Hubert Baniecki and Michal Nauman awarded with the 2026 Witold Lipski Prizes in applied computer science

In October 2026, the Witold Lipski Prize was awarded to two young scientists for their achievements in computer science. This year, two equal first prizes of PLN 25,000 were awarded in the applied computer science category to Hubert Baniecki and Michał Nauman. An honorable mention, without a monetary award, was given to Dr. Eng. Kamil Deja. No prize was awarded in the theoretical computer science category. The competition is organized by the IDEAS Research Institute, which focuses on artificial intelligence and digital security, and is funded by the Kosciuszko Foundation. The awards were presented on October 9 during the MLinPL conference at the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw, with Krzysztof Gawkowski, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs, as the guest of honor. Hubert Baniecki is a PhD student in the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics at the University of Warsaw and a research assistant at the Center for Credible Artificial Intelligence at the Warsaw University of Technology. He has completed research internships at Meta in New York and at LMU Munich in Germany. His research focuses on interpretable machine learning, also known as explainable artificial intelligence. He develops algorithms and tools that help researchers better understand how predictive models, including deep neural networks, work. In particular, he studies efficient methods for generating explanations and their use in medicine. Michał Nauman is an AI researcher specializing in reinforcement learning. He studied at the University of Warsaw and the University of Amsterdam and completed a research internship at the University of California, Berkeley. His work has been published and recognized at major AI conferences, including ICML, NeurIPS, and ICLR. His research focuses on methods that allow AI systems to learn through experience and by making decisions on their own. Kamil Deja is an Assistant Professor at the Warsaw University of Technology and GenAI Team Leader at the IDEAS Research Institute, specializing in generative AI. His research focuses on diffusion models–the technology behind modern image, music, and video generation, with applications in materials, molecules, and biological structures. The Witold Lipski Prize honors the memory of one of the pioneers of Polish computer science. It recognizes young researchers for significant achievements in computer science and aims to support the next generation of researchers.