Your research interests are in the area of algorithms. In one of the interviews you said: 'My research is my hobby'. Could you tell us more about your research?
The science of algorithms is where research is conducted to figure out how to write a 'recipe' for a computer to solve a problem. For some time now, I have been designing algorithms tackling some of the more difficult and complex problems that 'poke about' artificial intelligence. I'm interested to understand what is going on at the intersection of the algorithms that we have a full grasp of how they work and the algorithms that are more heuristic. This approach is typical to developments in machine learning, where we may not completely understand everything yet, but still it's a powerful tool for solving very difficult problems.
You are the only Pole to have been awarded 4 European Research Council grants. Do you have any 'recipe' for this kind of success?
You need to remember a few things when you apply for grants, all of which contribute to your ultimate success. First, you need to do interesting research. There is just no making do without it. ERC calls put emphasis on the groundbreaking and innovative aspect of research proposals. They are assessed solely on the basis of scientific excellence, which is why networking is important: you need to make sure your research and its outputs are internationally prominent. Many researchers do not value the skills to present their projects. What I'm talking about here is not just about writing your proposal in a way that is clear to the reader and linguistically correct. It's also crucially important to be able to talk about your research in an engaging way that keeps your audience interested and able to follow you.
Is it hard to 'do' science in Poland?
A career in research in Poland requires you to trail along a long path of academic degrees and rank promotions. For this reason, many decide not to make it here and go abroad, where merit rather than titles are the first priority. I do think that habilitacja 'flattens' research careers, because there is no indication whether the advancement is a result of outstanding or rather mediocre research. We should change our approach and build a fair, merit-based system, one that encourages the best to become better still. The current system only serves the weakest, so that they don't become weaker yet. It would be worthwhile to look for ways to allow Polish scientists to advance faster and connect with the world's scientific elite.
You are the president of IDEAS NCBR, an institute operating in the field of artificial intelligence. What projects are pursued there?
We have 115 individuals on our scientific team. Half of them are doctoral candidates who we run a doctoral program for in collaboration with 11 doctoral schools at Polish universities, including Lodz University of Technology. We work in 14 groups which allows us to span many research areas.
I believe that artificial intelligence is a breakthrough technology that will change our lives, including our research work. This situation could be compared to what the Internet has done: it has penetrated every aspect of our existence, some people now even have it in their fridges.
Artificial intelligence lets you enhance human creative and analytical skills. Scientists, with the aid of artificial intelligence, will do more interesting research and create 'something' that has not been previously possible. IDEAS NCBR targets interdisciplinary research integrating artificial intelligence and other areas of science. For example, we have a group working on computational psychiatry looking to use artificial intelligence in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders. Another group zooms in on precision forestry using AI to measure trees to predict forest growth. We're exploring applications of AI in medicine and addressing the challenges of cost- and energy-intensive computing issues involved in machine learning. At IDEAS NCBR, we are committed to generating innovative solutions that matter to business, the economy, and society.
In higher education, we have been noticing a nascent generation gap. Any ideas on how to address this problem?
The generation gap is especially large in IT. We are now losing most young, outstanding people, because they are going abroad or are associating with business. Some universities have had to reduce their student enrollment because they are short of faculty. It is a major problem. One of the reasons why IDEAS NCBR was formed was to create conditions for young people to conduct interesting research and projects. We need to think about them at the onset of their careers. Some of our doctoral candidates will no doubt stay in academia and, to some extent, narrow the gap we are talking about.
What does work-life balance look like for you?
I strive to maintain it, although it has not been easy. In fact, ever since IDEAS NCBR was established it has been growing harder.