At the inaugural meeting of the Assembly of the Fahrenheit Universities, the FarU Prize was awarded for a grassroots initiative demonstrating a lasting impact on the communities of the three member universities. The prize was presented to an intercollegiate research team whose innovative method is grounded in fundamental research in molecular spectroscopy and enables non-invasive estimation of time of death, age, and biological sex.

The initiative entitled “A method for non-invasive estimation of time of death, age, and biological sex” has already delivered both scientific and applied outcomes. The method has been validated through experimental studies, and its theoretical foundations and results have been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal (DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2025.127057). The developed method provides a foundation for further research into the application of molecular spectroscopy techniques in the analysis of post-mortem changes occurring in biological material. The method will enable the advancement of interdisciplinary research combining molecular spectroscopy with forensic sciences. The winning team consists of:

• Prof. Łukasz Balwicki from the Division of Public Health and Social Medicine, MUG
• Prof. Michał Kaliszan from the Department of Forensic Medicine, MUG
• Prof. Mattia Pierpaoli from the Advanced Materials Center, Gdańsk Tech
• Prof. Aneta Lewkowicz from the Division of Forensic Research, UG
• Martyna Czarnomska, MA, and Emilia Gruszczyńska, MA – UG’s Ph.D. students

Among the teams invited to the second stage of the Fahrenheit Universities Prize, one more project received an honorary distinction: NeuroGDA – a series of scientific seminars”, submitted by Prof. Aleksandra Rutkowska from the Division of Anatomy and Neurobiology, MUG, Krzysztof Basiński, Ph.D., from the Division of Quality of Life Research, MUG, Prof. Michał Kucewicz from the Department of Multimedia Systems, Gdańsk Tech, and Prof. Grzegorz Węgrzyn from the Department of Molecular Biology, UG. NeuroGDA is an initiative integrating researchers in the field of neuroscience. In 2025, the initiative resulted in organising seven seminars and a four-hour conference attended by the representatives of the three universities, the Tri-City, as well as international guests (from Tokyo and Copenhagen). The organisers have already scheduled further meetings, and interest in the initiative continues to grow, as neurobiology is a highly interdisciplinary field bringing together researchers from biology, medicine, psychology, physics, computational sciences, artificial intelligence, and other disciplines.

The ceremonial presentation of the FarU Prize will take place during the 5^th  Fahrenheit Science Picnic on 24 May this year.