Kornelia Wieczorek

At just 15 years old, Kornelia Wieczorek became the youngest person ever to appear on Forbes’ list of 100 Most Influential Women in Poland – proving that age has nothing to do with one’s power to change the world. Raised in a small town near Łódź, Kornelia’s passion for science began early, despite financial challenges and family difficulties. She moved to Gdynia to pursue an International Baccalaureate high school education, contributing to the family finances through work while still coming top in academic performance among nearly 1,000 students.

Kornelia’s science projects tackle some of today’s biggest medical and environmental challenges. One of her first innovations – a new type of eco-friendly fertiliser – was inspired by coastal algal blooms and earned her a place as the youngest ever Polish representative at Regeneron ISEF, the world’s largest science competition. She’s now developing a dermatology app for seniors and people with disabilities, co-creating a cost-effective oncology applicator device, and conducting neurodegenerative disease research with a Harvard professor.

In terms of reaching out to the community, Kornelia is also the leader of GdyniaScienceSlam – the first national science conference for young people where they get a chance to present their research. She led a team of 20 people and partnered with 30 top Polish institutions to deliver the first version of the conference, which attracted nearly 500 students from all over the country. She is the youngest ever speaker at TEDx Warsaw Women, and has been a keynote speaker at the StartUP in the Palace conference that took place in Poland’s Presidential Palace. Beyond the lab, Kornelia also leads therapeutic workshops for Ukrainian refugee children, and has organised national campaigns on migration and empathy.

Kornelia’s achievements have earned her much recognition. She has been named a Polish Young Rising Innovator by the Polish Presidential Palace, and a finalist in the National Brain Olympiad. She is the only Polish student to have been accepted this year on the Yale Young Global Scholars programme with a full scholarship. Her dream is to combine her passion for science, philanthropy and neurology by becoming one of the best doctors in the field.

If awarded the Global Student Prize, Kornelia plans to fund her internship at Harvard’s Department of Neurodegenerative Diseases, where she will deepen her research on Parkinson’s disease. She also wants to use part of the funds to continue developing her dermatological diagnostic application and oncology treatment device, as well as financing her future study of medicine at institutions with a strong research infrastructure and international collaboration opportunities.