{"id":10082,"date":"2026-05-12T14:30:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T12:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/?p=10082"},"modified":"2026-10-05T15:09:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T13:09:47","slug":"ministerial-support-for-our-popular-science-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/en\/ministerial-support-for-our-popular-science-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"Ministerial Support for Our Popular Science Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-7387b849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:50%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1023\" height=\"575\" src=\"https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/nauka4future.jpg\" alt=\"Women in white lab coats conducting research in a laboratory.\" class=\"wp-image-10101\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/nauka4future.jpg 1023w, https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/nauka4future-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/nauka4future-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1023px) 100vw, 1023px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:50%\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Robots, smart city designs, mechanical engineering hidden inside racing cars and hydrogen engines, space technologies &#8211; Cracow University of&nbsp;Technology is&nbsp;once again proving that science can truly fascinate and change the world around us. Thanks to&nbsp;ministerial funding from the Social Responsibility of&nbsp;Science III programme, our university is&nbsp;launching three exceptional science popularisation projects that will open the doors of&nbsp;modern technology to&nbsp;curious minds of&nbsp;all ages. The message is&nbsp;simple: innovation is&nbsp;not a&nbsp;distant theory \u2014 it&nbsp;is&nbsp;the &#8220;everyday magic&#8221; we&nbsp;rely on&nbsp;every day.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<nav class=\"pkng-toc\" aria-label=\"Contents\"><p class=\"pkng-toc__title\">Contents<\/p><ul class=\"pkng-toc__list\"><li class=\"pkng-toc__item pkng-toc__item--h3\"><a href=\"#h-projekton-a-national-competition-in-design-thinking\"><span class=\"pkng-toc__nr\">1.<\/span> ProjektON \u2014 A&nbsp;National Competition in&nbsp;Design Thinking<\/a><\/li><li class=\"pkng-toc__item pkng-toc__item--h3\"><a href=\"#h-mechanical-engineering-demystified-learning-through-experience\"><span class=\"pkng-toc__nr\">2.<\/span> Mechanical Engineering Demystified \u2014 Learning Through Experience<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The #nauka4future project will be&nbsp;run by&nbsp;FutureLab PK, the interdisciplinary innovation unit of&nbsp;Cracow University of&nbsp;Technology established to&nbsp;support creative and ambitious students. The project has received PLN 270,600 in&nbsp;funding from the Ministry of&nbsp;Science and Higher Education). This is&nbsp;a&nbsp;continuation of&nbsp;an&nbsp;initiative launched in&nbsp;2024, whose previous two editions attracted thousands of&nbsp;participants, primarily secondary school students from Krak\u00f3w and the entire Ma\u0142opolska region. #nauka4future includes a&nbsp;diverse range of&nbsp;activities and formats: expert lectures, workshops, popular science demonstrations, as&nbsp;well as&nbsp;debates. This year&#8217;s&nbsp;edition focuses on&nbsp;space technologies, responsible architecture and construction, chemistry, design, and the smart cities of&nbsp;the future. Participation is&nbsp;fully open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>&#8220;We&nbsp;address the project particularly to&nbsp;young people \u2014 high school and vocational school students, and recent graduates \u2014 who are facing choices about their future education. We&nbsp;also invite adult residents of&nbsp;Krak\u00f3w and Ma\u0142opolska. We&nbsp;want to&nbsp;show them, in&nbsp;a&nbsp;modern and accessible way, that science is&nbsp;not an&nbsp;abstract set of&nbsp;theories, but genuinely responds to&nbsp;global challenges and transforms our everyday lives.&#8221;<\/em> \u2014 Monika Firlej, MSc Eng., Director of&nbsp;FutureLab PK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Previous editions of&nbsp;the event took place not only in&nbsp;CUT lecture halls, but also in&nbsp;the university&#8217;s&nbsp;unique labs \u2014 including the Laboratory of&nbsp;Environmental Aerodynamics and the Ma\u0142opolska Energy-Efficient Building Laboratory, as&nbsp;well as&nbsp;real-world engineering sites such as&nbsp;the Krak\u00f3w waste-to-energy plant (Ekospalarnia). A&nbsp;distinctive feature of&nbsp;the project is&nbsp;its inclusive approach: sessions are tailored for participants on&nbsp;the autism spectrum (ASD) and are available to&nbsp;small groups; assistants are also available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>ProjektON \u2014 A&nbsp;National Competition in&nbsp;Design Thinking<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;ProjektON \u2014 Switch On&nbsp;Design Thinking&#8221; is&nbsp;a&nbsp;response to&nbsp;the need for developing design competencies among young people. The three-stage educational competition introduces secondary school students to&nbsp;the fundamentals of&nbsp;architectural and construction design, including practical training in&nbsp;AutoCAD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>&#8220;ProjektON is&nbsp;more than a&nbsp;knowledge competition. We&nbsp;want to&nbsp;bring design education to&nbsp;the younger generation in&nbsp;an&nbsp;attractive, modern, and fully accessible way \u2014 combining the popularisation of&nbsp;knowledge with its practical application.&#8221;<\/em> says Pawe\u0142 Ga\u0142ek, PhD, Eng., coordinator, from the Department of&nbsp;General Construction and Building Physics, Faculty of&nbsp;Civil Engineering, CUT<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Any school in&nbsp;Poland may enter the first stage, where students complete a&nbsp;knowledge test based on&nbsp;materials provided by&nbsp;CUT. The best advance to&nbsp;the central online stage, which assesses their practical technical drawing skills in&nbsp;AutoCAD. The national final, involving the top 20 participants, will be&nbsp;held in&nbsp;person at&nbsp;our university, and will include additional workshops and laboratory demonstrations. The project&#8217;s&nbsp;strength lies in&nbsp;its reach and durability. Organisers estimate that approximately 400 students will take part directly, while up&nbsp;to&nbsp;50,000 recipients may be&nbsp;reached indirectly through online materials. A&nbsp;key tool will be&nbsp;the expanded Akademia M\u0142odego Projektanta (Young Designer Academy) platform, which will host around 35 instructional and educational videos forming a&nbsp;permanent, freely accessible knowledge base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ProjektON has received PLN 132,000 in&nbsp;funding from MNiSW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Mechanical Engineering Demystified \u2014 Learning Through Experience<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The project &#8220;Mechanical Engineering Demystified \u2014 Popularising Science Through Experience&#8221;, run by&nbsp;the Faculty of&nbsp;Mechanical Engineering at&nbsp;CUT, has received PLN 173,200 in&nbsp;funding. Its aim: to&nbsp;break stereotypes about what engineers do&nbsp;and who they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>&#8220;We&nbsp;want to&nbsp;show that mechanical engineering is&nbsp;an&nbsp;integral part of&nbsp;our lives \u2014 from technical solutions powering industry to&nbsp;technologies that improve the quality of&nbsp;life, health, and environmental protection. The goal is&nbsp;to&nbsp;present the fascinating world of&nbsp;research at&nbsp;our faculty in&nbsp;a&nbsp;way that is&nbsp;both understandable and inspiring.<\/em>&#8221; \u2014 Prof. Aneta Liber-Kne\u0107, DSc Eng, project coordinator, Faculty of&nbsp;Mechanical Engineering, CUT<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/bolid-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"PK KUT&apos;s hydrogen hybrid race car presented at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering stand\" class=\"wp-image-10099\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/bolid-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/bolid-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/bolid-767x511.jpg 767w, https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/bolid-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/bolid.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The project is&nbsp;built around three pillars:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1. Laboratory workshops \u2014 a&nbsp;series of&nbsp;eight sessions for approximately 200 students from Krak\u00f3w and the entire Ma\u0142opolska region. Participants will experiment under the guidance of&nbsp;researchers in&nbsp;areas such as&nbsp;mobile robotics, virtual reality in&nbsp;engineering, 3D printing, and hydrogen combustion engine technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">2. Popular science films \u2014 seven professional short films, distributed via social media, explaining the research process in&nbsp;an&nbsp;accessible way: from tests in&nbsp;a&nbsp;climate chamber simulating extreme conditions, to&nbsp;aerodynamic testing of&nbsp;a&nbsp;racing car in&nbsp;a&nbsp;wind tunnel, and the latest electromobility technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">3. Festival of&nbsp;Mechanics (Festiwal Mechanika) \u2014 A&nbsp;spectacular public event linking a&nbsp;passion for motorsport with cutting-edge science. The programme includes rallies of&nbsp;sports and vintage cars, displays of&nbsp;electric and hydrogen racing cars built by&nbsp;our students, panel discussions on&nbsp;the future of&nbsp;motorsport, laboratory workshops and demonstrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>&#8220;We&nbsp;want everyone, regardless of&nbsp;age, to&nbsp;be&nbsp;able to&nbsp;touch mechanical engineering and feel that it&nbsp;is&nbsp;creative, dynamic, and accessible to&nbsp;all.&#8221;<\/em> \u2014 adds Prof. Aneta Liber-Kne\u0107<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recruitment Opens Soon<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Registration for all three projects will open in&nbsp;the coming months. Details will be&nbsp;published on&nbsp;the Cracow University of&nbsp;Technology website and across CUT&#8217;s&nbsp;social media channels. The discussed projects received funding under the Social Responsibility of&nbsp;Science III programme of&nbsp;the Ministry of&nbsp;Science and Higher Education, which supports universities in&nbsp;popularising science by&nbsp;communicating research results in&nbsp;a&nbsp;clear and accessible way. Across Poland, 110 projects received funding under this programme, totalling over PLN 26 million. It&nbsp;is&nbsp;worth noting that three of&nbsp;them are led by&nbsp;our university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Photos:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1. Project&nbsp;#nauka4future attracted thousands of&nbsp;young fans of&nbsp;science \/ Photo by&nbsp;FutureLab PK<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">2. PKMech Power race car will be&nbsp;one of&nbsp;the highlights of&nbsp;the project \/ Photo credit: Faculty odf Mechanical Engineering<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Robots, smart city designs, mechanical engineering hidden inside racing cars and hydrogen engines, space technologies &#8211; Cracow University of&nbsp;Technology is&nbsp;once [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":10101,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"pkng_main_category":0,"pk_kadr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bez-kategorii","category-science"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/nauka4future.jpg",1023,575,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/nauka4future-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/nauka4future-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/nauka4future-768x432.jpg",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/nauka4future.jpg",1023,575,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/nauka4future.jpg",1023,575,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/nauka4future.jpg",1023,575,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"mbielowicz","author_link":"https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/en\/author\/mbielowicz\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Robots, smart city designs, mechanical engineering hidden inside racing cars and hydrogen engines, space technologies &#8211; Cracow University of&nbsp;Technology is&nbsp;once [&hellip;]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10082"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10104,"href":"https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10082\/revisions\/10104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pk.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}