49th Winter School on Wave and Quantum Acoustics constituted platforms for sharing the results and achievements obtained in different branches of physical acoustics, as molecular acoustics, quantum acoustics, acousto-optics, magnetoacoustics, photoacoustics, acoustics of solid state, acoustic emission, and others. Moreover, researches in some selected topics related to those mentioned above (e.g. optoelectronics, relaxation processes) were presented during the school.

The conference consisted of the 16th Workshop on Acoustoelectronics and the 16th Workshop on Molecular Acoustics, Relaxation and Calorimetric Methods. However, the organizers are opened to organizing workshops on other subjects in future. We would like to invite scientific centers and other professional groups to cooperate in organizing workshops on the subjects of their interests.

XLVIIIth Winter School on Environmental Acoustics and Vibroacoustics was a forum for all environmental and vibroacoustics fields. Particularly it was concerned with traffic noise, vibroacoustics of machines, room acoustics, building acoustics, noise protection and similar problems. During the Conference, seminars on “Measurement of noise and vibration at the workplace” and Environmental noise monitoring”, combined with measurement workshops, were organised in association with SVANTEK.

The Conferences began with the special, joined session dedicated to celebration of the 15th Jubilee Conference Integrated Optics – Sensors, Sensing Structures and Methods. In summary, 48 people participated in Conferences and seminars, presenting 37 lectures, reports and posters. In this issue one can find abstracts of some lectures and posters, which were presented during the Conferences.

Reflection on the process of defining and redefining the notion of Polishness after 1918, and thus, an attempt to answer the questions: ‘What is Polishness?’; ‘Is it possible to talk about its single, monolithic, well-defined form in relation to a specific point in history as well as at present?’ – were the main topics of an international conference organised by the Centre for Historical Research on 21st–22nd June 2018 and held at the glamourous Louise-Schroeder-Saal of the Rotes Rathaus (Red Town Hall) in Berlin. Held on the occasion of the centenary of Poland’s regained independence, the event was simultaneously a festive farewell to Professor Robert Traba, the founder and Director of the Berlin-based Centre for Historical Research, Polish Academy of Sciences. The attendees included researchers from Poland as well as scholars from Germany and France, representing various fields of science: history, literature, sociology, political science, law, Slavic studies, Polish studies, and art history. A total of twenty-seven papers and comments, in Polish and/or German, were submitted. The conference ended with a panel discussion (lasting over two hours) on ‘Individual identities in the face of collective ideas of Polishness’ (now available on the CHR website: http://www.cbh.pan.pl/de/fotobericht-und-film-zur-konferenz-derunvollendete-krieg).

Developing a more nuanced perspective on the diversity of life in Poland before the Nazi occupation was a major lesson for participants of the 37th Conference of the German/Polish Textbook Commission, held on 23rd to 26th May 2018 in Zamość, Poland. Gathered to explore aspects of ‘The Second World War in History Education in Poland and Germany: The Transfer of Knowledge and Its Representations’, historians and pedagogues being Commission members, along with secondary-school teachers from Germany and Poland, discussed the practicalities of teaching about the WW2 amidst the decreasing number of witnesses of wartime events. The conference encouraged participants to explore this question by examining the everyday life (Alltag) in Zamość under German occupation through academic panel discussions and by visiting historically significant locations in the region, including the Bełżec extermination camp. A highlight was the discussion between teachers regarding a working draft of the chapter entitled Widerstand in Europa (Resistance in Europe) from Part 4 in the commission’s bi-national European history textbook series Europa. Nasza Historia/Europa. Unsere Geschichte. The teachers discussed the prospects, benefits, and challenges of using the binational textbook in their national contexts and grappled with the prospect of a transnational narrative perspective presented in the textbook.

The following article is a report from a conference organized by the Polish Young Academy in Jablonna, in collaboration with the Polish Academy of Sciences. It served the purpose of connecting members of PYA with members of PAS, to allow exchange of views, and a productive discussion about the future of both organizations. The conference was organized into two panels: one addressing the directions of Polish Academy of Sciences reform (structure, the PAS university idea, criteria for PAS membership, the role of PAS committees, as well as PAS financing) and a second one addressing the position of Polish Young Academy within the structures of PAS (relations with other units, internal PYA structure and governance, relations with other European bodies of the same sort, the role of PYA in legislative consultations, PYA financing, and the ways to carry on PYA's mission of propagating science).

The article summarizes panel discussions led at the Polish Scientific Networks conference. It covers the topics of social and (un)social innovations, their sources, and applications, as well as the new approaches to the concept of the wisdom of the crowds (as opposed to swarm mentality). The article draws on academic research on trust and distrust, declining reliance on formal expertise and a turn against the science, and posttruth society phenomenon. The article concludes with observations about risk aversion in different cultures, to suggest some practical solutions in education programs, needed to address the challenges of the future.

W dniach 19–20 września 2019 roku w Wojewódzkiej i Miejskiej Bibliotece Publicznej im. Cypriana Norwida w Zielonej Górze oraz Lubuskim Centrum Winiarstwa odbyła się interdyscyplinarna konferencja naukowa Winiarstwo lubuskie a media. Perspektywa trzydziestolecia 1989–2019. Partnerami wydarzenia zorganizowanego przez zielonogórską Bibliotekę Wojewódzką byli: Instytut Nauk o Informacji Uniwersytetu Pedagogicznego w Krakowie, Stowarzyszenie Bibliotekarzy Polskich oraz Komisja Prasoznawcza Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Odział w Krakowie. Konferencja została objęta Patronatem Honorowym Marszałek Województwa Lubuskiego Elżbiety Anny Polak. Patronat medialny sprawowały czasopisma „Bibliotekarz” i „Poradnik Bibliotekarza” oraz ogólnopolski portal bibliotekarski sbp.pl.

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