Young Scientists Council of Polymer Institute SAS

Young Scientists Council (YSC) has been established in 2002. It is an association of young Ph.D. students and young scientists under 35 years working at the Polymer Institute SAS.

The main purpose of YSC is to improve our professional skills in various ways and to share our knowledge among us, for future possibility to cooperate on research projects and enhance the competitiveness of our project intentions. For this reason, we are organizing monthly meetings, where we present our experimental results or technical instruments which we are operating. In addition to internal meetings, we are organizing open seminars with the presentations of invited external young speakers in order to familiarize themselves with the latest trends at present. We are also arranging teambuildings and other sport or cultural activities, in order not to see each other only at work.

Chairperson of: Ing. Pavla Hájovská, PhD.
Vice-chaiperson: Ing. Alžbeta Minarčíková / M.Sc. Sambit Kumar Lenka

Contact:
email: upolrada@savba.sk / rmv.upol.sav@gmail.com

Education

One of the major activities of the YSC is to increase the expertise of its members. Educational activities under the auspices of the YSC include:

• language courses with the English language course also financially supported by the Polymer Institute
• user training of software as a reference manager that facilitates work, writing, annotation, sharing and writing scientific work
• organising a workshop to improve the “soft skills” of YSC members. YSC received financial support from the International Visegrad Fund. The workshop took place in October 2017 with the participation of young scientists not only from Slovakia but also from Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland.
• organising YSC member seminars and presentations to disseminate knowledge in various areas of macromolecular chemistry in order to link research among young scientists and to help improve the research of individuals
• organising seminars of young and experienced scientists from other institutions for the YSC as well as for the wider professional public of the Institute

Conferences

A matter of the heart of researchers at PI SAS, not only the young body but also spirit, is a workshop called Bratislava Young Polymer Scientists Workshop (BYPoS), which has been organised under the auspices of YSC since 2007. The BYPoS is organised approximately once every eighteen months. BYPoS provides beginners with a dynamic platform that will enable them to practice presentation skills while providing an  appropriate  personal  environment  for stimulating critical thinking and creating collaboration between young scientists not only from Slovakia but also from abroad.

Popularisation

The YSC is also engaged in popularisation activities. First a training program for high schools called “Find the Scientist in You” should be mentioned. It aims to raise awareness  of science and motivate children to take an experimental stance when completing tasks at school. In 2019, YSC started assistance with organisation of the Spring Day Camp for children from 7 to 13 years, which took place on the premises of SAS. The YSC is also regularly involved in events such as the European Researchers’ Night and the Doors Open Day during the Week of Science and Technology in Slovakia. YSC members also participate in a popularisation activity where science and art are fused under the name “Nano-Art”, with significant support from the Institute’s management and PR manager. YSC members actively participate in activities organised by the Young Scientists of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, such as the Young Scientists Roadshow or Science Slam, the evening of popularisation lectures for the public. At the beginning of 2020, YSC established Facebook page and Instagram profile of the Polymer Institute of SAS. These are intended making the Polymer Institute accessible and presentable to the general public and mostly to students. Almost daily, YSC posts contributions related to everyday life in the laboratories but also outside them and informs about activities of PhD students and researchers.

Sport activities

The YSC actively organises various sport activities aimed at building team spirit. Their role is to join a young generation of scientists with more experienced researchers. The most popular is volleyball, which is played regularly not only in the summer but also during winter months. Another activity that has become a tradition among the youth is participation in the national “Cycle to work” campaign. And, for the first time, during the ČSOB Marathon in 2017, we ran a relay in T-shirts with the Polymer Institute logo.

Last but not least, we would like to mention the establishment of a gym at the PI with the financial support of the Institute’s trade union and management.

In addition to sporting activities, the RMV regularly organises “Movie nights” at the Institute, a “Summer BBQ party”, and a “Christmas raffle”. The Christmas raffle has become a tradition at our Institute, where we try to financially help people in need and bring them Christmas joy.