Monika Śmiełowska, PhD, Eng., is the winner of the Prime Minister's Award! | Gdańsk University of Technology

Monika Śmiełowska completed her doctoral thesis at the Department of Analytical Chemistry. The thesis was entitled: "New solutions in the analytics of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) for samples with a complex matrix composition". The defense of the dissertation took place on 30 September 2021. The supervisor of the thesis was prof. Bożena Czekała, PhD, DSc, Eng. (Gdańsk University of Technology), and its reviewers were: prof. Bogusław Buszewski, PhD, DSc (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń) and Sylwia Bajkacz, PhD, DSc, Eng. (Silesian University of Technology).

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), as compounds classified as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and mass-produced since the 1960s, are currently present in almost every element of the environment. The aim of the research was to develop dedicated methods for PBDE determination, and then, as a consequence of human exposure to compounds from this group, to estimate the amount of exposure for different age groups, taking into account different routes of exposure.

The criteria for evaluating applications for outstanding doctoral dissertations are as follows:

• the importance of the subject of the doctoral dissertation for the development of science, culture, society or economy, on an international, country or region scale,
• the level of innovation and novelty of the solution being the subject of the doctoral dissertation,
• the level of theoretical knowledge of the author of the doctoral dissertation in a scientific or artistic discipline or disciplines,
• the level of skills of the author of the doctoral dissertation in the field of independent research or artistic work;

Currently, Monika Śmiełowska, PhD, Eng. works at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń as a post-doc.