On 20-24 May, the stationary part of the first Blended Intensive Program at the University of Zielona Góra took place. The project has been entitled "Hidden Order in Various Complex Systems" and it was organized by: the Institute of Sociology, the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy and the Faculty of Biological Sciences.
We hosted the students from the University of Alba Iulia (Romania), the University of Presov (Slovakia), moreover the foreign students from Greece, Spain and Turkey who are studying at the University of Zielona Góra this semester, and Polish students participated in the BIP as well.
The BIP program was interdisciplinary, and classes were conducted in the form of lectures, workshops, laboratories and outdoor classes, which took place on both UZ campuses, but also in the city of Zielona Góra and in nearby towns. Their goal was to understand and describe complex systems from a social, biological, physical, astrophysical and urban perspective.
On Friday 24 May, project participants had the opportunity to visit apiaries in Zabór and Kolsko, where outdoor classes, lectures and presentations on modern and traditional beekeeping were held, showing the bee society as a complex system and the synergistic coexistence of man and nature. Students had the opportunity to try climbing a bee tree with the help of a special traditional hand-made rope, they tasted delicious cakes and honey drinks, as well as delicacies based on traditional recipes. At the end of the outdoor workshop, lunch was waiting for them in an old granary in Kolsko.
In addition to the rich didactic program, many integration meetings were held as part of BIP. On Tuesday, the participants visited the botanical garden in Zielona Góra, where they ate pizza together. On Wednesday, there was a special dinner in the ruins of the palace in Zatonie, combined with a historical lecture about this place, while on Thursday we had the opportunity to feast together at a barbecue, tasting delicious cheeses and cold meats brought by our guests.
The program coordinators would like to thank all lecturers who contributed to the project: dr. Dorota Bazuń, dr. Artur Kinal, dr. hab. Dorota Szaban, prof. UZ, dr. hab. Sinan Tankut Gülhan from the Institute of Sociology, dr. Marzanna Farnicka from the Institute of Psychology, prof. dr. hab. Beata Gabryś, mgr. Alicja Dubicka-Czechowska from the Faculty of Biological Sciences and dr. hab. Gopal Bhatta, prof. dr. hab. Andrzej Drzewiński, dr. Maciej Marć, dr. hab. Maria Przybylska, prof. UZ, from the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy and dr. Claudiu Stefani from the University of Alba Iulia. Special thanks go to the UZ students who supported us logistically: Eleonora Kędzierska, Hanna Matuszek, Alicja Twarduś, Hubert Borek - second-year sociology students, Iwona Sasiak, Weronika Grajnert, Wiktoria Chojnacka - third-year sociology students, Basia Konys, Julia Kaczmarek, Tatiana Martyniuk and Karol Wójcik - second-year biotechnology students, as well as Alexandru Corpade - an intern under the Erasmus+ program at the Institute of Sociology. We would like to thank also Jerzy Skorulski and Małgorzata Lisowska in Zatonie, Rafał Liśkiewicz - a tree-beekeeper from Kolsko, and Marta Słodnik - a beekeeper from Zabór.
