2023 Mr Zdobyslaw Goraj

Zdobyslaw Goraj’s career at the Warsaw University of Technology (WUT) began in 1973, initially as Professor Assistant at
flight dynamics then taking over as Head of the Design Department, and later held the position of Vice-Dean of the Faculty
of Per and Aeronautical Engineering.

In 2006 he created Polish Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics and served as his first President (2006-2008).
Prof. Goraj is an Associate Editor and member of editorial boards of a few aeronautical journals including J. of Aerospace
Engineering, J. of Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Aviation and others. Initiator & main organiser of the
International Conferences starting from “Resent Research and Design Progress in Aeronautical Engineering and its
Progress on Education (RRDPAE)” and changed next into “Research and Education for Aircraft Design (READ)” (1994
2014). Author of numerous scientific papers (more than 100). Doctor Honoris Causa of 2 foreign universities: Moscow
State Aviation Institute and Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, AIAA member; ICAS Programme Committee member
and ICAS Executive Committee member (2020-2021), member of EASN (European Aeronautics Science Network, 2006
2018) Board of Directors, Member of ACARE plenary (2020). President of CEAS (Council of European Aerospace
Societies), 2019-2020. Had supervised and promoted 13 Ph.D. Prof. Goraj was extremally efficient in application for
research grants, mainly from European Union. Important international and domestic projects include UAVNET, CAPECON,
NACRE, SIMSAC, HISAC, PPLANE, SAMONIT, PW-100, AFLONEXT, CENTRLINE.

More than 30 years ago he noticed that the aeronautical sciences and aerospace industry are by nature international.
Coming from this thesis in 1994 he decided to organise the international meetings, called further Seminars and devoted
just to coupling of research and education. In the period of 1994-2008 these seminars were held in Warsaw, Vilnius, Riga,
Tallin, Brno attracting 915 participants presenting 594 papers and 300 published in proceedings or regular journals. The
objectives of Seminar included organising on multinational basis, a forum for discussion and interchange of aeronautical
problems and subjects with special stress to their influence on university education; promoting international co-operation in
the study of such problems in aeronautical science and technology wherever there is a common interest and facilitating
personal contacts between university lecturers and industry engineers. Prof. Goraj personally believed that RRDPAE
Seminars had played a very positive role in preparation of East-European teams to compete for the projects in FP
programmes. Its philosophy is very simple – mutual relations create an additional value, a kind of synergy and can
accelerate the overall progress in Aeronautics.