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contest rules

GDPR statement

CONTEST RULES

of the

INTERNATIONAL STEFAN BANACH PRIZE

FOR THE MOST OUTSTANDING PhD THESIS IN MATHEMATICS

General Contest Information

The contest is organized by the Polish Mathematical Society in order to find and distinguish outstanding PhD theses. Submissions are judged primarily according to the following criteria:

Originality of results
Contribution to the development of the discipline
The author’s individual contribution to the presented results

The judges will award one main Prize of PLN 25,000 and two Distinctions of PLN 10,000 each. The Prize and the Distinctions will be accompanied by certificates. The International Stefan Banach Prize and both Distinctions are awarded on the basis of a PhD thesis in Mathematics which led to awarding a PhD degree in the period between May 1 (January 1 in the case of the first edition) of the year prior to the one in which the contest is announced, and April 30 of the year in which the contest is announced. In extreme cases (should the number or quality of submissions be too low), the Organizers reserve the right not to award the main Prize and/or the Distinctions.

Announcing the Contest

The Content is announced once a year, between January 1 and March 1. The first edition is held in 2021.

Candidates

Eligible Candidates will have completed a PhD degree in Mathematics in a country in East-Central Europe (the prize is intended to counterbalance the monetary prizes awarded in Western countries), specifically one of the following:

Visegrád Group countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary)
Countries which broke away from the Soviet Union (Belarus, Ukraine, Moldavia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia)
Countries of former Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo)
Other Balkan countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Romania).

Contest Submissions

1. A Submission must include the following 6 documents (in electronic form):

A copy of the PhD thesis in Polish or English.
A copy (scanned version) of a document confirming the awarding of a PhD degree in Mathematics.
A statement by the Candidate indicating which specific parts of the thesis are a result of their own work.
An opinion by the advisor which includes an objective assessment of the Candidate’s contribution towards the results.
A letter of recommendation from any specialist in the area, other than the advisor (e.g., one of the reviewers).
Statement of consent to the processing of the Candidate’s personal data for purposes related to their participation in the competition; to publishing the Candidate’s personal data (the Candidate’s full name and the name of their academic institution) on the Polish Mathematical Society’s website, should the candidate be awarded the Prize or one of the Distinctions; and to using the image of the Candidate for purposes related to organizing the Competition, announcing the results and popularizing the event (GDPR Consent Form)

2. Submissions are accepted until May 15, by e-mail, via the address specified in the Competition announcement.

3. By entering the Competition, the Candidate indicates that they accept these Rules.

The Judging Committee

The Organizer establishes a Judging Committee consisting of specialists in various areas of mathematics. The Organizer and every Sponsor each select one member of the Judging Committee, who should be a recognized expert in the field. The number of Judges will depend on the number of people selected. The Organizer selects a Chairperson of the Committee, on the basis of the respective Committee member’s experience with similar activities. The Committee is selected for a four-year term. If a member of the Committee ends their term prematurely, due to random events or due to resigning from the position, a replacement is selected by the same Sponsor (or by the Organizer) who selected the resigning member.

The judging process

Deliberations of the Judging Committee will last until July 15 at the latest. If necessary, the Committee may, at its discretion, call on the opinion of outside experts. Meetings of the Committee are valid provided they have a quorum of 50% members + 1 (if the total number of members is even) or 50% members + 1/2 (if the total number of members is odd). The Committee will begin with a formal assessment of all the Submissions. Submissions which meet the formal criteria will then be assessed based on the criteria specified in section 1 of the Rules. The Committee will keep Minutes of its meetings, and prepare a short description of the accomplishments which led to awarding the Prize and the Distinctions. The Committee will present the Organizer with the Competition results, Minutes and description of the accomplishments on July 22 at the latest.

Publishing the results

The results will be officially published on the Polish Mathematical Society’s website, and the winners will be notified by e-mail, no later than July 31.

Presenting the awards

The certificate presentation ceremony will be held as part of the Forum of Polish Mathematicians or other similar event. In times of pandemic, the event can be a remote one, in which case the certificates will be sent by mail. The monetary awards are delivered by wire transfer or postal transfer, as soon as the awarded Candidate provides the necessary bank information to the Organizer.

Income tax

The monetary values of the Prize and the Distinctions are gross amounts. The awarded Candidates will directly receive the net amounts, while the Organizer will pay the tax to the appropriate authorities in accordance with respective laws.