National Institute of Telecommunications

The seminar was opened by Prof. Mariusz Figurski, DSc, Eng., Deputy Director for Scientific Affairs, who emphasised the importance of basic research conducted at the NIT as the foundation for the long-term development of scientific competences and future technological applications. He highlighted the role of stable research teams and consistently built scientific excellence in the new evaluation period.

The substantive part of the seminar was led by Dr. Wojciech Sałabun, DSc, Eng., who delivered a comprehensive presentation on research conducted at the Department of Advanced Information Technologies (Z-6). The presentation covered, among others, multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA), uncertainty modelling, computational methods, and their applications in complex engineering and system-level problems.

Scientific research, by definition, involves risk and uncertainty. Its goal is not rapid implementation, but the construction of knowledge which, in the long term, reduces technological risk and opens the path to genuine innovation,

— emphasised Dr. Wojciech Sałabun.

Dr. Sałabun also noted that a strong scientific foundation at low technology readiness levels (TRLs) significantly reduces risk at later implementation stages. For this reason, expenditure on basic research is absolutely essential. Without it—despite uncertainty regarding results or practical applicability—there will be no innovation or progress.

The seminar also provided an opportunity to present selected research directions pursued by the team, including:

• the development of new methods for multicriteria decision analysis,
• approaches to uncertainty modelling and analysis (including fuzzy methods),
• research on the stability and comparability of decision models,
• applications of MCDA and computational methods in complex systems and artificial intelligence.

An important element of the presentation was a concise quantitative summary of the scientific output of Department Z-6, demonstrating the scale and quality of the research conducted. The team has authored 41 scientific publications, which together have earned over 5,100 points under the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MNiSW) evaluation system, with an average exceeding 125 points per publication. The output includes 14 publications in journals with a combined Impact Factor close to 93, as well as highly ranked conference papers. These figures confirm the high citation impact and international visibility of the research carried out at Department Z-6 of the National Institute of Telecommunications, as well as its lasting contribution to the development of multicriteria decision support and computational sciences.

Further evidence of the team’s scientific activity includes research grants and national and international distinctions. Currently, three grants funded by the National Science Centre (NCN) are being carried out at Department Z-6 (under the Preludium, Sonata, and Opus programmes), with an additional five grant proposals submitted in calls with a deadline of 15 December 2025. Given the average NCN acceptance rate of approximately 7%, the scale of this activity reflects the high quality of the submitted projects. In 2025, two scholarships from the Minister of Science and Higher Education for outstanding young scientists were also awarded, and five researchers from Department Z-6 were included in the prestigious World’s Top 2% Scientists ranking (Stanford University).

The seminar was not only a presentation of results, but also an important contribution to the discussion on how to responsibly plan scientific research over a long-term horizon. The discussion moderated by Prof. Mariusz Figurski engaged not only researchers but also Institute staff outside the scientific community. Topics discussed included the funding of science and basic research in the context of business and public administration needs, language as a platform for communication between scientists and their environment, as well as challenges related to research quality, team resilience, and the real impact of science on the development of future technologies.