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Absolútne víťazky doc. RNDr. Andrea Straková Fedorková a Mariana Derszi v spoločnosti Tomáša Hrušku.

Winners emerge in the search for new materials

13. 6. 2018 | 2008 visits
In April, we were admiring their presentations on the SAS campus. On Wednesday, June 13, we watched them being rewarded with further admiration. The twelve finalists of the second year of the competition for Women in Science, sponsored by the UNESCO World Organization and L'Oréal, received their awards in Bratislava. Dr. Mgr. Andrea Straková Fedorková, PhD., were among the top overall winners in the category to 35 years and Mariana Dersziová, PhD triumphed in the 45 year category.
In the presence of the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic, Oľga Nachtmanová and Ambassador of France to the Slovak Republic, Christophe Leónzi, Director General of L'Oréal for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Tomáš Hruška, reaffirmed that the Society has been supporting women, together with UNECSO, for twenty years. Other guests also agreed that the world needs science and science needs women. "60 percent of SAS employees are women between 20 and 50 years of age, and almost 40 percent of the management posts are held by women," the chairman of SAS prof. Pavol Šajgalík added. He also pledged efforts by SAS to increase the share of women holding the DrSc title which is currently at twenty percent for the years 2007 to 2016.
The Chairperson of the Evaluation Committee of the Second Year of the Competition RNDr. Eva Majkova, DrSc., Director of the Center for the use of Advanced Materials of SAS, praised the interest of the 34 registered participants as well as the overall higher quality of the projects presented.
The original "L'ORÉAL-UNESCO For Women in science" program was founded in Paris in 1998 to support women scientists. The program aims to reward scientists' achievements and also provide support to young scientists at the very beginning of their careers. The International Project was also celebrated in 2016 in Slovakia. This program offers young scientists the possibility of professional and personal development by awarding a total of €10,000. On average SAS scientists were the most numerous finalists (5) as well finalists from the Pavel Jozef Šafárik University in Košice (3). Further finalists registered were from the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Technical University in Košice, the Slovak Agricultural University in Nitra, the Pharmaceutical Faculty of Charles University in Bratislava and the Faculty of Materials and Technology of STU.
"The life of a scientist has its disappointments. At these times it is important to think about why you have a passion for science, for knowledge. Women have a different view of science than men, a different view of life and our world. Without women, science would be poorer. I want to be the motivation for other scientists," said, Mariana Derszi, PhD in support of the prize, who supported the work of discovering supermaterials in virtuo. Dr. Andrea Straková Fedorkova was also supported in her work on new cathode materials based on nanostructured sulfur-carbon composites for Li-ion batteries. As mentioned, all twelve winners and the two overall winners were admired in their presentations and prizes. The new idea of the "coalition" of male allies in expanding the potential of women in science is gaining some traction and not just within the framework of the next edition of the L'Oréal - UNESCO.
Text and photo: Stano Ščepán