Our mission

We started operating in January 2020. As a community, we are currently sparse, with members all around Poland, and a few international affiliates. We have different backgrounds and characters but we have a common goal: sharing knowledge on water and environmental issues also to non-experts to foster good-practice. We plan to increase our qualifications through organising meetings, webinars, conferences and gatherings. We want to identify problems important for young professionals in Poland and work on solutions and ways of addressing them and provide support for youth considering pursuing a scientific career. In the long term we aim at creating an inclusive professional environment where the voice and opinions of the young generations in the field of water science is taken into account.

Being actively involved in international associations like IAHR can facilitate exposure, at both personal and scientific level and increases the possibilities for collaboration with recognized experts, therefore, opening new career paths. From an individual perspective, being an active YPN member requires a different set of skills than our research work, which enables personal and professional growth. Networks of young members are not only an advantage for the larger association in terms of memberships and initiatives, but they offer their affiliates a common ground for exchange of state-of-art knowledge and research outcomes, which brings benefits to the many research institutions present, eventually fostering better science. Opening up space for cooperation among different entities such as private and public organisations widens the perspective and offers many advantages, such as attracting funding for joint projects tailored to the local needs. Such networking enriches the young scientists and specialists in their professional life by the establishment of personal connections with other young people with similar interests.

The IAHR YPN Poland would like to thank IAHR for the support in the first initiatives we are running, which, given the present global situation, are all planned online. We are focusing on improving soft skills crucial for our everyday work: from applying to projects to writing a good scientific paper. The adjustment to the ongoing situation forced us to make some changes in our activity plans, however, we believe that it is a good start for us and a very beneficial experience for the future. Most of us are young, and maybe a little bit of dreamers, with big plans to “change the world”. In order to effectively tackle present water and environmental issues single researchers are not enough. We see a big potential for IAHR to make a difference by supporting common projects and acting as a forum for related communication.