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On Tuesday, February 21, 2023, the second of the series of all-academic doctoral seminars took place at the SAS great hall. These meetings on a three-month basis are an opportunity for the doctoral students to get to know each other better and, thanks to their work, gain an overview of what their young colleagues are doing within the individual institutes. 

In the beginning, social anthropologist Elżbieta Drążkiewicz, PhD., from the Institute for Sociology introduced herself. The fresh holder of a prestigious ERC grant presented the story of a successful young scientist. "I don't consider myself a scientist, I often rather like to ask questions," she said in the introduction. Besides the success, which for her is an article on request in the journal Nature, she humorously spoke about the moments when, after finishing her PhD. degree in Cambridge, she remained unemployed for a year despite sending out more than 120 job applications. The path of a scientist may not always be straight, but you have to believe in yourself and your research, she told the audience. At the end of her lecture, she emphasized how necessary it is to move in an environment where people are smarter than yourself.
You can read more about Elżbieta Drążkiewicz's research in the latest issue of Akadémia/Správy SAV magazine.

The first lecturer, who presented the topic of her work entitled Analysis of the role of electrodes in a multichannel ECG system and their effect on accuracy of an inverse model, was Ing. Beáta Ondrušová from the Institute of Measurement Science SAS. “This research is focused on the mathematical modelling of cardiography, which makes it possible to describe the electrical activity of the heart based on the potentials measured on the surface of the chest. This way, we can find the exact place where the unwanted, so-called ectopic activity occurs in the heart, and subsequently, doctors can be navigated directly to this location," the young doctoral student described her research.

Mgr. Alper Güneren from the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry SAS presented his research focused on increasing battery capacity: Carbon-silicon based composite anodes for Li-ion batteries. As summarized by his supervisor, doc. Ing. Zoltán Lenčéš, PhD., Alper Güneren is dedicated to the development of anodes for lithium and sodium batteries, which have a higher capacity compared to existing batteries. “A stable anode is needed to increase the capacity because silicon anodes degrade during charging and discharging. In cooperation with the Polymer Institute SAS, they are researching various binders, thanks to which the conductive bond between the anode and the electrolyte is not broken, and thus the battery does not lose its capacity.”

Mgr. Laura Belicajová from the Jan Stanislav Institute of Slavistics SAS came to present the topic Analysis of narratives from Poland-Slovak borderland. Ethnolinguistic research discursus in Goral dialect environment. She is looking for answers to the question of why people who lived on the Slovak-Polish border in the territory of today's Orava perceived themselves more as Slovaks than Poles. In her presentation, she offered a number of linguistic examples and comparisons.

The event was also attended by members of the Presidium of SAS, prof. RNDr. Ľubica Lacinová, DrSc., Mgr. Róbert Karul, PhD. and MUDr. Mgr. Tomáš Hromádka, PhD., who hosted the two-hour seminar in English.

Text: Stanislava Longauerová
Foto: Lukáš Zelieska, Stanislava Longauerová