Polonium Foundation

We are landing in Warsaw for our next event! 🇵🇱

We are proud to announce that the Polonium Foundation has successfully secured funding for the conference "Strength of knowledge, peace of mind. Building resilient scientific communities", which will take place this fall in the capital of Poland.

We would like to express our gratitude to the Minister of Science and Higher Education for supporting this crucial dialogue on mental health in science 🧘

More details regarding the event will be announced shortly. Stay tuned and follow our social media for updates!

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Na kolejne wydarzenie lądujemy w Warszawie! 🇵🇱

Z dumą ogłaszamy, że Fundacja Polonium pozyskała fundusze na konferencję „Siła wiedzy, spokój umysłu. Budowanie odpornych społeczności naukowych”, która odbędzie się jesienią tego roku w stolicy Polski.

Chcielibyśmy wyrazić naszą wdzięczność dla Ministra Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego za wsparcie tego niezwykle ważnego dialogu na temat zdrowia psychicznego w środowisku naukowym 🧘

Wkrótce podamy więcej szczegółów dotyczących wydarzenia.

Bądźcie na bieżąco i śledźcie nasze profile w mediach społecznościowych po najnowsze informacje!


Ministerstwo Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego

Another piece of good news! 🎉

We are extremely pleased to announce that the Senate of Poland will co-finance not one, but two editions of Mentoring Espresso as part of the “Senat-Polonia 2026” competition. For those of you who can’t cross the ocean to be with us in Chicago – you are welcome to join our event in majestic Oxford 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

We would like to express our highest gratitude to the Senate Office for trusting our mission and supporting the development of the international scientific community.

We will share more details with you very soon – make sure to follow our social media channels to stay updated!

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Kolejne dobre wieści! 🎉

Z ogromną radością ogłaszamy, że Senat Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej dofinansuje nie jedną, ale dwie edycje Mentoring Espresso w ramach konkursu „Senat-Polonia 2026”. Tych z Was, którzy nie mogą przekroczyć oceanu, by dołączyć do nas w Chicago – serdecznie zapraszamy do udziału w naszym wydarzeniu w majestatycznym Oksfordzie 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Jesteśmy ogromnie wdzięczni Kancelarii Senatu za zaufanie naszej misji i za wsparcie rozwoju międzynarodowej społeczności naukowej.

Wkrótce podzielimy się z Wami szczegółami – śledźcie nasze kanały w mediach społecznościowych, żeby być na bieżąco!


Senat Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej

Polonium Foundation events are coming! 🥳

We are extremely pleased to announce that the Senate of Poland has decided to co-finance (again!) the next edition of Mentoring Espresso as part of the “Senat-Polonia 2026” competition. Thanks to them, this fall we will see each other in windy Chicago 💨🇺🇸

We would like to express our highest gratitude to the Senate Office for trusting our mission and supporting the development of the international scientific community.

We will share more details with you very soon – make sure to follow our social media channels to stay updated!

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Nadchodzą nowe wydarzenia Fundacji Polonium! 🥳

Z ogromną radością ogłaszamy, że Senat Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej postanowił (ponownie!) dofinansować kolejną edycję Mentoring Espresso w ramach konkursu „Senat-Polonia 2026”. Dzięki temu tej jesieni spotkamy się z Wami w wietrznym Chicago 💨🇺🇸

Jesteśmy ogromnie wdzięczni Kancelarii Senatu za zaufanie naszej misji i za wsparcie rozwoju międzynarodowej społeczności naukowej.

Wkrótce podzielimy się z Wami szczegółami – śledźcie nasze kanały w mediach społecznościowych, żeby być na bieżąco!


Senat Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej

🏆 Mentor of the Year 2026
Congratulations to Anna Hoy, PhD, recipient of the Polonium Foundation Mentor of the Year Award! 🎉

Outstanding mentors do more than share knowledge -they inspire confidence, open new perspectives, and help others discover their own path.
Anna's impact is beautifully reflected in the words of her mentee:
"The most valuable thing I have gained from my mentor is a shift in how I think about my career - not just where I want to go, but how to communicate who I am along the way."

And perhaps even more importantly:
"What has made her mentorship so impactful is that it has been a continuous conversation rather than one-off advice, giving me both practical tools and a broader perspective on what kind of professional I want to become."

Thank you, Anna, for your dedication, generosity, and unwavering support of the next generation. Your mentorship is creating a lasting impact, one conversation at a time.

💙 Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition!

On June 28th, Nadia Lengweiler from our Research and Policy team represented the Polonium Foundation at the 1st Forum of Polish Diaspora Organizations in 🇨🇭

It was a fantastic opportunity to connect, share experiences, and discuss how we can build even stronger across borders.

To top it off, we came home with a beautiful diploma! 💙 The organizers recognized our foundation for our social commitment, activities for the Polish diaspora, and our role in building cultural bridges between Poland and Switzerland 🤝

A huge thank you to Polsko-Szwajcarski Instytut Kultury i Edukacji (Polish-Swiss Institute of Culture and Education) and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Bern for hosting this inspiring event and for such a heartwarming recognition of our mission.

We are honored to keep connecting Polish researchers of all disciplines, worldwide!🌍

Our Board members, Jakub Orłowski and Anna Sobocińska, recently touched down in for the Eurodoc 2026 Conference!

Eurodoc Conferences are annual events that brings together early-career researchers, policymakers, and academic stakeholders from across Europe to discuss the future of higher education and research policy.

With the event focused on empowering early-career researchers (ECRs) to be ambassadors for science, it was the perfect place to share our mission.

Drawing directly on Polonium Foundation’s experience, Jakub took the stage during the panel discussion on "Mobility as the Human Infrastructure of the Fifth Freedom”. Meanwhile, Anna was contributing to the discussions on Building Networks and Programmes for ECR communities - a topic that perfectly fits in our mission.

We are incredibly proud that we could contribute to this important discussion on the future of European research.

A huge shoutout to Eurodoc and the DOSZ International PhD and DLA Candidates in Hungary for being such fantastic hosts!

We partnered with Nucleate Chicago to support their 2026 Demo Day!

Nucleate Chicago Demo Day brought together founders, scientists, investors, and industry partners from across the midwest. It centered around a live pitch competition, where cohort teams presented the companies and technologies they have built over the past year. Alongside the pitches, Demo Day served as one of the strongest networking opportunities in Chicago.

Polonium Foundation was represented by our CEO Ala Santos and team members Karolina Dudek and Przemek Grygiel, who introduced the Polonium's mission and our upcoming events.

Our executive team members, Anna Sobocińska and Kuba Orłowski, recently represented Polonium Foundation at the 4th Internationalisation Congress - Strategy for the Internationalisation organised by NAWA Narodowa Agencja Wymiany Akademickiej in Kraków. We are honored to represent Polish diaspora scientific community, making sure that the voices and needs of Polish scientists working abroad are truly reflected in this crucial document.

A major talking point throughout the congress, brought up repeatedly - also by Undersecretary of State Andrzej Szeptycki (Ministerstwo Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego) - was the concept of "brain circulation". This sits at the very heart of what we do at Polonium - "turning brain drain into brain circulation" is our motto for 10+ years. Polish diaspora is an incredible strategic asset, and treating it as such is one of the best ways to build a world-class academic and research community back home. We were there to make sure that it happens.

Big thanks to NAWA for the invitation!

At the Polonium Foundation, our day-to-day activities closely revolve around cooperating with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Senate to support the Polish scientific diaspora. Therefore, we are always pleased when further opportunities for high-level dialogue arise.

Today, as part of the presidential visit to , President Karol Nawrocki visited EPFL and met with students and doctoral candidates of Polish descent. Our Partnership Team Leader, Michał Winnicki, had the opportunity to briefly speak with the President about the Foundation's mission and our efforts to promote Polish scientists abroad, which received warm recognition from the .

We appreciate every effort by state authorities to meet with Polish researchers abroad and listen to their needs - especially at such a crucial time for the entire academic community.

Ministerstwo Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego
Senat Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej