A growing number of young women choose to study exact sciences. According to Doctor Hanna Furmańczyk from the Department of Combinatory Optimisation at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science of the University of Gdańsk, actions should still be taken that will help them to have even more faith in their competences and strengthen their position on the labour market. Students have the opportunity to work on projects that develop, among other things, their soft skills. They also learn how to support activities for sustainable development using new technologies. In this context, the so-called green software is increasingly being mentioned, i.e. software that optimises resources and produces and uses less data. This contributes to reducing energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. The interview from the series “Conversations about Sustainable Development” of the Centre for Sustainable Development of the University of Gdańsk was conducted by Maja Lohse.
Maja Lohse: Doctor, considering your scientific achievements and personal experience, how do you understand sustainable development?
Doctor Hanna Furmańczyk: I see sustainable development as activities that are primarily not to harm the environment. I admit that while preparing for today’s meeting, I checked the formal definition of sustainable development. Taking actions that meet the current generation’s needs, while not compromising the chances of a good life for future generations – in my opinion, this is the quintessence of sustainable development.
Last year, you organised meetings for students with experts on the subject of Green Software. Can you elaborate on this term?
We often mistakenly believe that technology and computers make our lives easier without negatively affecting the environment. Indeed, digitisation improves many aspects of our daily functioning. However, we rarely realise that even activities such as software preparation itself can affect carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption. In this case, we are talking about digital waste. I myself was surprised that all this is taken into account by IT specialists today. In fact, at every stage of software preparation, the IT specialist should be at least aware of how important code optimisation is, because it translates into energy consumption. Green software is an issue that also includes matters such as resource optimisation or economic data production and consumption. In other words, reducing digital waste, i.e. data that, once used, remain on computer hard drives, take up space and are never used again. Some studies say that up to 68% of all data that are on servers are not used.
The way in which computing is organised is also very important. There used to be a trend in companies that each company had its own server resources and performed computing there. At the moment, this is highly inefficient and we are moving to cloud computing, which is based on the use of remote servers that store and process data. Users can access these resources via the Internet, using various devices.
Remote servers must accept calculations not only from one client or one company but also serve globally. In this way, we contribute to reducing energy consumption. This is not just about computing, but also about other services. For example, when creating web applications, cloud computing can provide us with a platform to build, test, and put that application into practise. Users do not have to worry about infrastructure, because the platform is managed by the cloud computing service provider.
We often mistakenly believe that technology and computers make our lives easier without negatively affecting the environment.
The energy efficiency of cloud computing is the result of many factors, such as virtualisation, server consolidation, advanced cooling systems, and investments in renewable energy sources. Through these technologies and practices, cloud computing can significantly contribute to reducing global energy consumption and CO2 emissions, thus supporting sustainable development.
Are students aware of this issue?
We try to make students aware. We cooperate with various companies and it was thanks to this cooperation that we managed to organise, among other things, a lecture on Green Software.
During my classes, which I conduct as part of the Team Project subject, my students are tasked with completing an IT project, and for some time now we have been trying to select topics that at least relate to sustainable development. Recently, students, in cooperation with the Kainos company, created the Fifteen-minute City Validator application. It refers to the urban idea of designing housing estates and districts in such a way that residents can reach the most important points for them within fifteen minutes on foot or by public transport. The application allows the user to personalise what these points are on the city map, for example: a kindergarten, a church, a clinic.

Lecture “Green Software – migration to the cloud” at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science, 24 October 2024.
Who could find such an application useful?
Let’s imagine that we want to buy a flat. The application allows us to enter the address and mark points of interest on the map. Then the software checks whether a given area, district or estate meets the assumptions of a fifteen-minute city. Their application is being developed and can be used (link: City in minutes – ed.)
The energy efficiency of cloud computing is the result of many factors, such as virtualisation, server consolidation, advanced cooling systems, and investments in renewable energy sources. Through these technologies and practices, cloud computing can significantly contribute to reducing global energy consumption and CO2 emissions, thus supporting sustainable development.
What else have the students prepared?
This was not the only application that students have created recently. We also worked with the Las Na Zawsze Foundation, which deals with planting forests. Students have prepared a CO2 absorption calculator for various ecosystems. It checks how much carbon dioxide an area, for example, a forest, can absorb, taking into account its surface area, terrain conditions, soil and other various parameters. Such a calculator is important for companies because they are obliged to monitor what carbon footprint they generate and what actions they take to reduce it.
I believe that in this way we are raising awareness of students who, by creating software, are simultaneously working for the climate and the environment. We are fully aware that this is a long process but I believe that we are heading in the right direction and are increasingly aware of how important this problem is. How big a challenge it is to leave our Earth for future generations in at least as good a condition as we found it.
Referring to future generations. One of the goals of the 2030 Agenda is gender equality. You have participated several times in the Girls to Science! campaign, which aims to encourage secondary school and technical school students to study science, technology and engineering. Do you see a positive change after these few editions?
Fortunately, all these campaigns produce good results. We have more and more girls. Mainly, it concerns the computer science major, because in mathematics we should organise another campaign – Men to mathematics! Mathematics is mostly chosen by women. However, to be completely serious, I remember that a few years ago I sometimes had almost entirely male groups in the computer science major. Currently, the ratio of women to men there is about 1 to 5. This is already a considerable percentage of 20 percent, but still unsatisfactory.
We want this change to be even broader. We cooperate with the Perspektywy Foundation, trying to interest our female students and candidates in the foundation’s numerous programmes. We want people who will later come to us to study to acquire additional soft skills already in the last years of secondary school.
We also have scholarship holders, for example within Intel Perspektywy. As part of this programme, a student receives the care of a mentor who supports her development, resolves her doubts, and helps her make decisions. We constantly want not only to attract students but also to encourage them to take up additional activities and develop. That is why we do our best to try to provide them with professional help.
How big a challenge it is to leave our Earth for future generations in at least as good a condition as we found it.
Mamy też stypendystki, na przykład w ramach Intel Perspektywy. W ramach tego programu studentka uzyskuje opiekę mentora, który wspiera jej rozwój, odpowiada na jej wątpliwości, pomaga podejmować decyzje. Cały czas staramy się mieć na uwadze, żeby nie tylko przyciągać studentów, ale również zachęcać ich do podejmowania dodatkowych aktywności i rozwoju. Dlatego staramy się zapewniać im profesjonalną pomoc na miarę naszych możliwości.
As the University of Gdańsk, we are taking part in the international HerTechVenture programme, which aims to support female students in being entrepreneurial after studying STEM, that is Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. We often notice that girls choose exact sciences and study these subjects, but then they are afraid to, for example, set up their own startup that will transform into their company. That is why a series of activities was created to support these types of skills and strengthen us – women – in the belief, in the thinking that we are also perfectly suited for this.
We want people who will later come to us to study to acquire additional soft skills already in the last years of secondary school.
This is very important, as a student I also believe that we need to constantly take action to support girls so that they are more confident and even in the face of failures, they do not give up and keep trying.
I agree. During the last edition of the programme “Girls to Science!” I took part in a panel discussion. One of the participants of the debate, who works in a large technology company, told us what she had noticed while participating in recruitment interviews with candidates. She pointed out that men who apply for a given position often include all their skills in their CVs, including those in which they do not yet feel fully competent. On the other hand, women, especially young women who are taking their first steps on the labour market, believe that they should only include in their CVs those skills that they have mastered fully. The recruitment interview itself often verifies this. And so in the case of men, it turned out that their knowledge of a given subject was not sufficient, but they declared their willingness to learn about it quickly, while in the case of women, it turned out that they had certain skills, but did not include them in their CVs. When asked: “Why didn’t you include it?” the answer is often: “Because I don’t have full knowledge of the subject.” Unfortunately, this is often the difference between the sexes in terms of self-esteem and belief in one’s competences at this stage.
I have recently learned about Impostor Syndrome, or lack of confidence in one’s own competence. Young women often have negative thoughts about their careers: that they got to a certain place by accident, that it was a coincidence, that they are in the wrong place and that they do not deserve it. However, it is worth knowing, and I also tell my students, that what they have achieved is the result of their hard work. You can achieve something by accident once, in the short term, but when we talk about taking conscious, thoughtful steps in your career, there is no such thing as a coincidence. I try to pass on this attitude to my students.
We often notice that girls choose exact sciences and study these subjects, but then they are afraid to, for example, set up their own startup that will transform into their company. That is why a series of activities was created to support these types of skills and strengthen us – women – in the belief, in the thinking that we are also perfectly suited for this.
Awareness is growing. However, we need to take matters into our own hands. Are you involved in any other projects that are part of the idea of sustainable development?
One such initiative took place at the beginning of this year (2024 – ed.). We applied for a grant in the European Commission’s Horizon Europe – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions competition. As part of the cooperation, we managed to gather several universities from Europe and outside Europe, including from South Africa. Our goal is to practically translate scientific research – mathematical and computer science research for use in the cities in which we live. We want to identify the problems and issues that our cities struggle with and translate them into the language of mathematics or combinatorial optimisation, with the eleventh goal in mind – sustainable cities and communities. More and more often, observing scientific work – my own and that of my colleagues – I see that we include the idea of sustainable development in it.
You can achieve something by accident once, in the short term, but when we talk about taking conscious, thoughtful steps in your career, there is no such thing as a coincidence.
We wonder how our research and work can translate into energy savings, how we can encourage residents to use public transport or bike rentals more often. On 27 May we learned that our project was very well assessed and will be co-financed ( details about the project can be found here: https://mfi.ug.edu.pl/news/112018/wielki-sukces-zespolu-z-instytutu-informatyki-grant-w-wysokosci-ponad-55-tys-euro – ed.)
Heartfelt congratulations! Thank you for the interview and I wish you success in the implementation of the project and in further endeavours.
BIO:
Doctor Hanna Furmańczyk is a researcher at the Institute of Computer Science, University of Gdańsk, in the Department of Combinatorial Optimisation. She specialises in algorithmic graph theory and its applications. Her research covers various aspects of this field, including issues related to combinatorial optimisation methods.
She obtained her Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Gdańsk. She is an active member of the academic community, participating in various conferences and publishing scientific articles in renowned journals. Doctor Hanna Furmańczyk collaborates with scientists from both Poland and abroad, taking part in various research projects. She is also involved in the popularisation of science.
Doctor Furmańczyk is also involved in teaching, conducting classes for students of computer science. She is a valued lecturer, known for the clarity of her lectures and her commitment to the teaching process.
Privately, a wife and mother. She likes travelling and mountain hiking.
Interviewed by Maja Lohse