We warmly invite you to a unique meeting with Prof. Rachel Gibson from University of Menchester a world-renowned ERC grant leading scholar in the field of communication and politics. This special meeting is organized within the framework of the 7^th Congress of Polish Communication Association and dedicated to young scholars and early-career researchers in the field of communication and media.

This interactive session will focus on the opportunities, challenges, and reflections on building an academic career. It is not only an occasion to listen but also to actively engage – participants are encouraged to prepare a question in advance related to their academic career development.

Short Information about the meeting:

Guest: Prof. Rachel Gibson ERC Laureate in Communication & Politics
Facilitator: dr. hab. Karolina Koc-Michalska prof. UŚ
Time: 23.09.2025 at 11.30
Venue: Faculty of Social Sciences, Bankowa Street 11, Room 39.

We are looking forward to meet you

Institute of Journalism and Media Communication

The largest media studies event in Poland, which is co-organised by the Institute of Journalism and Media Communication at the University of Silesia, will feature some of the most outstanding researchers in digital politics.

As part of the 7th Congress of the Polish Society for Social Communication, to be held from 22 to 24 September 2025 in Katowice, we will be able to listen to lectures by Guests invited by the University of Silesia in Katowice. Their participation is taking place within the framework of the “Metropolitan Science Support Fund” Programme. #MetropolisScience, funded by the GZM. Upper Silesian and Zagłębie Metropolis.

Professor Rachel Gibson – University of Manchester

Professor Rachel Gibson is a world-class expert on digital political campaigns. She has been researching at the Institute for Social Change at the University of Manchester since 2007 and directed the renowned Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research (CMI) from 2016 to 2019. Her work focuses on the impact of digital technologies on democracy, microtargeting and voter mobilisation.

She is the author of numerous publications, including When the Nerds Go Marching In, a book analysing the evolution of digital campaigns in the UK, Australia, France and the US. Her research points to the ambivalent nature of digitalisation – as a tool for democratisation and a potential source of manipulation and centralisation of power. Institutions like the ERC, ESRC and British Academy have recognised her interdisciplinary approach.

Prof. Claes de Vreese – University of Amsterdam

Professor Claes de Vreese is one of Europe’s leading digital policy researchers. At the University of Amsterdam, he is University Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Society and holds the Chair of Political Communication at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research. He is co-founder of the AI, Media & Democracy Lab and editor-in-chief of Political Communication.

His research focuses on disinformation, polarisation and the crisis of trust in digital democracies. His publications in recent years point to the political instrumentalisation of the fear of disinformation and the role of audience motivation in the recognition of false content. Although he does not spin catastrophic visions, his analyses show that digital education does not always translate into effective political participation.

The 7th Congress of the Polish Society of Social Communication 2025 is co-organised by the Institute of Media Communication of the University of Silesia. More information about the Special Guests and the event itself is available on the Congress organiser’s website Congress.

Monika Frania, PhD, Assoc. Prof. represented the University of Silesia at the 20th international conference DisCo 2025, Empowering Futures: Leveraging Digital Technologies in Education for Youth, Women, and Vulnerable Groups; the event took place on 22-25 June in Prague, Czechia.

She delivered a paper entitled The Teacher at the Intersection of Innovation and Risk: Critical Reflections on Generative, in which she presents selected aspects of research and the reflection on the teacher’s role in the era of AI-enhanced education. As a speaker, she also addressed this topic by presenting her research as part of the project called ‘Śląskie. Obserwatorium edukacji’.

At the conference, Monika Frania, PhD, Assoc. Prof. was also part of an expert panel discussion called Empowering Futures with AI: A Panel Discussion on Education’s Transformation.

An extremely important moment was the voting of the event’s participants in the DisCo 2025 Course Award. Our researcher was awarded first prize in this vote for the idea and implementation of the elective course of the Educational Escape Room. The course’s premise had already gained recognition in international circles, as Monika Frania won first prize in the T4EU Alliance’s ‘Transform4Europe Innovative Teaching Award’ in 2022.

The conference in Czechia was an opportunity to promote both research and educational activities of the University of Silesia.

Read more about the Educational Escape Room on the website at https://us.edu.pl/t4e/dr-monika-frania-laureatka-transform4europe-innovative-teaching-award/

Read more about the project ‘Śląskie. Obserwatorium Edukacji’ on the website at https://obserwatorium-edukacji.us.edu.pl/

Alicja Klasik has been elected to the U23 Athlete Council of the European Fencing Confederation (EFC), joining six Poles who are part of the EFC committees.

Alicja Klasik is a decorated epee fencer who, at the age of 21, won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Paris. She is also a multiple medallist of the World and European Championships in the junior and youth categories, as well as a two-time Polish Senior Champion (2024, 2025) in the individual competition. Moreover, she is a soldier of the Polish Army in the Central Military Sports Complex and a student of Human Resource Management at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Silesia in Katowice.

Alicja Klasik

The energy transformation of European regions, including the Silesian Voivodeship, is a complex and multidimensional process that should be considered not only in terms of technological and economic changes, but also profound social, cultural and identity transformations.

To aid the proper diagnosis and establishment of solutions in this area, an international team will implement the project mInimize coSts and mAximize Benefits in the transitionary European regional Labour markets (ISABEL). Within the project, Poland is represented by researchers from the Institute of Sociology of the University of Silesia in Katowice, including: Rafał Mustera, PhD, DLitt, Assoc. Prof., Łukasz Trembaczowski, PhD and Grzegorz Gawron, PhD, DLitt.

ISABEL is a Horizon Europe research project dedicated to understanding and managing job creation & job destruction (JCD) trends in European job markets.

As automation, AI and sustainability shifts transform the job market, ISABEL aims to support equitable and efficient employment transitions by combining sociological research, economic modelling, AI-based analytics and regional stakeholder engagement.

The developed innovative tools will allow decision-makers and enterprises to anticipate changes in the job market and take proactive measures to develop regional economies, determining broad social development.

ISABEL’s main goals are to provide decision-makers and researchers with innovative AI-based tools that enable:

• analysis of trends in job creation and destruction (JCD) in various regions and socio-economic groups,
• identifying the main factors impacting job market resilience and skills shortages in the context of green and digital transformations,
• generating practical information on how to support sustainable employment growth, retrain workers for future jobs and create sustainable job market policies,
• developing strategies for retraining and upgrading employees’ skills, ensuring a fair and inclusive transformation for groups at risk of exclusion.

More information about the project:

https://isabelproject.eu/

https://www.facebook.com/isabelhorizon

On the first weekend of April, the 34th National Final of the Odyssey of the Mind took place in Gdynia. The event was attended by 2.5 thousand participants from all over Poland, as well as guests from China and Slovakia.

Odyssey of the Mind is not just a competition, but a social movement that is changing the perception of education in Poland. Thanks to such endeavours, young people gain not only knowledge, but also faith in themselves, their capabilities and dreams.

The winning teams will have a unique opportunity to represent our country at the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals in the United States.

Among the winners is the University of Silesia in Katowice!

Congratulations to the team consisting of: Klaudia Nowak, Basia Górecka, Julia Stachura, Sara Piątek, Julia Dziadek, Monika Ziętek, Natalia Uchyła and the team’s supervisor Magdalena Christ, PhD, Assoc. Prof.!

Now the USil team has a moment to rest before the preparations start to present the proposal for solving the long-term problem no. 5 in the 4th age category in English, and to proudly represent Poland, the University of Silesia in Katowice and the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Silesia in the USA at the Michigan State University during the world finals.

We are pleased to inform you that Grzegorz Gawron, PhD, DLitt, has been appointed to an expert group by National Centre for Research and Development.

The National Centre for Research and Development is a key centre for supporting and developing innovative technology and social solutions, creating the knowledge ecosystem and information in that regard. The Centre is involved in, among others, initiating and implementing projects that contribute to the civilisational development of the country.

Experts collaborating with the National Centre for Research and Development take part in various types of works; they take part in the process of selecting applications for funding, preparing content-related assessments of reports or applications for changes at the stage of project implementation or providing other expert opinions for the needs of the Centre. Experts with many years of experience may be involved in inspecting the implemented projects.

Experts and their opinions are key to granting, suspending or changing project funding, thus playing a significant role in the process of creating innovations by Polish entrepreneurs and scientists. Therefore, the Centre is committed to securing the highest quality of experts’ work, both in terms of content and ethics.

Grzegorz Gawron, PhD, DLitt

We are pleased to inform you that Prof. Halina Rusek has been appointed as an external expert for the evaluation of applications submitted to the National Programme for the Development of Humanities.

Congratulations!

About the Programme: https://www.gov.pl/…/narodowy-program-rozwoju-humanistyki

The subject matter of the National Programme for the Development of Humanities is based on a call for proposals for funding for:

1. multi-year projects involving the editing of sources, documents, editorial works, compendiums of knowledge used for research on the Polish cultural heritage, as well as monographs and studies on issues of significant meaning for the Polish national identity (modules ‘National Heritage’ and ‘Fundaments’);
2. multi-year projects of an undisputed research aspect revolving around the editing in the Polish language of the most significant works of culture, especially those related to world humanities in order to introduce them into the Polish cultural circulation (module ‘Universals 2.2’);
3. translations into English, French, German, Italian, Spanish or Russian, and publications of the most renowned monographs of the Polish humanities in order to introduce them into the international circulation of scientific books (module ‘Universals 2.1’).

The goal of the National Programme for the Development of Humanities is to create opportunities for funding projects of vital importance to the scientific and educational policy of the country, meeting the following conditions:

1. are original projects of undisputable scientific advantages;
2. have primary importance for conducting future scientific research or synthesise the current state of research;
3. are characterised by their usefulness for various scientific disciplines within the field of humanities or artistic disciplines, and come in handy in academic teaching;
4. include content related to humanities or apply methods specific to the field of humanities;
5. require forming or maintaining expert research teams (does not concern the module ‘Universals 2.1’).

Prof. Halina Rusek

Photo by ‘Socjologia Katowice’ Facebook profile

Karina Leksy, PhD, DLitt, has been appointed by the National Centre for Research and Development to the Expert Group for Grant Proposal Assessment.

The National Centre for Research and Development is a key centre for supporting and developing innovative technology and social solutions, creating the knowledge ecosystem and information in that regard. The Centre is involved in, among others, initiating and implementing projects that contribute to the civilisational development of the country.

Experts collaborating with the National Centre for Research and Development take part in various types of work; they take part in the process of selecting applications for funding, preparing content-related assessments of reports or applications for changes at the stage of project implementation or providing other expert opinions for the needs of the Centre. Experts with many years of experience may be involved in inspecting the implemented projects.

Experts and their opinions are key to granting, suspending or changing project funding, thus playing a significant role in the process of creating innovations by Polish entrepreneurs and scientists. Therefore, the Centre is committed to securing the highest quality of experts’ work, both in terms of content and ethics.

On behalf of the Internationalisation Team of the Institute of Psychology, we cordially invite employees, students and PhD students to a meeting with esteemed researchers from Ovidius University Of Constanta, Romania: Dr Tănase Tasențe, Dr Mihaela Luminița Sandu and Prof. Mihaela Rus. Our guests specialise in psychological research related to social media and communication, including analysing emotions through social media communication. They wish to share their knowledge during a meeting with the academic community of The University of Silesia. This event will take place on Tuesday, November 26, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. We will meet in the main auditorium at the Faculty of Social Sciences at 53 Grażyńskiego Street in Katowice. This is a unique opportunity to learn about the latest trends in social media research.