Last weekend, the Training Meeting of the Agreement of Doctoral Students of Technical Universities took place together with the Gala of the Doctoral Initiatives of Technical Universities Competition. 

During the congress, we had the opportunity to participate in two extremely valuable training courses. The "Leader's Workshop" conducted by Daniel Krasnokucki introduced the issues related to leadership, motivation, setting goals and stages of team development. Michał Brzóska gave us valuable tips on diplomatic protocol, the culture of expression and e-mail communication during the savoir-vivre training.

The meeting ended with a ceremonial Gala, where the winners of the Doctoral Initiatives of Technical Universities Competition were announced.

The ceremony was honoured by the presence of distinguished guests, Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, prof. Maria Mrówczyńska, Chairman of the Conference of Rectors of Polish Technical Universities, prof. Teofil Jesionowski, Rector of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology, prof. Arkadiusz Wójs, Vice-Rector for Cooperation of the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology prof. Dariusz Łydżba, Dean of the Doctoral School of the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, prof. Krzysztof Walkowiak, Chairman of the National Representation of Doctoral Students, Michał Klimczyk.

The Competition organized by PDUT aimed to promote the activity of doctoral self-governments associated with PDUT and to appreciate people, companies and institutions involved in the development of PDUT, and its idea was positively assessed by both guests and participants.

The winners of the first edition of the Competition were:

1. In the "Effective Negotiations" category, the award went to the Council of Doctoral Students of the Warsaw University of Technology for the initiative "Measures for doctoral students extending their education at the Warsaw University of Technology Doctoral School".
2. In the "Science" category, the winner was the Council of Doctoral Students of the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology for the "Minigrants" initiative.
3. In the "Development" category, the distinction went to the University Council of the Doctoral Students' Self-Government of the Silesian University of Technology for the "Three Minute Thesis Competition" initiative, while the award went to the Doctoral Students' Self-Government of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences for the "Kirowisko 2023" project.
4. In the "Inter-university cooperation" category, the award was granted for the reactivation of the Poznan Doctoral Students' Agreement, submitted by the Poznan University of Technology Doctoral Students' Self-Government.
5. In the "Integration" category, the winner was the University Council of the Doctoral Student Self-Government of the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow for the series of events: PBS Meeting.
6. In the special category "Overall Activities", the third place went to the Poznan University of Technology Doctoral Students' Self-Government, the second place went to the Doctoral Students' Council of the Warsaw University of Technology, and the first place went to the Doctoral Students' Council of the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology.

During the Gala, we also honoured institutions that particularly contributed to the continuous development of the Agreement. We would like to express our sincere thanks to the Chairman of the Conference of Rectors of Polish Technical Universities, Prof. Teofil Jesionowski for the invaluable support of our activities contributing to the continuous development of PDUT, and to the Chairman of the National Representation of Doctoral Students, Michał Klimczyk for his support.

We also sent special thanks to the Coordinators of the Competition and Gala, Julia Milewicz and  Izabela Walendzik and on behalf of the hosts, the chairwoman of the Council of Doctoral Students of the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology,  Natalia Tyszkiewicz, for her involvement in organizing the event.

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you for presenting many inspiring initiatives! We hope that subsequent editions of the competition will bring equally positive results and will inspire even more doctoral students to undertake valuable initiatives.

Doctoral Students of Public Universities