Professor Da-Wen Sun Elected as a Foreign Member of Polish Academy of Sciences

Professor Da-Wen Sun, UCD Professor of Food and Biosystems Engineering from UCD School of Agricultural and Food Engineering, has been elected as a foreign member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Polish: Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN). The election is the highest lifetime honours bestowed by the Polish government. Professor Sun has been elected on the basis of his exceptional contributions to the development of agricultural and food engineering in Poland, and his extensive research collaborations with Polish scientists.

Founded in 1952, the Polish Academy of Sciences is the most significant scientific institution in Poland with its roots dating back to 1800 when the Warsaw Learned Society was established. Besides its role as a learned society it also has a strong influence as a scientific advisory body and oversees 79 scientific institutions, employing about 9,400 people and spending about a third of the national budget on science. The academy is composed of national and foreign members, who are appointed for life. All members are elected by the general assembly among candidates with the highest scientific achievements and of recognised authority. Membership to PAN is limited to just 350 scientists and engineers. Together, they comprise the governing body of the state scientific institution and a major scientific advisory body both within and outside of Poland.

Professor Sun is a world authority in food engineering research and education. His many scholarly works have become standard reference materials for researchers in the areas of computer vision / hyperspectral imaging, computational fluid dynamics modelling, vacuum cooling, etc. Results of his work have been published in more than 500 peer-reviewed journal papers (Web of Science h-index = 85, SCOPUS h-index = 89) with 38 papers being designated by ESI as highly cited papers. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honours including election to the Royal Irish Academy in 2010, selection as a Member of Academia Europaea (The Academy of Europe) in 2011, induction as a Fellow of International Academy of Food Science and Technology in 2012, and award as a Fellow of International Academy of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering in 2016. Among other international recognitions, Professor Sun was the recipient of the CIGR Fellow Award in 2010, the Freezing Research Award in 2013 from International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) and the IAEF Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015 from International Association of Engineering and Food (IAEF). He has also been honoured as one of the “Highly Cited Researchers” in the last 3 consecutive years (2015- 2017) by Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters).