Grzegorz J. Nowak, PhD, of the Lower Silesia Branch of the Polish Geological Institute - NRI, has become a professor of science in the discipline of Earth and environmental sciences. The Professor received the title by order of the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda on September 7, 2023.

Professor G. J. Nowak has spent almost all of his professional life to date with the Lower Silesia Branch of the Polish Geological Institute - NRI in Wrocław, where he has worked continuously since 1983.

The research and scientific work of Professor Grzegorz J. Nowak is mainly related to the problems of coal-bearing formations, especially the genesis and petrology of coal and organic matter. The most important research in this area concerns the petrology of hard coal from the Lower Silesian Coal Basin. Also important in the Professor's scientific output are works on rocks rich in dispersed organic matter, which consist of petrological studies of organic matter dispersed in black shales of marine and lake origin, and the application of organic petrology studies in petroleum geology. Among other things, the Professor also took part in the exploration of tin ore deposits in the Kamieniecki Range in the Jizera Mountains.

Professor Jacek Nowak

The Professor's achievements consist of 114 published scientific papers (national and international journals, monographs, monograph chapters, published conference presentations), editorial reviews of national and JCR-listed journals, and reviews of JCR grant applications.

The Professor has also been active in teaching by giving lectures and conducting exercises in deposit and mining geology at the Faculty of Geoengineering, Mining and Geology at Wrocław University of Technology. He was also a doctoral advisor in 3 successful doctoral dissertations, a reviewer of doctoral dissertations and scientific achievements in habilitation dissertations, and a consultant and co-advisor of Master's theses.

The Professor is a scientist who enjoys widespread recognition, which is expressed, among others, in his membership in prestigious Polish and international geological organizations and in the editorial committees and scientific boards of journals (Geological Quarterly, Nafta – Gaz, Geochemistry).

Grzegorz J. Nowak has been cooperating with numerous scientific centers at home and abroad for more than a dozen years. From 1994 to 1998, he participated in the Vitrinite Working Group, International Committee for Coal and Organic Petrology (ICCP), whose goal was to update the ICCP classification of vitrinite group macerals. In 1995, at the 47th Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Committee for Coal and Organic Petrology (ICCP) in Kraków, Poland, he announced the need to establish a working group within the Committee's Commission II (Application of Coal and Organic Petrology to Geology) dedicated to coal facies issues. The group was formed (Coal Facies Working Group) a year later and Professor Nowak became its co-chairman. The objectives of this working group were to revise the concepts used in coal petrography to analyze the foliation and interpretation of coal paleoenvironments, taking into account the latest developments in this aspect. Since 1996, he has participated in the Pseudovitrinite Working Group, ICCP. Since 1998, he has participated in the Coalbed Methane Working Group, ICCP, a group dealing with petrographic aspects and the application of coal petrology in CBM exploration. Since the same year, he has participated in the Dispersed Organic Matter Working Group, ICCP, which aims to provide a reference text useful for petrographic analysis of dispersed organic matter, including component identification and thermal maturity.

Since 2005, he has participated in the Identification of Dispersed Organic Matter Working Group (ICCP), an interlaboratory undertaking for microscopic analysis of organic matter. Since 2010, he has participated in the Shale Gas Working Group (ICCP), which has studied the relationship between different types of organic matter with reference to the possibility of creating unconventional hydrocarbon deposits.

The Professor has received numerous awards and honors for his research and scientific activities: 3rd Award of the Director of the Polish Geological Institute for young geologists (1990), Award of the Director of the Polish Geological Institute for distinction of the doctoral dissertation by the Scientific Council of the PGI (1993), Award of the Director of the Polish Geological Institute for obtaining the degree of habilitated doctor in Earth sciences in geology - petrology (2006), Award of the Director of the Polish Geological Institute for lifetime research in petrology of carbon dispersed organic matter (2006), Award of the Director of the Polish Geological Institute for above-average commitment to work, in particular for participation in specialized research and geological documentation of the Orzesze 1 deep research well, commissioned by PGNiG SA (2021). In 1998, he received the Honorary Award of Merit for Polish Geology; in 2004, he received the First Degree Mining Director badge, and in 2014 - the Golden Badge of the Polish Geological Institute.