
dr hab. inż. Violetta Sokoła-Szewioła, prof. SUT
Deputy Dean for Science and Cooperation
of the Faculty of Mining, Safety Engineering, and Industrial Automation
Employed at the Silesian University of Technology since 1987, initially at the Department of Mining Surveying, Deposit Management and Mining Damage, the Department of Geodesy and Mining Area Protection, and currently at the Department of Geoengineering and Raw Material Exploitation. Currently employed as a professor at the Silesian University of Technology.
She graduated from the Faculty of Mining at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice in 1987, obtaining a professional title of Master of Science in the field of deposit exploitation technology. In 1989, she graduated from the Faculty of Mining and Geology and obtained a master’s degree in engineering, specializing in mine design and construction.
She obtained her doctorate in technical sciences in the field of mining and engineering geology at the Faculty of Mining and Geology of the Silesian University of Technology in 1996. In 2012, by decision of the Faculty Council of Mining and Geology at the Silesian University of Technology, she obtained the degree of habilitated doctor of technical sciences in the field of Mining and Engineering Geology in the field of mining geodesy and deposit exploitation.
Her research covers mining, geodesy, and cartography, with particular focus on mining area protection, mining geodesy, and seismic hazards in mining and post-mining areas. Among her significant scientific achievements are: the development of a method and device for long-distance continuous measurement of surface point displacements using laser technology; a novel method for approximating continuous measurements of point subsidence to forecast short-term changes in mining area subsidence; a method for predicting the occurrence of seismic tremors above a defined energy threshold based on autoregressive models of vertical displacement processes; and the design of a continuous surface movement monitoring system based on high-frequency, multi-system satellite observations.
She has authored or co-authored more than 130 scientific publications, including monographs, book chapters, and papers in international and national journals, and has presented her work at over 110 conferences worldwide. She serves as a reviewer for numerous journals, including those on the JCR list, and is section editor and currently editorial board member of Geoinformatica Polonica. She has also acted as reviewer and member of doctoral and habilitation committees and has supervised doctoral theses in geodesy and cartography.
Reviewer and member of habilitation and doctoral committees. Supervisor of completed doctoral dissertations covering topics in the field of geodesy and cartography. Manager and executor of dozens of scientific and research works, services, and research projects, including those financed by European Union funds, such as the Research Fund for Coal and Steel and EIT RawMaterials.
In 2017-2021, she was the deputy head of the Department of Deposits Mining for scientific matters and the head of the Cartography and Spatial Information Systems team. Until 2024, she was the Faculty Supervisor for Foreign Students. Currently, she is the Faculty Coordinator for the ERASMUS+ Program. She has repeatedly served as the head of postgraduate studies in geodesy and cartography at the Silesian University of Technology.
She participates in the work of many organizations, commissions, and committees in Poland and abroad, including as a member of the State Council for Geodesy and Cartography, operating under the General Surveyor of Poland, a member of the Commission for the Protection of Mining Areas of the Polish Academy of Sciences, member of the Polish Committee for Standardization, President of the Board of the Katowice Branch of the Association of Polish Surveyors and member of the Presidium of the Association’s Main Board, Vice-President of the Polish Committee of the International Society of Mine Surveying, member of the International Mining Backfill Council, member of the Society of Mining Professors, member of the European Geoscience Union. She is a member of the Engineering Surveying Commission of the International Federation of Surveyors.
Since 2012, he has been an expert in the TGK1 technical group of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel, operating under the European Commission.
Her cooperation include research and educational projects with universities, research institutes, and industry partners in Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Slovakia, Canada, South Africa, the USA, and China. She has organized numerous international and national conferences.
She has been awarded, among others, the Silver Medal of Merit for Mining in Poland, the Honorary Badge of the Minister of Investment and Development for Merit in Geodesy and Cartography, and the Medal of the National Education Commission. She has received several awards from the Rector of the Silesian University of Technology. She is a 2nd degree General Mining Director.