Monika Topa-Skwarczyńska, PhD

In 2017, Monika Topa-Skwarczyńska, PhD, Eng., graduated with honors from engineering studies in the field of Biotechnology at the Cracow University of Technology. Then she continued her master’s degree in two fields of study: Chemical Technology with a specialization in Polymer Technology and Biotechnology with a specialization in Industrial and Environmental Biotechnology. She defended her master’s theses entitled “Spectroscopic studies of new derivatives of 1,6-diphenylquinoline-2-one and the assessment of their usefulness for accelerating and monitoring photopolymerization processes” and “Photochemical studies of new coumarin derivatives for the role of fluorescent sensors for applications in chemistry and biochemistry” carried out under the supervision of Joanna Ortyl, PhD, DSc, Eng., prof. PK. She devoted her doctoral studies to research on new photoinitiating systems dedicated to the production of next-generation dental composites. In November 2023, she defended her doctoral dissertation with distinction, which she also completed under the supervision of Prof. Ortyl. She carried out the research included in her doctoral dissertation thanks to the funding and implementation of the projects “Diamond Grant DI2017 005247” – Ministry of Education and Science and Preludium 17 2019/33/N/ST5/03015 – NCN. Since December 2023, he has been an employee of the Department of Biotechnology and Physical Chemistry at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology of the Cracow University of Technology (currently as a research assistant). During this time, she has been gaining scientific experience by being involved in the implementation of the LIDER13/0156/2022 project as a manager financed by the National Centre for Research and Development.

Her scientific interests focus on broadly understood photochemical processes. He conducts interdisciplinary scientific research in the field of chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering and materials engineering. As part of the projects m.in. POWRTOTY / 2016-1 / 4 – FNP and Lider 471 / L-4/2012 – NCBiR, led by Prof. Ortyl, she gained experience in the development of new high-performance fluorescent compounds for monitoring photopolymerization processes and quality control of polymer coatings and for visualization of cell structures in biochemical research. Currently, her interests are focused on the implementation of new solutions for dentistry. To this end, it conducts research on innovative photoinitiating systems dedicated to photocurable dental composites and photocurable 3D printing in prosthetics. In addition, he is active in the field of popularization and promotion of science. He is an active member of the demonstration section of the Scientific Circle of Chemists of the C-5 Department of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology. Together with the science club, he conducts, among m.in, promotional demonstrations and chemical workshops. She also coordinates students’ engineering and master’s theses with pleasure and commitment.

She gained her experience in photochemical processes thanks to her work in Prof. Ortyl’s team, as well as by completing domestic and foreign internships. In 2019, she participated in a month-long scientific internship with Prof. Jacques Lalevée at the Institute de Science des Matériaux de Mulhouse, who is an outstanding scientist in the field of applied photochemistry. In 2021, she completed a research internship in the group of Dr. Petr Lepcio at the Central European Institute of Technology (Czech Republic), where she gained experience in photocurable 3D printing.

Scientific achievements:

1. Research gate

2. Google Schoolar

3. CRIS PK

4. ORCID

5. SCOPUS

Summary of achievements:

To date (as of 20.11.2024), she has managed or is managing 6 research projects financed by the Ministry of Education and Science, the National Science Centre and the National Centre for Research and Development, she actively participated as a contractor in 7 research projects. She is a co-author of 75 publications, including 27 published in peer-reviewed journals from the JCR list (Hirch Index = 14 according to the Scopus database) and 5 patents. She has delivered 35 oral and poster reports, including 24 at international conferences. Its results have been appreciated both nationally and internationally. She has received over 50 awards for the presented results. She was m.in finalist in the “25 under 25” competition in the Science category organized by Forbes magazine and McKinsey & Company. She received the first degree prize in the Competition for the Prof. Engel Award for her doctoral dissertation entitled “Synthesis and research of new high-performance photoinitiating systems dedicated to dental photocurable polymer materials”. She is also a laureate of the START-FNP programme in 2023, which aims to honour the most talented young scientists and encourage them to further their scientific development by enabling them to fully devote themselves to research work, and received a scholarship from the Minister of Science and Higher Education for outstanding young scientists in 2021.

Role in the project:

Project manager:

• Substantive supervision over the implementation of the project, analysis and verification of research results, optimization of research methods, supervision of project documentation, team management, supervision of the work of all team members: specialists for synthesis, kinetic research, 3D printing, safety research, programmers, constructors and over the process of preparing the solution for certification and marketing through the cooperation of CTT PK.
• Promoting the solution at conferences, trade fairs, establishing contact with the industry.