Uniwersytet Śląski w Katowicach

LECTURERS

BEYOND BARRIERS

the Role of Social Sciences in building Accessibility

08.06.2026 – 12.06 2026

Salomeja Karaseviciute is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Social Work Study Program Committee at the Department of Social Work, Faculty of Arts and Education, Kauno Kolegija Higher Education Institution, Lithuania. She is education, elderly and disability studies researcher. She is the project manager in partners country of Erasmus+ Programme KA220-Sch – „DIGITAL HUMANITIES“ with partners from Spain, Italy and Norway. She is a reviewer of Scientific Publications in different Scientific journals. She is member of the Ethics Commission for Social Service Workers under the Ministry of Social Security and Labour in Lithuania and member of the Staff Committee of the Commission for the Coordination of the Issues of Access to Products and Services under the Department of Disability Affairs under the Ministry of Social Security and Labour in Lithuania. She has conducted over 120 original seminars for social workers nationally and internationally. Her scientific articles and theses is published international and national scientific publications. She read over 50 presentations at international and national research practical conferences. Supervised over 20 successfully defended bachelor’s theses. The directions of associate professor’s scientific research are as follows educational management, higher education, professional philosophy and values, social inclusion, disability, universal design, gerontology, social policy and social work ethic.

Łukasz Łata, originally from Kraków, began his professional career abroad, living and working in various countries across Europe, North America, and Africa. He is passionate about design thinking, innovation, digital and organizational transformation, and education.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Management and Information Systems as well as an MBA from the University of Cape Town. He has spent most of his career in the private sector, supporting companies in automating business processes across industries such as telecommunications, banking, insurance, and e-commerce.

While working on transformation projects (system implementations, digital transformation, and innovation methodologies), he recognized the enormous importance of individual and organizational culture. He is convinced that no transformation can succeed if the focus is solely on processes and technology while neglecting people and organizational culture. This belief inspired him to further develop in this field.

Łukasz is a certified Integral Coach. Since 2022, he has been collaborating with d-school Afrika at the Hasso Plattner Institute as a Design Thinking Coach, and since February 2024 he has served as Program Lead at the Hasso Plattner Institute part of University Potsdam, supporting students and organizations in the areas of innovation and Design Thinking methodology.

Tomasz Kasprzak is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Sociology, Faculty of Social Science, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. He is a sociologist and disability studies researcher. He has been a Visiting Professor at Kauno Kolegija Higher Education Institution, Lithuania (2025). He is the Principal Investigator of the research project “Being a Deafblind Employee: Experiences of Deafblind People in the Labour Market in Poland and Lithuania”, funded by the National Science Centre, Poland. He also serves as Vice-Chair of the Disability Sociology Section of the Polish Sociological Association. Additionally, he is the Deputy Principal Investigator of the project “Structures of Uncertainty: Inclusive Education in Central and Eastern European Countries” (2024–2027), conducted with partners from Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, funded by the Visegrad Fund. His research interests include disability studies, sociology of work, social inclusion, and labour market participation of people with disabilities.

Magdalena Christ – Doctor of Social Sciences in Pedagogy; Professor at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Institute of Pedagogy, Faculty of Social Sciences. Author of scholarly and popular science publications on education. Her academic interests include the implementation of visual thinking and sketchnoting, tutoring, Design Thinking, LEGO® Serious Play®, mindfulness training, outdoor and adventure education, and gamification in higher education didactics.

Recipient of the Transform4Europe Innovative Teaching Award 2023. Coach of the student team from the University of Silesia in Katowice, which won first place twice (2024 and 2025) at the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals (Iowa State University, Ames, and Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA). Winner, together with her team, of first place and the Audience Award in the Spin Business Accelerator program. Co-supervisor of the student research group “Włącznik”. Participant in universal design training courses under the project “UNIWERS-US: Staff of the University of Silesia for Universal Design”. Mentor in the project “DUO – University of Silesia as an Accessible, Universal, and Open University” and in the student competition “Invent the Future: Katowice – City of Science of the Future”.

Zuzanna Neuve-Église is a sociologist and linguist holding a PhD in social sciences and working as an assistant professor at the Institute of Sociology, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. Her research interests include discourse, communication, collective imaginaries, metropolisation processes, and territorial identification, with strong engagement in qualitative and relational research practice. Since 2016 she has been actively involved in the Observatory on Urban and Metropolitan Processes, contributing to applied research, stakeholder engagement, and knowledge transfer between academia and society. She has participated in numerous national and international research and educational projects devoted to urban issues, as well as trainings in person-centred and network-based mental health care. She is a member of the Polish Sociological Association.

The Accessibility Coordinator at the University of Silesia in Katowice, specializes in digital accessibility for academic publications and websites. She manages educational inclusion for students with diverse needs, coordinates accessible university events, and consults on infrastructure modernization.

An expert in alternative communication methods, and long-time deafblind assistant. Ms. Nawrot has supported deafblind national and international community organizing and advocacy and has monitored UN CRPD implementation in Poland.

An alumna of the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program, she served as a facilitator for the Open World Program (U.S. Congressional Office for International Leadership) in the area of disability inclusion.

She conducts doctoral research on deafblind education.

Dr hab. Grzegorz Gawron, Prof. UŚ, affiliated with the Institute of Sociology at the University of Silesia in Katowice. Author and editor of publications in the fields of co-production of public services, productivity of older people, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and the social application of design.

Specialist in Universal Design/Design for All and Universal Design for Learning; Coordinator of the Universal Design Centre at the University of Silesia. Mentor and Leader of the Expert Team in the DUO I and DUO II projects.

Visiting lecturer at Universitat de València (Spain), Universidade do Porto (Portugal), Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal), Kirikkale University (Turkey), Comenius University in Bratislava (Slovakia), and Abo Akademi University (Finland).

Principal investigator and participant in research projects (including ISABEL – Horizon Project), as well as organiser and speaker at national and international conferences (including in Japan, the USA, Canada, Brazil, Greece, the United Kingdom, and Italy).

Author and consultant of regional and local strategic documents, mainly in the field of development and social policy. Expert for the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR), Foundation for Polish Science (FNP), National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAVA), Prime Minister’s Office, and the Ministry of Family and Social Policy. Consultant on ageing for the World Health Organization (WHO) and member of the international research team at the WHO – Center for Health Development in Kobe.

Działanie współfinansowane w ramach projektu International from the beginning – wsparcie umiędzynarodowienia finansowanego przez Narodową Agencję Wymiany Akademickiej w ramach Programu STER.

Więcej: https://us.edu.pl/szkola-doktorska/ster/