science and Economy” department. He received the title of “Populariser of science” in 2008, and his book “Simply Science. Interviews with the outstanding” was considered the best popular science publication of the 2010/2011 season. Founder and President of the Science Foundation. “To Lubię” as part of which it popularizes knowledge from various fields of science.
•   Dr Agata Kołodziejczyk – neuroscientist and astrobiologist. In her scientific work she focuses on the study of the cosmos and the mutual relations of biological sciences and astronomy. She is the first Polish woman to join the European Space Agency, where as an expert in biomimetics, she developed a revolutionary solution for multi-module orbital telescopes. She also co-created the first analogue space base on which simulations of extraterrestrial missions are carried out. For her achievements, she received the Artur Rojszczak award (2013), Frombork Gold Medal (2018) and nomination to the title of Superheroine of "High Heels" 2017. She is currently a member of the forScience Foundation, the World Research Centre, and the private space agency Valles Marineris.
•   Wiktor Niedzicki – radio and television journalist, academic lecturer, author of the “Laboratory” program, as part of which he popularizes knowledge about physics and the most important achievements of technology. Currently, he is a senior lecturer at the Warsaw University of Technology and a member of the Academy of Engineering in Poland. He popularizes science among both children and adults – his original shows, among others, “Einstein’s Legacy,” “History of dirt” and “Space in our House” (also presented in Bulgaria), are very popular.
•   Prof. Katarzyna Kłosińska – linguist, President of the Polish Language Council at the Presidium of the Polish Academy of Sciences. She specializes in normative linguistics, sociolinguistics, lexicology, and semantics, as well as ethnolinguistics. She is associated with the Institute of Polish Language at the University of Warsaw and the Language Observatory of the University of Warsaw, which creates a dictionary of Polish neologisms. She also talks about the language on the radio – she ran the show “Where do words come from” and the cycle “What’s squeaking?” (2005–2020) in the third Polish Radio Program. She is currently analysing the contemporary Polish language and discovering its secrets in Radio 357.
•   Dr Lukasz Lamża – nature philosopher and scientific journalist. He is an employee of the Copernicus Centre for Interdisciplinary Research at the Jagiellonian University and a member of the editorial staff of Tygodnik Powszechny. He conducts research in the field of theoretical biology, specializing in comparative biology of protists. He is the author of numerous books, including the “Universe Step by Step” (2017), “Parallel Worlds” (2020), “Hard to say” (2022). He has been nominated twice for the Grand Press Award (category: Specialist Journalism). He runs a weekly scientific press review on YouTube entitled “Reading Nature,” which was nominated for the 2024 POP Science Award.
•   Lukasz Wilczyński – science populariser, originator, and co-organizer of the European Rover Challenge project. He is the president of the Space Communications Alliance, the world’s first global space PR network, and the founder of Planet Partners and the European Space Foundation. In 2017, he was awarded the Tiuterra Crystal Award (a crystal containing fragments of Earth and Mars) by the Austrian Space Forum for his contribution to the promotion and development of space related topics around the world.

More information at: https://slaskifestiwalnauki.pl/poznaj-ambasadorow-slaskiego-festiwalu-nauki-katowice.

8. The Silesian Science Festival KATOWICE will take place on 7–9 December and will be the culmination of the whole year of the European City of Science 2024 award ceremony.