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Our Research
The fourth division (BP4) of The Fundamental Research Department (Departament Badań Podstawowych) deals with research in astrophysics and astronomy, mainly their observational aspects. The BP4 division is located in Warsaw at 7 Pasteura street.
The research conducted at the Astrophysics Laboratory includes:
- Cosmology: CMB, large structures of the Universe, dark matter, non-standard cosmology and gravitational lensing
- Gravitational waves: Multi-messenger astronomy, new tools for cosmology
- Physics of galaxies: Formation and evolution of galaxies, AGN, quasars and gamma-ray burst
- Interstellar medium: Star formation, neutron stars and white dwarfs
The BP4 division is also involved in several international projects. Check our Scientific Projects page for more information.
Seminars
Upcoming seminars for all of NCBJ can be found here.
The seminar archive for NCBJ can be found here.
Latest News
Scroll down for the latest news about the research done by our division or click here.
VISTULA Workshop
The workshop is organized as part of the project CLEVER: Cosmology & GaLaxy EVolution In The New ObsErving ProgRammes. Project founded by the Strategic Partnership project BPI/PST/2024/1/00019 by NAWA – Polish National Agency For Academic Exchange.
The rationale
Machine learning and modern statistical methods are becoming central tools in astrophysics and cosmology, from survey data reduction and photometric redshifts to time‑domain discovery, image classification and parameter inference. This workshop offers a structured introduction to statistical foundations and machine learning concepts.
The goal of this workshop is to provide a structured, beginner‑friendly entry point to machine learning and advanced statistics in astrophysics, while progressively reaching more advanced topics. The format will combine morning lectures with afternoon hands‑on sessions in which participants work through concrete astrophysical use cases under the guidance of the invited speakers and local tutors.
The workshop is aimed at Master’s students, early‑stage PhD students and junior researchers from NCBJ, the University of Warsaw, and the CLEVER partner institutions. It will explicitly welcome participants with limited prior exposure to machine learning, provided they are comfortable with basic programming (e.g. Python) and standard statistical concepts. By the end of the workshop, participants should be able to: understand the main families of machine learning methods used in current astrophysical research; critically assess when a machine‑learning approach is appropriate; implement and evaluate simple models on real data; and recognise common pitfalls such as overfitting, data leakage and biased training sets.
The invited speakers span a broad range of applications including galaxy formation and evolution, large‑scale surveys, time‑domain and transient astronomy, exoplanets and cosmology.
Hosted in Warsaw as part of the CLEVER-NAWA partnership , the workshop will strengthen training and collaboration across the network by bringing together students, junior researchers, and invited experts for a hands-on introduction to machine learning and advanced statistics in astrophysics.
Invited speakers:
- Ting-Yun Cheng (Kapteyn Astronomical Institute in Groningen)
- Antonio La Marca (Leiden Observatory, European Space Agency)
- Alex Razim (Centre for Astrophysics and Cosmology, Nova Gorica)
- Carlo Schimd (Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille)
- Will J. Pearson (National Centre for Nuclear Research)
For more info, or to register for the workshop, CLICK HERE
Conference Participation
BP4 participate in many national and international conferences. We share our cutting edge research and enthusiasm with other astronomers across the world. Below are pictures from our trips across the globe over the last year or so.
Leiden, The Netherlands
24-28 August 2026
SLAC, Menlo Park, California, USA
27-31 July 2026
Garching, Germany
20-24 July 2026
Teramo, Italy
20-23 July 2026
Poznań, Poland
6-10 July 2026
Lausanne, Switzerland
29 June - 3 July 2026
Tenerife, Spain
22-26 June 2026
Cambridge, UK
22-26 June 2026
Paris, France
22-26 June 2026
Dublin, Ireland
8-12 June 2026
Latest News
In the Universe, appearance matters: Dusty shapes of colourful galaxies
Can we see what is hidden in a cloud of dust without the aid of infrared vision? Scientists involved in the largest optical survey of the sky this decade, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), led by a group from the NCBJ’s Astrophysics Division, in a paper published in April in Astronomy & Astrophysics, propose a novel method to extract information about dust in galaxies without actually observing its infrared light.
New observations of the outer Milky Way help to understand the star formation process
Having an accurate understanding of the star formation process is essential to comprehend the formation and evolution of galaxies, and this requires to unveil the impact of environment on star formation. In a new study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, scientists used a new survey of the outer Galaxy to refine the distance and properties of star-forming clumps and study how star formation behave in comparison with the inner Galaxy.
Dr. Michael Romano receives prestigious award from Astronomy & Astrophysics
Dr. Michael Romano, a researcher at the Department of Astrophysics of the National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ), has been honored with the prestigious "Early Career Research Award" by the journal "Astronomy & Astrophysics" (A&A). The "Early Career Research Award" is bestowed annually upon young scientists who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments in the field of astrophysics.
Gas on the run – ALMA spots the shadow of a molecular outflow from a quasar when the Universe was less than one billion years old
Theoretical predictions have been confirmed with the discovery of an outflow of molecular gas from a quasar when the Universe was less than a billion years old. The results obtained from the observations of the ALMA telescope are of great importance for understanding the processes of star formation in galaxies. Dr. Darko Donevski from the NCBJ Astrophysics Division participated in the work of the research team.
Midlife Crisis of the Universe: Galaxies’ interactions did not affect interstellar dust
A new study has shed light on the intricate cosmic dance between interstellar dust in galaxies, properties of galaxies, and their environments. For a very long time, the relations between dust and the galaxies was investigated. However, the link between dust properties and the neighborhood of galaxies was poorly understood. In the newest work published in Astronomy&Astrophysics, the scientists studied the relationship between the amount of stellar light absorbed by dust, and the environments of galaxies.
Professor Agnieszka Pollo has taken the position of Deputy Director for Science at NCBJ
On October 16, 2023, a change took place in the position of Deputy Director for Science at NCBJ. The former director, Professor Ewa Rondio, passed on her duties to Professor Agnieszka Pollo, an astrophysicist who has been successfully leading the rapidly developing Department of Astrophysics.
