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An international jury, headed by Nobel Laureate Emmanuelle Charpentier, has selected the laureates of the prestigious ESET Science Award. In the category of Outstanding Scientist in Slovakia, the laureate is Maria Bielikova, an expert in the field of artificial intelligence and the founder of the Kempelen Institute for Intelligent Technologies. In the category of Outstanding Scientist under 35, the award went to physicist Frantisek Herman, and the award in the category of Outstanding Academic went to Igor Farkas, an expert in artificial intelligence. Oncologist Michal Mego received the most votes from the public in the Public Choice Award with almost 14 thousand people in Slovakia voting this year.

On Thursday, October 10, 2024, the sixth annual ESET Science Award took place, during which the ESET Foundation and main partner, ESET, honored outstanding scientific personalities and educators in Slovakia. The ESET Science Award recognizes those who, through their research and academic activities, not only contribute to the development of their scientific field, but also the results of which have a positive impact on other areas of life and help find solutions to the challenges facing our planet and society.

This year, the Outstanding Scientist in Slovakia award went to Mária Bielikova, an expert in the field of artificial intelligence with a focus on machine learning and solving the problem of information overload in the online space and the founder of the Kempelen Institute of Intelligent Technologies, the first independent research institute in Slovakia, which aims to bring excellent science to companies and link them with the academic sector. In the category of Outstanding Scientist under 35, the award went to František Herman, a talented young scientist who, together with his team at the Department of Experimental Physics at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics at the Comenius University in Bratislava, is researching the theoretical physics of condensed matter. Igor Farkaš, Deputy Head of the Department of Applied Informatics at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics at Comenius University in Bratislava and an expert in the field of artificial intelligence, who specializes in the study of artificial neural network models, was awarded the Outstanding Academic in Slovakia award.

The international jury that selected the laureates in the scientific categories this year, was chaired by Nobel Laureate Emmanuelle Charpentier. The other members of the jury were computer scientist Subhashis Banerjee, material scientist Michael John Reece, nuclear physicist Jürgen Schukraft and oncologist Jan Trka. The final decision on the laureates is the result of a consensus of the jury, which considers dozens of criteria. These include both measurable and qualitative indicators, such as scientific ethics and integrity, the ability to communicate the research and its resonance in the international scientific community. The laureate in the category of Outstanding Academic was decided by a panel of the top representatives of Slovak universities.

Emmanuelle Charpentier presented the award to the laureate in the category of Outstanding Scientist in Slovakia. She said: “Congratulations to all the award recipients, as well as the finalists. Their scientific research brings findings that have a real impact on our world and society. I believe that ESET Science Award not only highlights the importance of scientific work to the public but also inspires others to bravely continue exploring new knowledge that has the power to change the world around us.”

The winner of the Public Choice Award was oncologist Michal Mego, head of II. Oncology Clinic of the Medical Faculty at Comenius University and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). In addition to devoting his working time to patient care and the education of medical professionals, he also gives his time to research. He even founded the Translational Research Unit at NCI, which aims to transfer knowledge from basic research to clinical practice and vice versa. Michal Mego and his research team are particularly interested in breast and testicular cancer. He is also researching the microbiome and probiotic bacteria that could help cancer patients better cope with the side effects of treatment.

Mária Bielikova, Outstanding Scientist in Slovakia Laureate
Prof. Ing. Mária Bielikova works on artificial intelligence and machine learning at the Kempelen Institute of Intelligent Technologies. She founded the institute in 2020 and considers it her biggest success thus far. Her scientific field is young and still changing, and her field of research keeps changing as well. Over the long term, she and her team have been tackling the problem of information overload.

František Herman, Outstanding Scientist in Slovakia Under the Age of 35 Laureate
Mgr. František Herman, PhD., works at the Department of Experimental Physics at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics at Comenius University Bratislava, where he and his students research theoretical condensed matter physics in addition to teaching. At the moment, they are most interested in superconductivity.

Igor Farkaš, Outstanding Academic in Slovakia Laureate
Prof. Ing. Igor Farkaš, Dr., is one of the leading Slovak experts on artificial intelligence. In recent years, he has also been active in its popularization. He is the Associate Department Chair at the Department of Applied Informatics at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics at Comenius University Bratislava. At its Centre of Cognitive Science, he has long been focused on researching artificial neural network models inspired by the human brain.

For more information about the Laureates, please visit https://www.esetscienceaward.sk/en/laureates

For more information about the ESET Science Award, please visit www.esetscienceaward.sk/en