The European Research Council has just revealed the winners of its Consolidator Grant 2025. 4 out of 349 winners are former NCN grant winners affiliated with Polish research institutes: Dr hab. Wojciech Czerwiński, Dr hab. Maria Nowak and Dr hab. Michał Pilipczuk from the University of Warsaw, as well as Dr hab. Sławomir Porada from the Wrocław University of Science and Technology. Congratulations!
Maria Nowak, photo by Mirosław Kaźmierczak/UW
Dr hab. Maria Nowak works at the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw. Her research focuses on, inter alia, classic Greek papyrology, legal papyrology, legal practice in the Roman Empire, and issues of multi-legal systems in antiquity. She has received ERC funding of EUR 1.9 million for the project “A provincial capital polis at the end of the Roman era. Periphery or a center of power? (PeriPolis)” aimed to present the late Roman Empire as a state struggling with challenges strikingly similar to those faced by modern societies. Dr Nowak will seek to reveal whether crisis is an intrinsic feature of the collapse of empires, or whether the two phenomena may occur independently. She will also try to gain a deeper understanding of everyday life in times of decline – both for ordinary inhabitants and political elites. Maria Nowak is a former winner of NCN’s SONATA 9 and OPUS 18.
Wojciech Czerwiński, photo by Mirosław Kaźmierczak/UW
ERC Consolidator Grants 2025 will also go to two researchers from the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics at the University of Warsaw. They will both receive ERC grants for the second time. Dr hab. Wojciech Czerwiński received nearly EUR 2 million for his project “Reachability in Infinite Systems at High Resolution (POLARIS)”. The researcher works on computational models known as state-based systems, and will seek to solve one of the key dilemmas in computer science, namely the limits of achievability in systems with an infinite number of states. The bulk of his project concerns determining whether it is possible to devise an algorithm faster than existing ones that allows a given programme to move from its initial situation to its final one. Wojciech Czerwiński is a former winner of NCN’s SONATA 11.
Michał Pilipczuk, photo by Mirosław Kaźmierczak/UW
Dr. hab. Michał Pilipczuk’s research focuses on graphs, which are fundamental mathematical objects used to model all kinds of networks. His project ”Towards a unified structure theory for dense graphs (WYDRA)”, which has been awarded nearly EUR 2 million in funding, will aim to develop a coherent and robust theory describing the structure of dense graphs. The results of his research will pave the way for many new applications – in both combinatorics and algorithm design and will indicate interesting directions for further research at the intersection of graph theory and theoretical computer science. Michał Pilipczuk is a former winner of NCN’s SONATA 6.
Sławomir Porada, photo by Politechnika Wrocławska
For the first time, a CoG ERC was awarded to a researcher affiliated with a Wrocław University. Dr hab. inż. Sławomir Porada from the Faculty of Chemistry, Wrocław University of Science and Technology. He has received nearly EUR 2 million in funding for his project “Small Differences, Big Impact: Achieving Effective Selective Separations from Water by Tuning Ion Transport Processes”. Dr Porada will seek to better understand ion transport mechanisms for ions with very similar properties - especially how ions are adsorbed and desorbed over time in electrode materials. This will form the basis for developing a new class of separation processes that use not only material properties but also smart control of the process operating time and cycle. Sławomir Porada is a beneficiary of NCN’s research component under the NAWA Polish Returns Programme.
The ERC Consolidator Grant is one of the most prestigious international grant programmes. It is open to researchers who are 7 to 13 years after completing their PhD and can demonstrate outstanding scientific achievements. This time, a total funding of EUR 728 million will go to researchers from 44 countries, including 25 from Europe.