From the left: Dagna Kocur, PhD, Marek Suska, PhD, Marlena Drapalska-Grochowicz, PhD, Agnieszka Bielska-Brodziak, PhD, DLitt, Assoc. Prof., Sławomir Piekarczyk, PhD
Ombudsperson and her team
My name is Agnieszka Bielska-Brodziak and I have been the Student and PhD Student Ombudsperson at the University of Silesia since 1 September 2020. I am an associate professor of law, a legal counsel and a court mediator. I also used to work as a trainee prosecutor, and a judge.
Agnieszka Bielska-Brodziak, PhD, DLitt, Assoc. Prof. Photo by private archive.
At the Faculty of Law and Administration I have worked with students in various positions, including as the head of full-time studies, and coordinator for professional internship. I was the tutor of two student research groups – Student Research Group for Animal Rights and Student Research Group „Law and Bioethics”, as well as Animal Rights Section in Student Legal Clinic at the University of Silesia. I also run classes and provide tutoring for students and doctoral students working on their diploma theses. I was greatly honoured in 2015 to receive Laur Studencki (Students’ Laurel) in the „Student’s Friend” category.
I am a participant of two psychotherapy schools. The first one is Gestalt Psychoterapy School[1], whereas the other is Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT-PL) trainings for teachers [2]. I am also a certified development coach after graduating from „Meritum”school,[3] as well as hatha yoga instructor [4]. These competencies help me safely support and accompany young people in solving crisis situations.
TEAM
I work together with my plenipotentiaries – people close to me, whom I know that they understand the problems of students and PhD students well and treat them with great sympathy.
My team consists of three lawyers – Marlena Drapalska-Grochowicz, Sławomir Piekarczyk and Marek Suska. They all hold PhDs in law and are academics. The fourth plenipotentiary is Dagna Kocur, PhD, a psychologist and academic.
Professional preparation and commitment of all four of them allow us to efficiently respond to problems reported to the Student and PhD Student Ombudsperson of the University of Silesia.
I also closely cooperate with psychologists providing psychological support within the Student Service Centre at the University of Silesia. I believe that this form of support and accompaniment may significantly facilitate going through crises that may be faced by members of the academic community.
Footnotes:
[1] Certified by The European Association for Gestalt Therapy (EAGT) and Polskie Towarzystwo Psychologiczne (Polish Psychological Association): https://gestalt.edu.pl/szkola-psychoterapeutow/.
[2] http://fundacja-mindfulness.org/fundacja.
[3] https://meritum.slask.pl.
[4] The course is organised by by Stowarzyszenie Jogi Akademickiej (Academic Yoga Association), which was co-founded by Assoc. Prof. Janusz Szopa, Professsor of the Academy of Physical Education: https://www.jogaakademicka.pl/spages/view/id/17/title/prof-awf-dr-hab-janusz-szopa.