Philosophy
Hannah Ajewole is a researcher in philosophy with interest in bioethics and feminism. She is presently writing her PhD thesis on Simone de Beauvoir existentialist feminism as a foundation for gender egalitarianism.
E-mail: hannah.ajewole@gssr.edu.pl
Agata Bielińska is a researcher in the Center for Psychoanalytic Thought at IFiS. She is preparing a dissertation on the (post)psychoanalytic philosophy of love. Her research interests include contemporary philosophy of the subject and the philosophical implications of psychoanalytic theory. Agata is a co-editor of the academic journal „wunderBlock: Psychoanaliza i Filozofia” (wunderBlock: Psychoanalysis and Philosophy). Currently, she is co-editing a collection of essays with Adam Lipszyc, Space in Psychoanalysis, Psychoanalysis in Space (Routledge, London, forthcoming).
E-mail: agata.bielinska@gssr.edu.pl
Filip Brzeźniak is part of Research Group for the Philosophy of Culture at IFiS. His dissertation focuses on the historical and speculative relations between melancholy and radical, left or revolutionary political philosophy. In his research, Filip relies on different strands of Critical Theory, poststructuralism, psychoanalysis and Political Theology to analyze the often repressed emancipatory and positive side of melancholy. Some of his work has been published in Le Monde Diplomatique – Edycja Polska, Praktyka Teoretyczna, Wakat, Dyskurs i Dialog.
E-mail: filip.brzezniak@gssr.edu.pl
Andrzej Frelek, Ph.D. candidate at GSSR, IFiS PAN, primarily interested in Marx’s critique of political economy and the critical theory of Theodor Adorno. In his work, he applies the approaches of those two thinkers to problems connected with climate change and the relation of society to nature. In his multidisciplinary work, he also utilizes theoretical inputs from other fields, such as those of sustainability studies, environmental sociology, literary theory and psychoanalysis.
E-mail: andrzej.frelek@gssr.edu.pl
Gniewomir Hawrasz is a doctoral researcher in Early Modern European Intellectual History at IFiS. In his dissertation, Gniewomir explores the impact of Italian Neoplatonic and Hermetic traditions on medical and natural philosophical education received by Poles in sixteenth-century Northern Italy. Gniewomir is a member of the research team of an ERC Consolidator Grant Project: “From East to West, and Back Again: Student Travel and Transcultural Knowledge Production in Renaissance Europe (c. 1470-c. 1620).”
E-mail: gniewmoir.hawrasz@gssr.edu.pl
Maciej Huzarski is a PhD candidate at the Graduate School for Social Research. He focuses on the phenomenon of excess, while also being interested in the Peter Sloterdijk’s texts, psychoanalysis, and poetics of philosophical writing.
E-mail: maciej.huzarski@gssr.edu.pl
Adam Michał Ostrowski is a PhD candidate in Philosophy at IFiS PAN. In his dissertation, he studies the crossroads of modern 20th Century theology with philosophy, focusing on anthropology, drama, and the dialogical principles. His primary point of interest is the figure of Hans Urs von Balthasar and the interdisciplinary study of human subjectivity and selfhood. Adam is a graduate of the Artes Liberales College at the University of Warsaw.
E-mail: adam.ostrowski@gssr.edu.pl
Marcin Rabiza is a researcher in the Section for Logic and Cognitive Science at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. His dissertation research focuses on the philosophy of artificial intelligence, with particular emphasis on the black box problem. In his work, Marcin investigates the connection between explanation and understanding in opaque machine learning, drawing from the accounts of explanation in the philosophy of science and epistemological theories of understanding.
E-mail: marcin.rabiza@gssr.edu.pl
Graduated in radiology, theology, and canon law, in philosophy, Dariusz Tubacki focuses his research on phenomenology, its historical and conceptual background, and developments, especially in French authors. Ph.D. thesis undertakes the theme of the constitution of subjectivity according to the saturated phenomenon of revelation in Jean-Luc Marion’s phenomenology of givenness.
Sociology
Daniel Addy is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the Graduate School for Social Research, IFiS-PAN. He is passionate about understanding the complexities of human society and the social forces that shape it. His PhD dissertation investigates the African migrant businesspeople in Eastern Europe; tax compliance and social remittances.
Email: daniel.addy@gssr.edu.pl
Daria is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the GSSR holding the MSc degrees in Financial Management and International Economics. She has doctoral studies background in Political Science and professional experience in Finance and Project Management (PRINCE2 certified).
Her academic interest lays within the field of Migration studies focusing on International migration policy, it’s crisis response and sustainable development in the frame of the latest global scale crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Email: daria.batychko@gssr.edu.pl
Anna Bednarczyk is a PhD student at IFiS. She is working on a dissertation on gender, urban safety, and care practices located in Córdoba, Argentina. She s a recipient of the NCN Preludium grant for the project “The spatiality of urban safety and care. A qualitative study of young women’s life trajectories in Argentina.” She is a board member of the European Sociological Association Research Network 37 Urban Sociology.
E-mail: anna.bednarczyk@gssr.edu.pl
Xi has two master’s degrees, one in disability and education, and the other one in philosophy. She has research experiences in the sociology of health and illness, social inclusion, disability rights, and education policy studies, and her new passion is to study policies and social interventions concerning the prevention of environmental degradation. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in environmental sociology at GSSR, and her doctoral thesis project is a critical inquiry into renewable energy technology and foreign capital in Poland.
E-mail: xi.chen@gssr.edu.pl
I have obtained a Master’s degree in sociology. Thesis: The Impact of Women’s Labor Migration on Children Left in Georgia. My past research experiences include studies in healthcare, education, labour, socialization, social interaction and political participation. Currently, my research interests are migration-related, mainly focusing on transnationalism, transnational families and parenting roles.
Emilia Kowalewska focuses on competing constitutionalisms in post-1989 Poland drawing on insights from comparative public law, socio-legal studies, new-institutionalism and critical realism. She won recruitment competitions for full-time research positions at ISP PAN in 2019, 2020 & 2021, and secured a visiting studentship at the EUI (2021-22). She holds a Degree in Law (University of Cambridge), an LLM, and an MA in Society & Politics. She is a PRINCE2-accredited project manager and a human rights expert (formerly at OSCE/ODIHR).
E-mail: emilia.kowalewska@gssr.edu.pl
I have obtained a BA in philosophy and an MA in religion studies at the Donetsk State Institute of Artificial Intelligence Problems (Ukraine), and I am working on my doctoral thesis in sociology at GSSR. Previously, I had a fellowship at the University of Vienna (2022) and participated in the GSSR Academic Programme for Ukraine (2022-23). Currently, I am spending a semester at the Ludwig Maximilians University of München on a short-term scholarship.
My field of specialization comprises sociology of knowledge, social epistemology, and social and political anthropology, with an emphasis on discursive politics. I prefer qualitative methods and am passionate about discourse analysis and comparative cross-national research.
Email: yuliia.kyselova@gssr.edu.pl
Kirill is a PhD candidate at the GSSR, IFiS PAN, where he studies research in the sociology of religion. The topic of his dissertation is “Changes in the Orthodox religiosity in Post-Soviet Russia”. His research interests include church-state relations in Post-communist countries, Old Believers and religious minorities. Kirill obtained GSSR scholarship in 2020. Kirill is a recipient of Erasmus+ grant at the Central European University.
E-mail: kirill.lapitskii@gssr.edu.pl
Olga Li is a member of the research unit on Comparative Analyses of Social Inequality (IFiS PAN) currently involved in Cross-National Biographies (CNB-Young) and Polish Panel Survey (POLPAN) grant projects. For her PhD thesis, she is conducting quantitative research on political participation in authoritarian regimes. Her research interests include survey methodology and data analysis, ex-post survey data harmonisation, understanding of democracy and political participation.
E-mail: olga.li@gssr.edu.pl
Kuba is a graduate in economics from the University of Bologna with a broad pan-European academic experience, currently serving the public at the Polish Ministry of Finance. Their academic interests oscillate around materialist approaches to queer theory and the political economy of post-89 Poland. In their PhD research, through the analysis of Polish economic transformation, Kuba researches how neoliberal material constraints on sexuality have reconfigured the lives of queer individuals and collectives.
Email: kuba.malec@gssr.edu.pl
Jacek Mazurczak is a third-year Ph.D. student at GSSR, pursuing his Ph.D. in sociology (IFiS PAN). Jacek is studying the phenomenon of radicalization leading to extremism and terrorism in Europe. His Ph.D. project involves applying Emile Durkheim’s theoretical framework to explain the different stages of radicalization. His experience includes not only academic research, but also providing training for law enforcement, serving as an expert witness in numerous court cases, and supporting human rights NGOs in assisting hate crime victims and carrying out strategic litigation.
Wiktoria Morawska is sociologist and researcher of synagogue architecture in Institute of Philosophy and Sociology PAN. She specializes in researching social inequalities (especially in the promotion and position of women) and in synagogues as places of non-memory. She has worked in NCN research projects devoted to mobility and attachment to place. She received MEiN research grants: Perły Nauki (2023), Najlepsi z Najlepszych (2021).
She is active in the field of applied social sciences: supporting research in revitalization processes in Wrocław, and initiates and coordinates social projects.
E-mail: wiktoria.morawskapp@gmail.com
Baris Kamyab Muhammedrezai is a PhD candidate in sociology at IFiS. Following his graduation from medical school, he started his research on providing a detailed insight into how mental health policies and medical practices take into consideration, acknowledge, or even act upon the social and cultural differences among populations inhabiting Turkey and the West-originating medical knowledge system.
E-mail: baris.muhammedrezai@gssr.edu.pl
PhD candidate in environmental sociology in Graduate School for Social Research and Augustin Cournot Doctoral School of University of Strasbourg, France. She is preparing her PhD thesis on governance and public engagement of European wetlands as a researcher in „A socio-ecological evaluation of wetlands restoration in favour of the European pond turtle Emys reintroduction and associated biodiversity: a pan-European approach (Emys-R)” project under the joint supervision of dr hab. Krzysztof Niedziałkowski (Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland) and prof. Rémi Barbier (École Nationale du Génie de l’Eau et d’Environnement, France). Research interests: deliberative and participatory practices in biodiversity conservation, systems theory and environmental management theory.
E-mail: patrycja.romaniuk@gssr.edu.pl
Emilia Sieczka, a researcher in the project ‘The national habitus formation and the process of civilization in Poland after 1989: a figurational approach’ funded by the National Science Centre (NCN). Currently, a visiting researcher at CReSPo at Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles. She was a co-organizer of 2022 international conference ‘Transforming State Socialism in East-Central Europe. Historical Sociology of the Long Change’ and 2022 international workshop ‘Violence and its sublimation within the fantasy-reality continuum’ in cooperation with GSSR, Norbert Elias Foundation, Faculty of Sociology (University of Warsaw) and Centre for Psychoanalytic Thought (IFiS).
In her dissertation, Emilia applies a figurational approach to the study of national mobilization in post-transformational Poland through an investigation of the school communities.
E-mail: emilia.sieczka@gssr.edu.pl
Vera Syrakvash is a 2nd-year GSSR doctoral student in Sociology. Her research focuses on the linkages between feminist digital activism in Belarus and women’s agency, and spans issues related to new forms of civil society, hybrid global activism based on solidarity, and global safety and cooperation. Vera is a part of the Global Mobility of Talent Research Group of Carleton University. She has worked as a practitioner and researcher in the NGO and development sector in Belarus and Eastern Europe.
E-mail: vera.syrakvash@gssr.edu.pl
https://www.mobilityforinnovation.info/team
Beata Szulęcka is a 4th-year Ph.D. student and a researcher in the Rare Disease Social Research Centre at IFiS PAN. She works in the field of critical mental health studies. Beata’s dissertation explores the psychiatrists’ and patients’ understandings and experiences of depression against the backdrop of the popularization of the medicalized idiom of depression in Poland after the 1990s. Her research has been published in East European Politics & Societies. Beata was a co-organizer of the international seminar series “Critical Mental Health Seminars.”
Piotr Trzaskowski is part of the Research Group on Comparative Analysis of Social Inequality at IFIS. His dissertation research is interdisciplinary and focuses on the emergence of the deliberative mini-publics on climate. In 2022 and 2023 he received small grants from NAWA PROM and PTS. He works in the NGO sector conducting campaigns and delivering workshops on mobilization, communication, and group processes.
Aleksandra Wojtaszek is a first-year Ph.D. student at GSSR. Her research interests focus on urban studies, spatial planning in the Middle East. Aleksandra is a part of project Made in Iraq: urban planning, reconstruction and change during international sanctions funded by the National Science Centre (NCN). She has four years work experience in the NGO sector, implementing both humanitarian and development projects in the Middle East (Lebanon, Iraq) and Poland.
Political Science
Sara Nowacka is a 4th-year Ph.D. student at GSSR, pursuing her Ph.D. in Political Science (IPS PAN) and an Arab countries expert in the Polish Institute of International Affairs. Her research experience spans both academia and the non-governmental sector in Europe and in the Global South, in areas of global education, migration, and sustainable development. Sara’s dissertation focuses on transboundary water issues in the Middle East.
Siarhei Salei is a PhD student at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He is working on a dissertation on historical politics in Post-Soviet Belarus.
Siarhei got academic degrees in History (1995, Grodno State University), Medieval Studies (1998, Central European University) and Law (2016, Belarusian State University).
Siarhei has working experience in academia, non governmental and intergovernmental organizations in Belarus and Central and Eastern Europe.
E-mail: siarhei.salei@gssr.edu.pl
https://pan-pl.academia.edu/SiarheiSalei
Marta Szpala holds an MA in International Relations and studied Slavic Studies at the Warsaw University. Senior Fellow in the Centre for Eastern Studies in Warsaw. Political analyst, journalist and commentator specializing in the Western Balkans and EU’s neighbourhood and enlargement policies, energy transformation and civic activism. During PhD studies, Marta wants to focus on de-europeanisation of EU’s enlargement policy and its impact on Western Balkans countries.
E-mail: mszpala@wp.pl
Psychology
Adrianna Aleksandrowicz is a researcher in the Experimental Psychopathology Lab at the Institute of Psychology, where she conducts research on the mechanisms of auditory hallucinations in clinical and non-clinical populations (Preludium Bis, 2019/35/O/HS6/02982). In 2022, she completed a NAWA Preludium Bis internship at the Clinical Neuropsychology Unit (Hamburg, Germany) under the supervision of prof. Steffen Moritz. Her research has been published in Psychiatry Research and the Journal of Clinical Medicine.
E-mail: adrianna.aleksandrowicz@gssr.edu.pl
Paulina Bagrowska is a PhD student in Psychology (IP PAN). She works in the Experimental Psychopathology Lab, where she conducts research on the mechanisms of paranoia-like thoughts and other psychotic-like experiences. Before starting her doctoral studies, she worked at Cardiff University in the UK. Paulina is a recipient of an NCN Preludium grant exploring the psychophysiological aspects of sleep in non-clinical paranoia. Paulina also obtained a GSSR GIMA scholarship for a 3-month research stay at the University of Melbourne in Australia.
E-mail: pbagrowska@psych.pan.pl
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=0OUohWkAAAAJ&hl=pl&oi=ao
Sena Nur Bilgin is a Ph.D. Candidate at Polish Academy of Sciences and MSc. Student in Computer Science – Data Science and Analytics at the Ecole d’Ingénieurs en Informatique, EPITA (Paris, France). She is a research assistant in the OPUS project granted to Dr. Tadeusz Kononowicz in collaboration with the University of Paris-Saclay, Institute of Neuroscience (NEUROPSI). The project aims to understand the brain mechanisms of self-error monitoring in humans and rodents using the concept of time perception in translational research paradigms. Throughout the project, they aim to explore the neuronal basis of self-monitoring using invasive methods in rodents and non-invasive neuroimaging techniques in humans. Sena supported her studies by obtaining GIMA and International Academic Exchange Program Grant scholarships.
Email: sena.bilgin@gssr.edu.pl
Marta Chrustowicz is a 4th year GSSR doctoral student in Psychology (IP PAN). She is interested in using neuromodulation methods to improve social brain activity. Marta’s current project focuses on the impact of loneliness on neurophysiological correlates of social interaction processing and the possibility of increasing the effectiveness of top-down emotion regulation strategies via stimulation of the prefrontal areas. Marta is also a fan of music and handicraft – in her spare time, she paints, sings, learns to play the violin, and decorates furniture.
Hania Gelner is a researcher in the Experimental Psychopathology Lab team at the Institute of Psychology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, where she conducts clinical research funded by the National Center for Science (NCN) OPUS-21 “The role of epigenetic regulation of the FKBP5 gene in moderating the association between psychosocial stress and psychotic-like experiences – a study using experience sampling methodology.”
This project is carried out in cooperation with the Piasts of Silesia Medical University in Wroclaw, the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, and the Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
E-mail: hgelner@sd.psych.pan.pl
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanna-gelner-38a797163/
Katarzyna Goncikowska is a researcher in the Laboratory of Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology at the IP PAN, currently pursuing her doctoral studies in social perception at the GSSR. Her research focuses on the social perception of individuals who incorporate insects into their diet and the implications for promoting insects as a sustainable meat substitute. With a strong interest in the concept of change, her research explores the adoption of an insectivore diet and its significance within the realm of adaptive functions. In addition to her doctoral studies, Katarzyna actively engages in interdisciplinary studies involving animal behaviors within the IP PAN and Timed project at UW, which investigates the relationship between digitalization and time perception, exploring how technology impacts our subjective experience of time. Her interdisciplinary research journey showcases her commitment to unraveling the complex dynamics of living organisms in an ever-evolving environment, contributing to our understanding of adaptive functions and addressing environmental challenges through the promotion of sustainable food sources.
Email: katarzyna.goncikowska@gssr.edu.pl
E-mail: agata.koziol@gssr.edu.pl
Małgorzata Krawczyk is a 5th year GSSR doctoral student in Psychology (IP PAN). Her research focuses on the clinical aspects of social cognitive deficits in neuropsychiatric disorders. In 2019 she started her PhD project investigating neural correlates of social cognition disorders in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (NCN Poland, Preludium 2018/31/N/HS6/0375). She is also a winner of NAWA GIMA scholarship.
Zuzanna Laudańska is a researcher in the Neurocognitive Development Lab & BabyLab at the Institute of Psychology, where she studies development of motor-vocal coordination in infants. Her interdisciplinary research has been published in Frontiers of Psychology, European Journal of Pediatrics, and Entropy journals. Zuzanna is a recipient of an NCN Preludium grant for the project ”Sit and face the world: Infants’ vocal production and visual attention to toys, faces and the articulating mouth across the transition to independent sitting” as well as a GSSR GISA scholarship in 2022 and GSSR GIMA fellowship for research stay at the University of Groningen, Netherlands.
E-mail: zuzanna.laudanska@gssr.edu.pl
Monika Malon is a PhD student in the Social Neuroscience Lab at the Institute of Psychology. She gained experience working as a Research Assistant in three grants funded by the National Science Center conducting behavioral and neurophysiological assessments. Her scientific interests are currently focused on the association between subjective social isolation and prosocial tendencies.
E-mail: mmalon@sd.psych.pan.pl
http://www.neuronauka-spoleczna.pl/zespol/monika-malon/
Zuzanna Molenda is a PhD candidate and a researcher at the Political Cognition Lab, Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Graduate School for Social Research, Polish Academy of Sciences. Her scientific interests include emotion regulation, coping with stress, types of in-group identity, and conspiracy beliefs. She is currently involved in several projects, including the NCN Opus grant and the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education Science for Society Grant.
E-mail: zmolenda@sd.psych.pan.pl
https://scholar.google.pl/citations?user=7j5YhP8AAAAJ&hl=pl&oi=ao
Katarzyna Obarska is a researcher in the Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory at the Institute of Psychology. Her dissertation research focuses on sexualized drug use and its association with substance use disorder and compulsive sexual behavior disorder. Katarzyna obtained a GSSR GISA scholarship in 2022 and a NAWA PROM scholarship in 2020. Her research has been published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, Journal of Behavioral Addictions, and World psychiatry: Official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA).
E-mail: katarzyna.obarska@gssr.edu.pl
Aleksandra Piejka is a 5th year GSSR doctoral student in Psychology (IP PAN), working at IP PAN’s Social Neuroscience Lab. Aleksandra researches the impact of loneliness on social cognition and the autonomous nervous system. She is a laureate of the Scholarship of the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences, winner of the GSSR International Scholarship Award, GISA, and NAWA GIMA scholarship (NAWA STER).
Hubert Plisiecki is a psychology PhD candidate with a background in psychology and machine learning. His research employs natural language processing and machine learning techniques to contribute novel insights to psychological science, particularly in the area of emotions research. Hubert has applied his expertise to various settings, from academic institutions (assisting on academic grants) to intergovernmental organizations like the OECD, working on projects such as analysis of market reactions to EU policy changes, data mining of parliamentary debates, enhancing the reliability of psychological research, and analyzing digital traces.
Email: hplisiecki@gmail.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hubert-plisiecki-64182b1ab/
Anna Staniszewska is a researcher at the Institute of Psychology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in the Laboratory of Clinical Neuroscience. Her educational background combines knowledge from disciplines such as physics and psychology. Her scientific interests include clinical and cognitive neuroscience, electroencephalography (EEG), signal processing and analysis, neural mechanisms of addictive behaviors, and neurodevelopmental disorders. She is a PhD student in the SHENG project, which aims to integrate the theory of prediction errors in substance and behavioral addictions using the evoked potential method.
Researcher at the Institute of Psychology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in the Laboratory of Clinical Neuroscience. She gained experience by doing research by EEG. She is currently working in the project SHENG, studying predictive error in addicts by EEG.
E-mail: dorota.stelmaszynska@gssr.edu.pl
Marta Urbaniak is a researcher in the Psycholinguistics and Cognitive Psychology Laboratory at the Institute of Psychology. Her dissertation focuses on the plasticity of grammatical and semantic processing networks in brains of congenitally blind individuals.
E-mail: marta.urbaniak@gssr.edu.pl
Joanna Wąsowicz is a researcher at the Institute of Psychology of Polish Academy of Sciences. Her dissertation research focuses on the attitude formation and change via Evaluative Conditioning. She co-organised a conference “Zderzenia Poznawcze 2020” and co-authored a paper in Kosmos quarterly that addressed the debate on free will from a neuroscientific perspective. Her interests include cognitive neuropsychology, particularly topics related to attention, visual perception, and attitude change.
E-mail: joanna.wasowicz@gssr.edu.pl
https://uw.academia.edu/JoannaWąsowicz
Marcelina Wiśniewska is a researcher in the Social Neuroscience Lab at the Institute of Psychology. Her research focuses on the investigation of the neural, physiological and behavioral markers of perceived social isolation, or loneliness. She is a PhD student in NCN Grant OPUS 2018/31/B/HS6/02848, ‘How does loneliness impact social information processing? From neural activity through physiological markers to everyday functioning’.
E-mail: marcelina.wisniewska@gssr.edu.pl
June is currently a PhD student at the Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences. Her research goal is to examine emotions and well-being with a balanced, culturally sensitive perspective. Her research topics include the functions of and beliefs about emotions, emotions and well-being in cross-cultural contexts. She is from Hong Kong, a city regarded as a hybrid of East and West, and so is she and her research. She wants to go beyond.
E-mail: chun.yeung@gssr.edu.pl