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Professor, are you associated with the Institute of Chemical Sciences of UMCS. Could you explain the scope and subject of your research?

My research is the soft matter theory: liquids, fluids, colloidal systems, gels, etc. It is firstly about theoretical description and modelling at the molecular level, developing an appropriate model and conducting computer simulation using appropriate techniques. I mainly deal with the description of heterogeneous fluids in external fields. This could be an electrostatic field; it could also be a van der Waals force field. The "outer field" also defines certain geometric constraints. For example, the pore walls "hold" the fluid inside. Nor do I believe that every theoretical research has an application in mind. I prefer to describe "clean" models that lead to unambiguous solutions.

In February, the Professor was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Institute of Condensed Matter Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Lviv. What does this award mean for you?

Sure it is a distinction. Especially since this institute is different from many of our research institutes. The employees there are still classical researchers. They show an excellent knowledge of mathematics, which is no longer the rule among many young scientists at my institute. Moreover, without knowledge of mathematics, programming methods, without writing numerical programs - translating theoretical equations into computer language, little can be done in theory. At the moment, many people buy commercial programs without knowing how they work, what their limitations are, what are the boundary conditions for running them. In my opinion, you need to be able to do everything yourself from the beginning, or at least know how to do it, what you want to count. I call it the "classic approach to science", and they can still do it at the Institute of Condensed Matter Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Lviv. I want to add that I am not against ready-made programs, e.g. prof. Krzysztof Woliński from the Department of Theoretical Chemistry at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University has developed a program for quantum-mechanical calculations, which is quite widely used by others. Such programs are beneficial, and it is worth using them, but - let me emphasize - you need to know the principles of their operation.

How did your cooperation with the Institute of Condensed Matter Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Lviv begin?

Prof. Douglas Henderson of Utah State University received the position of "outstanding professor" in the Department of Physics at the University of Autónoma Metropolitana in Mexico City and invited me to become his associate. There I met prof. Orest Pizio, who was from Lviv. Moreover, thanks to him, the cooperation with the Institute of Condensed Matter employees in Lviv began. Later, many researchers from Lviv came to UMCS, and we went to Ukraine because not only I cooperate with the Institute of Condensed Matter Physics, but most of the previous Department of Modeling employees Physicochemical Processes at the Faculty of Chemistry, UMCS.

As part of your long-term scientific activity, you have completed research internships and established cooperation with recognized scientific and academic institutions, incl. In: USA, Germany, Mexico, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Austria. How did these experiences influence your research? Why do you think it is worth establishing cooperation with other research centres?

My first trip was to Pennsylvania State University, University Park, to Prof. W.A. Steele (who received an honorary doctorate from UMCS in 1994). The internship lasted over a year, and I did not want to extend it for family reasons. This trip was "organized for me" by my doctoral dissertation supervisor from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw - prof. Dr hab. Jan Stecki.

After returning from the USA, I applied for a Humboldt Scholarship at the Ruhr Universität in Bochum (RUB). During my stay in Bochum, I met many people and, as a consequence, I ended up in the well-known Kernforschunganlage (now Forschungzentrum) in Jülich. It is a perfect and, I would say, "organizationally interesting" centre. At that time (I do not know how it is now), apart from administration and top management positions, there were no permanent scientists there, e.g. in the computer centre Hochstleistungsrechenzentrum (HLRZ, now part of the Institute for Advanced Simulations), there were competitions for the position of boss, the winner chose his own colleagues from all over the world.

I came to Jülich on the recommendation of my research supervisor from Bochum, professor J. Fischer. Prof. H. Herrmann, having left the head of HLRZ, in turn, chose me as a collaborator. I worked there for a year and a half, and then there were shorter trips. In turn, prof. J. Fischer later moved from Bochum to Vienna to the BOKU University (Universität für Bodenkultur, a small, elite university), taking a chair with research in statistical thermodynamics and modelling. In this way, later trips to Vienna, as well as to Prague, to the Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals became possible. I also travelled to Universidad National Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico (one of the world's largest universities), to Brigham Young University in Provo and the Institute for Multiscale Simulation Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg.

In fact, all trips, except for the Humboldt scholarship, were organized ad hoc. The basis for the trip was private acquaintances, not "applications". I definitely prefer this model of establishing cooperation. Let me put it straight: personal recommendations, the selection of people famous for their scientific integrity are a better method of selecting collaborators than announcing a "competition for the position".

Of course - financial issues were also an important factor in deciding about my trips. So not only because I wanted to go on the Humboldt scholarship to "do something new", but also to earn. The scholarship offered excellent financial conditions, and at Jülich, it was the best salary I have ever received. Besides, in Mexico, there were also perfect financial conditions. Good Mexican universities pay more than American ones.

To the question: "to leave or not?" I can not answer unequivocally. It depends on the possibilities and conditions. If the foreign centre offers perfect conditions, it is, of course, worth leaving. Furthermore, it is worth doing at a young age. I would even say that mobility for post-doctoral scholarships should be obligatory. If only to change the environment, they should be organised to get to know new topics and people. When I was doing my doctorate at the Institute of Physical Chemistry in Warsaw, each supervisor set a rule to organize a long-term foreign trip for his doctoral student. We also tried to do the same in our previous Modeling Department. However, this tradition is fading away. Maybe because the trips have lost their attractiveness? Or maybe because the application is decided more and more by formal and bureaucratic rather than substantive factors?

The professor also collaborated with outstanding scientists from Poland and abroad. Has anyone especially inspired you? Is any cooperation especially remembered by you?

Yes, I would consider it special to work with the Brazilian Jason A.C. Gallas in Jülich. I have never dealt with granular materials before. Granular materials are, e.g. sand. They can show amazing properties and, under certain conditions, behave similarly to liquids. Since I was dealing with molecular dynamics at the time (one of the methods of computer simulations), Jason Gallas proposed to apply molecular dynamics to the description of granular systems. Moreover, we succeeded, and it was far from simple: it was necessary to properly generalize the equations of motion for the case of systems with energy dissipation. We were able to describe the movement of particles and several experimentally observed phenomena, e.g., forming the so-called "Convection loop", fluidisation, etc. I have to say that the time spent at Jülich was "fun". No more "planning scientific tasks", no "force learning". We were absolutely free in the choice of topics. The strategy of the head of HLRZ, Hans Herrman, was to discover real scientific news. Could theoretical research, planned exactly many months ago, lead to such a discovery? Usually not. And in Jülich, one read the latest literature from various related scientific fields, looked for significant novelties, and then tried experimental observations with known and new theories and tools to describe, generalize, and predict similar behaviour systems under different conditions. I believe that it was precisely the lack of long-term planning that led to the excellent results.

Agnieszka Stańczak interviewed

The article has been originally added to the Polish version of the website by Ms Ewa Kawałko-Marczuk from the UMCS Press Centre.