The Committee on Acoustics of the Polish Academy of Sciences was founded in 1964 by the reso lution of the General Assembly of the Polish Academy of Sciences, within its Division of Engineering Sci ences (Division 4). The idea of creating the Committee was brought up by Professor Ignacy Malecki, a distinguished scientist, an academic teacher, and an internationally acclaimed authority on acoustics.

What kind of reform is the Polish Academy of Sciences in need of? An outline of the goals and tasks for the future

The following article is a report from a conference organized by the Polish Young Academy in Jablonna, in collaboration with the Polish Academy of Sciences. It served the purpose of connecting members of PYA with members of PAS, to allow exchange of views, and a productive discussion about the future of both organizations. The conference was organized into two panels: one addressing the directions of Polish Academy of Sciences reform (structure, the PAS university idea, criteria for PAS membership, the role of PAS committees, as well as PAS financing) and a second one addressing the position of Polish Young Academy within the structures of PAS (relations with other units, internal PYA structure and governance, relations with other European bodies of the same sort, the role of PYA in legislative consultations, PYA financing, and the ways to carry on PYA's mission of propagating science).

The article attempts to present the functioning of the Gdansk Library under the patronage of the Polish Academy of Sciences. As of 1 January 1955, the scientific department of the Municipal Library in Gdansk was taken over by the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the thus established separate institution received new statutes regulating the activity of the Library and the scope of the development of its collections. Until the four-hundredth anniversary of the Gdansk Library (the establishment of Bibliotheca Senatus Gedanensis), descriptions of the history of the Gdansk PAS Library were mainly based on reports drawn up by the heads of the institution. It is on their basis that one may trace the difficult space and storage and warehouse conditions in which employees of the Library carried out their statutory tasks, with the constantly growing collections and the increasing load of services. The paper also reports the scientific works of employees of the Library as well as the editorial activity of the institution, including works documenting the collections of the Library. An important way of familiarising the general public with knowledge on the Gdansk Library and its collections was through exhibitions and displays organized by employees of the information and special collections departments.

With this paper we try to contribute to the debate on the nature of research intensive universities and the chances to create this type of institution in Poland. Research universities are presented as elite, flagship institutions for educating students mostly at the doctoral level and to produce the bulk of the research output. Examples of world-class research intensive universities from various countries are presented. It is shown that intensified competition among universities exists to prove their performance through global university league tables or ranking exercises and it is discussed whether Poland is at the stage to create at least one such institution playing important role in that competition. We argue that the establishment of a University of the Polish Academy of Sciences could be a solution. This University stands to become a unique research institution in Poland and one of very few establishments of its type in Central and Eastern Europe. The University will conduct scientific research and provide programs of the highest standard, exploiting the research and teaching potential of the PAS institutes as well as the competence and experience of members of the Academy's corporation. It is intended as a higher education institution with a decentralized organizational structure, based on the PAS research institutes. The University of the Polish Academy of Sciences will have a quality-boosting impact on the PAS institutes as well as initiate their consolidation and reorganization in the field of teaching.

Identity, reputation, the system of values, experience, and relations with institutions are only some of the elements making up the brand of the Polish Academy of Sciences

For many years, the Polish Academy of Sciences has been undertaking activities aimed at increasing the international importance of Polish scientific research by establishing cooperation with international scientific institutions and supporting the participation of Polish scientists in international research programs. Currently, the Polish Academy of Sciences has six scientific centers abroad – in Paris, Rome, Vienna, Berlin, Brussels and Kiev. These institutions have different origins. The oldest ones, in Rome and Paris, continue the tradition of Polish emigration from the 19th century. These traditions are also referred to by the much younger station in Vienna, which to some extent has continued the activities of Polish diaspora organizations operating in this area since the beginning of the 20th century. The centers in Berlin and Kiev are relatively young. The first was established in 1996 as the Representation of the German Academic Exchange Service and transformed in 2006 into the Historical Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Berlin. The youngest of the centers has been operating in Kiev since 2013 under the name of the Representation “Polish Academy of Sciences” in Kiev. The Office for the Promotion of Science PolSCA in Brussels, established in 2006, has a different character. Due to its location, the specificity of this facility consists in developing scientific and scientific-technical cooperation through the promotion and expert support of Polish partners in the framework programs of the European Union. The activities of these institutions emphasize the presence of science, culture and intellectual achievements of Poland in the European research area, which is important for building the image of our country abroad. The Polish Academy of Sciences scientific centers are therefore a kind of scientific attaché of the Republic of Poland, the more so as Polish embassies in these six countries do not have such an attaché. The article analyzes the administrative, financial and legal conditions of the station's operation and the expectations towards their substantive activity from the point of view of the Academy's management.

The present Gdansk Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences is the second oldest, unbrokenly operating, publicly available library in today’s Poland. Even on the European scale there are only a few libraries that are of similar age or older. There are many works on the history of the Gdansk Library and its growing collection of books through the centuries. Apart from a brief look at history, this particular article focuses, however, on one other aspect – loans of special collections for exhibitions organized outside the Library by external institutions – the so-called “loan service”. Such modern transformation of an old institution indicates the power of the library and its custodians not only to engage in cultural preservation, but also fostering culture. We should see the special collections loan service in the same light – as reaching out to the public instead of waiting for the public to reach the library. This fact alone indicates a growing shift in the understanding of the library as a service provider. For the purposes of this article, the Gdansk Library has subjectively selected five of the most important and interesting examples of external exhibitions that have used its “special collections loan service” between 2011 and 2020.

In the present report worked out in the form of a communication the general description of course and realization of the scientifical and technical programmes of the VIth Expedition to the Polish Polar Station in the Hornsund fiord on Spitsbergen is given. The details of the programme and results of investigations on particulat items constitute already or will constitute within the next time a subject of special publications.

On the changes that have taken place in the Polish Academy of Sciences over the decades and its goals and tasks in science and beyond.

On 29 November 2021 Professor Wiesław Boryś passed away in Kraków. He was an eminent expert in Slavonic studies, Serbian‑Croatian studies, and Kaszubian studies, and a distinguished etymologist, dialectologist and lexicographer. Professor Wiesław Boryś was born on 4 January 1939 in the village of Bzin in Kielce region. In 1956 he started education at the Chair in Slavonic Studies of the Jagiellonian University. He obtained an MA in Serbian‑Croatian studies in 1961, and eight years later a PhD from the JU Faculty of Philology. In 1974 he earned the title of habilitated doctor, became an associate professor in 1987 and gained full professorship in 1993.
Professor Boryś was associated with the Polish Academy of Sciences since 1961. He initially worked in the Section of Old Polish Language and then, from 1969 until retirement, in the Department of Proto‑Slavic Language. In 1986–2008 he taught a range of courses at the JU Institute of Slavonic Studies.
The scholarly work of Professor Boryś was especially focused on diachrony – the history of Slavonic language and lexicon, historical and comparative grammar, etymology, and the reconstruction of Proto‑Slavic language – as well as dialectology. The development of his research interests was largely shaped by Serbian‑Croatian studies, particularly into Čakavian and Kajkavian dialects as well as his work at the Polish Academy of Sciences – Proto‑Slavic studies and later also Kashubian studies.
The achievements of Professor Boryś include the publication of about 200 scholarly works, including 8 single‑authored books and 16 co‑authored books (e.g. eight volumes of Słownik prasłowiański). The crowning achievement of his career was the publication of two lexicographic works: Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego, the first dictionary since the times of Aleksander Brückner to provide a generally available etymological compendium of the Polish language, and Słownik etymologiczny kaszubszczyzny, the world’s first etymological dialect dictionary in the field of Slavonic studies, consisting of six volumes written together with Professor Hanna Popowska‑Taborska.
The chief focus of Professor Boryś was the description of South Slavonic languages and dialects, especially Čakavian and Kajkavian dialects. He was one of the greatest experts in this field, which is reflected in several dozen articles as well as the books Budowa słowotwórcza rzeczowników w tekstach czakawskich XV i XVI w., Studia nad dialektem czakawskim Juraja Križanicia. Akcentuacja rzeczowników and Czakawskie studia leksykalne. Dziedzictwo prasłowiańskie w słownictwie czakawskim.
The late Professor Wiesław Boryś will always be remembered for his impressive scholarly achievements and kept in fond memory.

The aim of the article is to present the activities of foreign scientific centres of the Polish Academy of Sciences on the examples of three out of six operating centers: the center in Vienna, Paris and the Polish Science Contact Agency PolSCA PAN in Brussels. The authors of the article combine their own experiences of the former directors of the centers: in Vienna, Paris and Brussels to reflect critically on the place and role of these centers in the scientific-research area. They point to centers’ enormous and diverse potential for disseminating and promoting the achievements of scientists, not fully recognized and used by the scientific community. Taking into account the specifics of each institution, the authors describe the ways of optimal use of their cultural and social capital, and identify common structural problems they encountered during their tenure. The article consists of the following elements: an introduction, an extensive authorial analysis of each station's activities, prepared in the form of a case study and a summary with conclusions.

Tadeusz Bielicki – distinguished Polish anthropologist, member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), long-term director of the Department of Anthropology of PAN in Wroclaw (1971–2001), passed away on June 20, 2022. He was born in Warsaw in 1932 and began his studies at the University of Warsaw (1950–1953). These were interrupted in 1953 when he spent 6 months in prison on political charges. He was thereafter allowed to resume his studies, but at a different university. He chose the University of Wrocław. There he graduated with a M.Sc. in 1956, earned his Ph.D. in 1959, and D.Sc. in 1968. Since 1983, he has been corresponding member and, since 1996, a full member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1971 he was appointed director of the Department of Anthropology of PAN in Wrocław and, in 1999, Chairman of the Division of Biological Sciences of PAN. From 1992–1996 he was vice-president of the European Anthropological Association. In 1959–1960 he studied at the University of California in Los Angeles on a post-doctoral fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation for a year, and in 1967–1968 taught as Visiting Professor at Washington State University. He has also worked as Visiting Professor at Vrije Universiteit in Brussels (1989) and the University of Texas at Austin (1991). He was one of 22 co-authors of the UNESCO Statement on Race and Racial Prejudice (Moscow, 1964). He was author of ca. 150 articles and research reports, many of them published in leading anthropological journals in the U.S. and Great Britain. Professor Bielicki is best known for his indepth critique of the typological concept of race (1960s), issues related to human evolution (e.g., “Deviation-amplifying cybernetic systems and hominid evolution”, 1969), and, most notably, for his anthropological studies of social stratification. During the 1970s his research centered mainly on analyses of the tempo of growth and maturation during adolescence; since 1980 his interest shifted to the use of such data (as well as of data on rates of premature mortality among adults and on the incidence of obesity) for analyses of social-class inequalities in living standards and of inter-generation changes in the magnitude of such inequalities. For his outstanding achievements in the field of science, and in recognition of the significance of his work, he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.

The article is intended to be an appendix to an earlier discussion on the activities of the foreign scientific centres of the Polish Academy of Sciences (“Nauka” 4/2020 and 2/2021). It presents another case study, namely the centre situated in Rome – one of the eldest Polish centres abroad – its historical background and heritage as well as its recent activities. It points out also some actual present problems and challenges in order to stimulate a broader debate on how the PAS foreign centres could be better used to promote and disseminate the achievements of Polish researchers.

Through this article, the current director of the PolSCA Office in Brussels (Dr. Tomasz Poprawka) and former director of the PAS Scientific Center in Paris (Dr. Kamil Szafrański) share their reflections and thus contribute to the discussion on the functioning and role of foreign centers of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In response to the article co-authored by the former directors of the PAS stations in Vienna, Paris and Brussels – in which they initiated the debate – the authors present their own perspective on a vision of the balanced operation of the stations in three key areas: the action plan, administrative support and communication. Having in mind an effective operation of the PAS centers abroad, the authors wish to share their ideas, based on the experience to date. These include strengthening of the stations in the future, taking up new challenges and searching for innovative solutions for their continuous development, thus meaningfully contributing to the promotion of Polish science abroad. At the same time, the authors declare their willingness to take part in further discussions on the role and operationality of the Academy’s scientific centers abroad. This publication consists of the following elements: introduction, discussion of issues related to science diplomacy, lobbying and advocacy of interests, analysis of administrative issues, an outline of aspects of internal communication and external dissemination, and a summary.

Based on the results of our research, we present the mechanisms of population changes, explain their causes and indicate possible consequences. We responded to such initiatives as “Demographic Strategy 2040. Project” prepared by the Ministry of Family and Social Policy and the draft act on the Polish Institute of Family and Demography submitted by a group of members of the Law and Justice Parliamentary Club. The above opinions are presented in the text. The proposal of the Demographic Strategy focuses on fertility. In fact demographic development is reduced to low fertility without taking into account other components of the population reproduction as mortality, health and migration. While these demographic processes are closely interrelated and cannot be analysed separately when considering about the demographic future. The parliamentary draft contains beautiful intentions indicating the need for demographic research and analysis, but it devotes just one paragraph to scientific research. The document does not refer to institutions conducting demographic research in the country, neither in international cooperation, nor to insufficient financing of this research in Poland.

Professor Leszek Kuźnicki, an outstanding protozoologist, the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences in the years 1993–1998, died in Warsaw on February 3, 2023 at the age of 94. Throughout his professional life, he was associated with the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology. Moreover, he chaired the Cytobiology Committee as well as the Evolutionary and Theoretical Biology Committee of Polish Academy of Sciences. He played a significant role in creating the modern scientific infrastructure in Poland. Throughout the years of his activity, he strongly advocated the idea of maintaining high standards of excellence in research work. He used to say that education should be available to everyone without exception, while scientific work is only intended for the most motivated and the best. It is with deep regret that we say goodbye to a man dedicated entirely to science and the Polish Academy of Sciences.

A draft of the changes to the Polish Academy of Sciences is presented, which will increase its prestige and make better use of the scientific potential of the members of the Academy and the employees of its institutes. The proposed regulations will allow for a comprehensive activation of potential of both institutes and corporate members. The aim of reform is to make the PAS an attractive scientific institution with a focus on the pursuit of fundamental research at the highest level, and to recognize that understanding and clarification of the problem must precede possible applications.

This is a report on the work of the Commission of Press Studies of the Cracow Branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 1973–2022. Based on archive materials, it presents the Commission's origins, profile, function-ing, membership statistics and members' affiliations, and its coverage of an evolving research scene.

The succesive fifth whole-year research expedition stayed at the polar station of the Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, in the Hornsund fiord from July 1982 to August 1973. Continuous observations as well as sejsmologic, magnetic and meteorological records, constituting continuation of the investigations started in summer 1978. were carried out by the wintering group of 8 men. Also separate research programmes: physics of atmosphere and ionosphere, sedimcntologo-oceanological, geomorphological and medical investigations, including observations of white bears, were realized. Many technical works, repairs and adaptations were carried out as well.

The article is devoted to the establishment, development and activity of the Committee of Oriental Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, which has been operating under various names since 1952 and celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. The Committee is the most important institution of Oriental studies in Poland, coordinating and monitoring the development of various fields of this area of science. It also conducts organizational activities (conferences, symposia, conventions) and publishing – among others it is the publisher of the oldest Polish scientific journal in this field, Rocznik Orientalistyczny / Yearbook of Oriental Studies and various publishing series.