The new Director of the Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, v. v. i. will be Mgr. Daniel Michniak, PhD.
Mgr. Daniel Michniak, PhD. graduated at the Faculty of Science of the Comenius University in Bratislava in 1997 in the field of teaching general education subjects of mathematics and geography. In 1997-2003 he completed his doctoral studies at the Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, as a training institute of his Alma Mater, in the field of regional geography. In his scientific work, he mainly deals with topics related to transport accessibility, commuting, regional development and tourism development. He has been involved in several national and international projects, among which we can mention in particular the INFRAREGTUR project (2010-2012) ” Infrastructural and organizational possibilities of spatial accessibility improvement as a factor of development for the Polish-Slovak tourist regions” within the Cross-border Cooperation Programme Poland – Slovak Republic 2007-2013, for which he was the coordinator and principal investigator of the Slovak part of the project. Among the most important awards for his work are two prizes of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, in 2008 the Slovak Academy of Sciences Award for the results of cooperation with universities, for co-authorship in the creation of scientific research works the Population Atlas of Slovakia and Demogeographical Analysis of Slovakiaand in 2010 the Slovak Academy of Sciences Award for science dissemination and educational activities (prize awarded to the team of the Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences for the encyclopaedic work Slovakia A-Ž).
Daniel Michniak’s working life is linked to the Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, where he has worked since 1997. From 2006 to 2014 he held the position of Scientific Secretary of the Institute and from 2014 to 2016 he was Deputy Director. He also served as the member of the Institute’s Scientific Board (2010-2014) and represented the Institute in the Assembly of Slovak Academy of Sciences (2013-2014). On 1.5.2016 he was entrusted with the leadership of the Institute as its Director. From 1.1.2025, the President of the SAS appointed him Director of the Institute of Geography of the SAS, v. v. i. for the third term of office.
