GMU Supports Young Scientists Through Explory Competition
A Gdynia Maritime University Rector’s award has been presented during the Final Gala of the Explory Competition to a pupil of the 5th Secondary School in Gliwice. Explory is the country’s largest programme dedicated to identifying and supporting young, talented innovators aged 13 to 20.
Held on 24 November 2025, the Final Gala was the culmination of this year’s Gdynia Explory Week.
Recognising the great importance of the competition and the role it plays among young people, Gdynia Maritime University has been involved in Explory for many years through the participation of its staff on the competition jury and by providing financial support in the form of a special award for selected participants.
This year, the special award of the Rector of Gdynia Maritime University went to Emil Pajak, a pupil at the 5th Secondary School in Gliwice, for his project ‘Magnetic shape-memory materials as the future of soft robotics‘. A symbolic cheque was presented to the young inventor by Dr Dariusz Barbucha, GMU Deputy Rector for Science.
It is a great pleasure for me each year to witness the innovative projects created by young people who not only bring their ideas to life with remarkable creativity and commitment but also share them with genuine passion. The project that stood out to us this year and received our award focuses on pioneering research on material elasticity. The author focuses on developing materials which change their geometry in a predictable and programmable way under the influence of the external magnetic field. It is a highly innovative solution with great implementation potential – underlined Dr Dariusz Barbucha.
The special Rector’s award was not the only accolade won by the young inventor that evening – he was granted a further two prestigious awards. Emil Pajak also won the Main Explory 2025 Award and will be one of four individuals representing Poland at the International Science and Engineering Fair 2026 (Regeneron ISEF 2026), the prestigious International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, USA – the largest youth science competition in the world.
GMU academic staff members Dr Damian Bisewski (Faculty of Electrical Engineering) and Dr Bronisław Sulkowski ( Faculty of Computer Science) have, for many years, been involved in the work of the Explory competition jury.
For more information on the Explory competition, visit the website (in Polish) https://explory.pl/
