From 23 to 26 September 2026, the 28th meeting of the Polish-Slovak Commission for the Humanities, an international body operating on the basis of intergovernmental agreements and supporting the development of Polish-Slovak academic cooperation in the fields of culture, literature, history and language, took place in Trenčín, Slovakia.
At this year’s meeting, representatives of the University of Silesia in Katowice took part as members of the Commission for the first time: Katarzyna Marcol, PhD, DLitt, Assoc. Prof. from the Institute of Cultural Studies, and Sylwia Sojda, PhD, DLitt, from the Institute of Linguistics. The inclusion of these researchers in the Commission’s work strengthens the University of Silesia’s presence in Polish-Slovak academic cooperation and creates new opportunities for developing joint research and academic initiatives. Members of the Polish section of the Commission are appointed by the Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland, while members of the Slovak section are appointed by the Minister of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic.
One of the items on the agenda was the presentation of the latest, 23rd issue of the annual journal Kontakty [Contacts], published under the patronage of the Polish-Slovak Commission for the Humanities. The journal serves as a forum for presenting research and initiatives that foster academic dialogue and cooperation between the humanities communities of both countries.
The Commission’s deliberations were accompanied by an academic conference entitled ‘The Eastern Carpathian Cultural Area: Polish-Slovak Contexts’, devoted to issues of cultural heritage, history, and social and cultural relations in the Polish-Slovak border region and across the Eastern Carpathians.
Further information on the Commission’s activities and the annual journal Kontakty can be found on the website.
