Bank of Experts
Lidia Baran, PhD, Assistant Professor
Institute of Psychology
Lidia Baran, Doctor of Social Sciences in the field of psychology, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Psychology of the University of Silesia in Katowice. She gained her research experience during training trips to the National University of Ireland (Ireland), University of Jyväskylä (Finland), and Universiteit Gent (Belgium). She is a graduate of postgraduate studies in mindfulness and compassion as well as numerous training courses in contextual behavioural science. Her research interests include Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Relational Frame Theory, psychological flexibility, mindfulness, romantic relationships, and dishonesty. She is a member of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science, Association for Contextual Behavioral Science Polska, and the NAWA expert database.
Ewa Bielska, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
Institute of Education
Expert profile:
- interdisciplinary approach in resistance studies
- interdisciplinary perspective in risk
- crisis and trauma studies
- critical theory
Rafał Cekiera, PhD, Assistant Professor
Institute of Sociology
His main areas of interest include sociology of migration, sociology of religion, and sociology of culture.
Maria Flakus, MA
Institute of Psychology
She works as an Assistant at the Institute of Psychology (since 2014). Her research pursuits are research methodology, statistics, determinants of academic achievement, attitudes towards research and statistics, the psychology of boredom, clinical psychology, and psychotherapy. Also, she works as a psychodynamic psychotherapist (training completed at the Krakow Psychodynamic Center in Krakow, Poland).
Monika Frania, PhD
Institute of Pedagogy
Monika Frania combines work as a scientist and academic teacher. Her research interests are focused on broadly defined media and education and are part of the current media pedagogy and media literacy studies. Her research area is related to communication, new technologies in teaching and learning, information and media competence of children and youth, and the media’s cultural and social contexts, which implies practical activity. Her primary workplace is the University of Silesia in Katowice (Poland). Monika was involved in a research project as a part of the New International Fellowship Mobility Programme for Experienced Researchers (NEWFELPRO) at the University of Split (Croatia); research projects financed by Visegrad International Found (in cooperation with Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic) as well as Mobility Fellowship at the University of Madeira in Funchal and The Centre for Higher Education Studies (CHES) in Prague.
PhD in Pedagogy; MA in Political Science (Social Communication and Journalism), MA in Pedagogy;
More information is available at https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2647-7363 and at https://us.edu.pl/instytut/ipe/dr-monika-frania/
Alicja Gałązka, PhD
Institute of Pedagogy
Her research interests include:
| Communication skills
Drama in education and therapy Teachers and students well-being Positive psychoeducation |
Coaching in education
Damian Guzek, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
Institute of Journalism and Media Communication
Damian Guzek is an Associate Professor at the University of Silesia in Katowice, the leader of a team researching the cartography of new media and the digital sphere, and the Principal Investigator of the project ‘Papal authority transformed by changes in communication.’ He has been involved in several research projects in communication, religion, and politics. After completing his doctoral studies in Katowice, he undertook his post-doc at the Uppsala Religion and Society Research Centre of Uppsala University and a research internship at the School of Divinity at New College, University of Edinburgh. He was also a visiting fellow at the School of Humanities, Keele University. In 2015-2019, he led the Polish National Science Centre’s research grant entitled ‘Media towards the idea of a secular state.’ Recently, he participated in the ‘Illiberal turn’ project conducted at Loughborough University. His research is driven by questions related to media consumption and digital media, religions, and politics.
Łukasz Jach, PhD
Institute of Psychology
Łukasz Jach – psychologist and sociologist. Author of publications in health psychology, quality of life psychology, evolutionary psychology, economic psychology, and psychology of science. He likes to promote psychology, among others, as part of the texts published in Tygodnik Powszechny. His research concerns the relationship of modern mentality with the ways of perceiving health as well as the psychological contexts of people’s attitudes towards science, scientists, scientific discoveries, and the applications of scientific knowledge.
Katarzyna Juszczyk-Frelkiewicz, PhD
Institute of Sociology
| The areas of my interests:
· Sociology of marriage and family: monoparental families, alternative forms of family life (cohabitation), division of housework, procreative plans. · Social policy: support for women and family, support for multicultural families. · Women in the labour market. · Public speaking. · Self-promotion and image in business. · Leadership in the organisation.
My publications concern the society of South Korea, Spain, Slovak Republic, and Poland. |
| Mirosław Kisiel, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor |
Institute of Pedagogy
| Music Theory and Pedagogy |
Teaching expertise: music education of children and adolescents, vocal coach, music therapy, music and movement, dance.
Sara Knapik-Szweda, PhD
Institute of Pedagogy
| Sara Knapik-Szweda, PhD, certified music therapist, is affiliated with the University of Silesia where she received her doctoral degree for her dissertation on the application of music therapy in a developmental approach in working with children with ASD.
Clinician and researcher. She is an Assistant at the University of Silesia. She works with premature infants in the NICU, children, teenagers, and adults with ASD, in her own music therapy centre – MUZKA. Member of the Polish Music Therapy Association. Her research interests involve humanistic and developmental approach, relations and family-centred therapy. She conducted music therapy with premature infants and their families in a hospital in Silesian Voivodeship within the research project LongStep – Longitudinal study of music therapy’s effectiveness for premature infants and their caregivers (RCN, nr of project: 273534) She has conducted numerous music therapy workshops for other specialists and parents. |
Justyna Łapaj-Kucharska, PhD
Institute of Political Sciences
| Doctor of Humanities in the field of political science. Participant of several university grants and research projects on various topics related to media, theoretical aspects of democracy, the functioning of the European Union and international relations. Author of many scientific articles on various topics, with particular emphasis on: Latin America, Polish foreign policy after 1989 and the Middle East (especially in the context of Israel). Her doctoral dissertation was devoted to Poland’s foreign policy towards Latin America in the post-Cold War period. She is interested in cooperation in the field of international issues, especially in Latin America, Israel and Jewish culture, as well as in combining international issues and psychological aspects of international relations. |
She speaks English and Spanish, and she is learning German and French.
Dagna Kocur, PhD
Institute of Psychology
Psychologist, holder of a doctoral degree in social sciences in the field of psychology, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Psychology of the University of Silesia. She graduated from the University of Silesia with a degree in Psychology and from the SWPS School of Social Sciences and Humanities with a degree in Clinical Sexology. Her interests focus on power relations, sexuality, public display of affection, and in particular, mindfulness and self-compassion. She has completed numerous courses, including training in the field of mindfulness and compassion. She co-authored a study investigating the significance of self-compassion for sexual satisfaction, the course of chronic illnesses, and academic functioning at the time of the pandemic.
Krzysztof Łęcki, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
Institute of Sociology
| Specialises in the sociology of culture, sociology of literature, and social communication.
Editor of the philosophy/sociology section of the Opcje cultural quarterly since 1996. Member of the Programme Board of Radio Katowice 2008 – 2012 Member of the Program Board of TVP Katowice 2012 – 2016 |
Member of the Program Board of Radio Katowice 2016 – present
| 1995 – 1999 “The Social History of Poverty in Central Europe”, in 1998-1999 he carried out research within the grant “Social History of Poverty in Central Europe: the Polish Case”, in its part concerning Upper Silesia, awarded by The Institute for Human Sciences (Das Institut fur die Wissenschaften vom Menschen) based in Vienna.
2003-2006 team member of the research programme: Organised Civil Society and European Governance funded within the Fifth European Framework Programme. Contract No.: HSPE-CT-2002-00114 (project coordinator: International School of Political Science of the University of Silesia in Katowice; project manager – Full Prof. Kazimiera Wódz 2007-2011 team member in SPHERE research programme: “Space, Place and the Historical and contemporary articulations of regional, national and European identities through work and community in areas undergoing economic restructuring and regeneration” (as part of the Seventh European Framework Programme). Project leader: Prof. Kazimiera Wódz 2014-2017 team member in the research programme (RESCuE) Patterns of Resilience Turing Socioeconomic Crises among Households in Europe (as part of the Seventh European Framework Programme). Project leader: Prof. Kazimiera Wódz |
Karina Leksy, PhD
Institute of Pedagogy
| She completed master’s studies in Pedagogy, specialising in Health Pedagogy and doctoral studies at the University of Silesia in Katowice. Since 2011, she has been employed as an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Pedagogy of the University of Silesia in Katowice. Karina Leksy conducts educational classes with students of pedagogy, incl. in the field of health education and health promotion, social pedagogy, and pedagogical therapy. Her research interests focus on the following issues: health education and health promotion; the importance of popular culture for the quality of life and health of modern people; children and young people in digital culture – health and pedagogical contexts; population health in the context of contemporary civilisation threats; behavioural addictions in the context of health. Her professional interests have also evolved towards special education and working with children with special educational needs. Therefore, she expanded her professional qualifications as part of postgraduate studies:
1. Postgraduate Studies in Early Support for Child Development with Elements of Sensory Integration – WSB University in Chorzów; 2. Postgraduate Qualification Studies Pedagogical Therapy and Revalidation of People with Special Educational Needs – University of Silesia in Katowice. |
She also completed numerous courses and training in behavioural therapy. Since 2020, she has been working with children with autism spectrum disorders in the field of behavioural therapy at the Behavioral Therapy Centre in Gliwice.
Zbigniew Markowski, MA
Institute of Journalism and Media Communication, Faculty of Social Sciences
Journalistic accomplishments:
* over 1000 TV film reports, about 50 TV reportages
* over 300 press articles in the regional press
* over 1,000 articles in online periodicals
* over 700 films published on the internet – YouTube
* over 20,000 photos published on the internet
* 7 own internet portals (www.tg.net.pl, www.antryj.pl, www.gwarki.tg.net.pl, www.kuchnia-slaska.pl, www.poznaj-slask.pl, www.kici-kici.pl , www.24.edu.pl
Practical skills:
* all journalistic and editorial work
* work with a film camera and film editing (linear and non-linear) – Video Studio Pro, Da Vinci Resolve, and others
* media management
* aerial vehicle operator license issued by the Civil Aviation Authority
* website design in static and dynamic CMS technology – Concrete5, WordPress and others
* processing of bitmap and vector graphics in graphic design software – Corel Photopaint, and others
Agnieszka Miarka, MA
Institute of Political Science
Her research focuses on unrecognised states in the post-Soviet space, domestic and foreign policies of post-communist states (particularly Armenia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia), international security, strategic studies, and armed conflicts of the 21st century. Author of several dozen scientific articles. Winner of the Rector’s Distinction of the University of Silesia in Katowice for scientific and research achievements.
Rafał Muster, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
Institute of Sociology
| Work experience:
– since 1 October 2005 – employed as an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Silesia in Katowice (since 1 October 2019 as the Deputy Director of the Institute of Sociology and as an Assoc. Prof.). – April 2002 to September 2005 – employed in Poviat Labour Office in Tychy as an Employment Agent and from 1 March 2004 as the Employment Agency Department Supervisor. – June 2001 to March 2002 – employed in PKO Bank Polski SA Personnel Policy Section of the Department of Human Resources Management and Organisation in Katowice. – July 2000 to June 2001 – employed in Poviat Labour Office in Tychy as an Employment Agent. Main activities and responsibilities: Teaching (courses: Social policy, Methodology of Social Sciences, Labour Market, Organisation culture, Diploma Seminar); research (contemporary labour market, changes in the labour market, unemployment, problems of discrimination in the labour market). Preparing expert opinions for Civic Institute (e.g., labour market, working poor problems). Writing reviews (journals, books).
Selected projects (labour market):
2018: substantive coordinator of the grant project implemented in the Institute of Sociology of the University of Silesia entitled: Time for internship (grant project written in partnership with PUP Tychy).
2017: substantive coordinator of research on generation management in Ruda Śląska. Employer – Poviat Labor Office in Ruda Śląska. Project Generation management in Ruda Śląska;
2011-2014: team member/expert in ICSE – new computer-assisted methods of education for regional work force of innovative economy programme. Innovative testing project co-funded from the EU funds, implemented by University of Silesia.
2009-2010: team member/expert in the Programme of Regional Labour Market Monitoring. The project was implemented by Voivodeship Labour Office in Katowice, co-funded from EU resources (Human Capital Operational Programme 2007-2013).
2009-2011: team member/expert in the programme entitled From Research to Action. Analysis of development trends and economic trends and economic changes in the area of Metropolitan Association of Upper Silesia. Project co-funded from EU resources (Human Capital Operational Programme 2007-2013)
2010-2011: team member/expert in project entitled Activation and Deactivation of Human Capital in Local Environment. A study of results of educational and occupational mobility for the quality of life in peripheral cities. Grant KBN (no PB-660-/WNS/2007) |
| PhD Monika Noszczyk-Bernasiewicz
monika.noszczyk-bernasiewicz@us.edu.pl Institute of Pedagogy
Monika Noszczyk-Bernasiewicz, PhD, social and rehabilitation educator. Her research interests include social problems, especially juvenile delinquency, social maladjustment, and functioning of family environments of minors. She is an author of several dozen articles in this field, co-editor together with B. Kromolicka and A. Radziewicz-Winnicki of the book entitled Pedagogika społeczna w Polsce po 1989 roku Przemiany w nauce, obecność międzynarodowa, kręgi tematyczne prac badawczych (Social Pedagogy after 1989. Transformations in science, international presence, thematic circles of research works) , published by the Social Pedagogy Team of the Pedagogical Sciences Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Katowice 2007) and the author of books entitled: Nieletni przestępcy w percepcji personelu i nadzoru resocjalizacyjnego oraz studentów resocjalizacji (Juvenile delinquents as perceived by rehabilitation staff and supervisors and by resocialization students)(Katowice 2010) and (together with Maciej Bernasiewicz) Family Life and Crime.Contemporary Research and Essays (Katowice 2017). |
Tomasz Okraska, PhD
Faculty of Social Sciences
A graduate of political science and history. Holder of a doctoral degree in social sciences in the field of political science. Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Silesia. In 2010-2017 editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Pisma Humanistyczne-Humanistic Scripts. Initiator or co-organiser of many scientific conferences. Lecturer in over a dozen subjects in the form of lectures, exercises, or seminars. Nominated for the “Student’s Friend” award. A long-term collaborator of Gazeta Uniwersytecka UŚ (University of Silesia Magazine), author of nearly 100 press publications. Lecturer at the Academy of Diplomacy. Science Communicator. His research interests are primarily political, economic, and social problems of the countries of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Author of a book analysing Indian-Chinese relations.
Michał Ochwat, PhD
Michał Ochwat obtained his doctoral degree in Law at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow based on the dissertation entitled: Areas of supervision over an integrated financial market (supervisor: Prof. Marek Michalski). The author’s scientific and practical interests focus on financial market and public law and finance and economy. In his research, he deals with the interdisciplinary issues of financial supervision, including financial aspects related to the stability of the financial system and public-law issues of organisation and legal forms of operation.
Robert Pyka, PhD, Associate Professor
Institute of Sociology
| In his research, he focuses on issues related to the city and metropolis, including empowerment, decentralisation and the complexity and diversity of urban processes as a source of creativity and innovation. He is interested in multilevel governance and participatory democracy. He perceives cities as a lens focusing major challenges of the contemporary world. It is where he looks for innovative solutions. He mainly concentrates on problems of sociology and anthropology of politics, especially focusing on issues connected with the future of a state and local structures in globalisation, metropolisation, and “governance” perspective. Between 2020 and 2021, he carried out a project “Metropolises as laboratories for new models of innovation places” as a fellow in the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Lyon (France) (https://collegium.universite-lyon.fr/m-robert-pyka–162030.kjsp?RH=1593414521533).
In 2018, he led research on the creative communities in Katowice and Kraków in the context of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network Annual Conferences. He is a member of international organisations and research networks, such as the Observatory on Local Autonomy, the International Association of French Language Sociologists, and the Regional Studies Association. He cooperates with universities from France, Canada, Germany, and Australia. Between 2019 and 2020, he was the Deputy Dean for Research and Internationalisation at the Faculty of Social Sciences. Before that, he held the position of the Scientific Director of the Institute of Sociology. In 2017, he established the Observatory of Urban and Metropolitan Processes (OUMP), the consortium of seven research entities from the Silesian Voivodship, focusing on urban and metropolitan research. Since 2003, he has been managing an NGO, whose main goal is the cooperation between the twin cities of Katowice (Poland) and St-Etienne (France). |
Aleksandra Pyrzyk-Kuta, PhD
aleksandra.pyrzyk-kuta@us.edu.pl
Institute of Pedagogy
| Pedagogue, graduate of the University of Silesia in Katowice (2004), where she also completed postgraduate studies in the field of Psychocorrection of Behavioral Disorders in Children and Adolescents (2008).
In 2015, she defended her doctoral dissertation entitled “The creative process in the social rehabilitation of minors in an open environment on the example of theatricalization techniques”. She is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Pedagogy of the University of Silesia, coordinating internships for Art Therapy majors. She also works as a surdopedagogue, providing therapy for children with hearing impairment and art therapy for children with behavioral disorders and special educational needs. She develops her alternative communication skills by learning Polish Sign Language (PJM). She is a promoter of Deaf culture, bringing the hearing world closer to the hearing-impaired. She also deals with dance therapy (choreotherapy). She teaches multiple courses and trainings she authored herself. At the same time, she is constantly growing, honing her skills in the field of conscious work with the body as well as expression and movement creation within the scope of therapy, education, and art. Member of the “KAJROS” Association of Polish Art Therapists. |
Hanna Przybyła-Basista, PhD, DSc, Associate Professor
hanna.przybyla-basista.@us.edu.pl
Institute of Psychology
| Long-term research experience and expertise in:
· Determinants of psychological well-being of individuals in the process of crisis and post-crisis adaptation, in particular: (a) adaptation of mothers and fathers to parental roles during pregnancy and when children are young (b) protective and risk factors for the well-being of pregnant women (c) adaptation of parents to challenges associated with raising a child with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorder (d) adjustment of adults and children to a divorce situation · The importance of personal resources (e.g., ego-resiliency) and the support received from the partner and family in adapting to life changes and their measurement · The role of parental stress in the experience of marital and family satisfaction · Adaptation to Polish conditions of questionnaires and evaluation of psychometric properties (e.g., The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS); the revised version of The Ego Resiliency Scale ER89-R12; The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ-23), The Polish version of the Sexual Satisfaction Scale for Women – SSS-W; The Parental Stress Scale – PSS) · Assessing the effectiveness of the family mediation in the divorce and post-divorce process, with a particular focus on the parties’ readiness for mediation
Academic output includes approximately 70 papers, two monographs, and six chapters in multi-author monographs. Of 45 scientific articles published between 2008 and 2020, 39 appeared in journals such as the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Psychology, Health & Medicine, Current Issues in Personality Psychology, Health Psychology Report, Polish Psychological Forum, Psychological Journal. |
Robert Rajczyk, PhD, DLitt
Institute of Journalism and Media Communication
Journalist and expert interested in the issues of disinformation and propaganda as well as V4’s states, Moldova, and Kosovo.
Izabela Rajska-Kulik, PhD
Institute of Psychology
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Małgorzata Satoła, PhD
Institute of Pedagogy
| Assistant Professor at the Institute of Pedagogy, special education teacher whose area of expertise includes blindness and education, intellectual disability education, deaf education, early development support, persons with autism spectrum disorder and Asperger syndrome. Teacher with over 25 years of professional experience in working with and educating persons with vision impairment and with multiple disabilities.
Areas of professional interests are related to: – lifelong development support and education of persons with vision impairments, – self-fulfilment of adult persons with vision impairments, – competence in special teaching and training of special education teachers, – innovation in special needs education, – balanced development. |
Natalia Stankowska, PhD
Institute of Pedagogy
Research fields: pedagogy, special needs education, rehabilitation.
Subjects: problems of social adaptation of children, teenagers and young people, process of rehabilitation, social pathologies, penitentiary policy.
Małgorzata Suchacka, PhD, Dlitt, Associate Professor
Institute of Sociology
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She has conducted several scientific studies based on quantitative and qualitative methods. The main objective was to combine these approaches and develop new theoretical foundations and practical solutions.
Full Professor Marek Stanisław Szczepański
Institute of Sociology
His main fields of scientific interest are theoretical sociology, sociology of region and local communities, city and space, social change and development. He is the author or a co-author of over 350 scientific papers.
Corresponding member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Sociology Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Iwona Tomas, PhD
Institute of Pedagogy
| A graduate of the Teachers’ College in Bytom (Integrated Early Childhood and Pre-school Education, 2010 as well as Arts Education and Integrated Early Childhood Education, 2012). She defended her artistic diploma in 2012 under the educational and artistic supervision of the Faculty of Arts of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin (she also completed supplementary studies in the field of artistic education there). She holds a Master’s degree in Pre-School and Early Childhood Education (University of Silesia in Katowice, Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology, 2012) and a doctoral degree in social sciences (University of Silesia in Katowice, Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology, 2019).
Currently, she works at the University of Silesia in Katowice and in a primary school as an art teacher. She conducts classes in various places, on artistic activity, contemporary art, activating art techniques, and iconography. She is also the coordinator / vice-chancellor of the <Pantokrator> Department of the Silesian Iconographic School in Zabrze. She actively participates in the organisation of such events as the Days of Katowice Art Therapy and the Festival of Children’s Expression. In connection with the work performed, she undertakes exhibition activities (participating in the Festivals of High Art in Bytom), research (carrying out research projects), and teaching (conducting classes, participating in various courses and trainings). |
She is an author of scientific publications in the field of art education, contemporary art, as well as visual culture of educational institutions.
Anna Watoła, PhD
Institute of Pedagogy
| Expert in the Ministry of National Education in the scope of schoolbooks. For many years pre-school teacher, special education teacher, and kindergarten headmaster. Member of the Founding Chapter of the Children’s University of Silesia. Head of Postgraduate Qualification Studies in Pre-School Education at the University of Silesia in Katowice. Member of Pre-school Teachers’ Association and Foster Family’s Association. Author of many publications related to children’s education and using information technology in the process of teaching and learning, managing, and running an educational institution. The scope of her scientific interests includes pre-school education and information technology in education of young children. At present, she is interested in cooperation with practicing teachers and academics from Slovakia, Czech Republic, USA, India, Venezuela, China, and Norway. The most recent areas of her scientific interests relate to children’s education in African countries, especially concerning using ICT in the educational system and outside the school.
Participated in the following projects:
Other scientific activities: 1. Implementation of educational computer software sets. 2. Usage of ICT in teaching in African primary schools: · Bridge Primary School, Moshi, Tanzania · Little Acorns Day Care and Pre-School, Moshi, Tanzania · Mwalimu MK UU, Shuleya Msingi Mnin, Moshi, Tanzania 3. Organisation of „mini computer lab” in the school in the Amboseli village in Kenya. 4. Development of the project for the school, its launch and operation, taking into account teaching and research activities, with participation of students from Europe, especially from Polish universities, to support the educational process. 5. Establishing cooperation under bilateral agreements with universities from Kenya and the United Kingdom: 1. The Polish University Abroad in London, United Kingdom 2. Technical University of Mombasa 3. Kenyatta University – Nairobi 4. Pwani University – Kilifi, Mombasa |
Edyta Widawska, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
Institute of Pedagogy
Professor at the University of Silesia, holder of a postdoctoral degree in Sociology, social pedagogue, member of Research Team of Educational Transactional Analysis, graduate of the Human Rights School of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, specialist in inclusion policies, monitoring, and human rights, long-term trainer and educator of equality and watch activities in Poland and abroad, cooperating with many non-governmental organisations. Soft skills trainer in the field of methods and techniques in education; Educational Transactional Analysis; alternative forms of conflict resolution (mediation, facilitation, negotiation); non-violent communication and assertiveness. Author and co-author of numerous scientific, educational, and popular science publications. Successfully combines scientific research with practice, implements projects in cooperation with institutions involved in the implementation of equality policies and inclusion at national and international level (including Commissioner for Human Rights, OSCE, UN, RE, EU, UNHCR). ORCID: 0000-0002-0964-0341.
Teresa Wilk, PhD, Associate Professor
Institute of Pedagogy
– possibilities of application/use of theatrical art for activities to activate and improve the social space/social revitalisation
– culture and art in the educational-upbringing process of children, and youth
– culture and art in the organisation of free time for children, youth, and adults
– culture and art in the educational-upbringing process
Karolina Wojtasik, PhD
Institute of Sociology
As a researcher, she deals with issues related to the activities of Salafi terrorist organisations (analysis of modus operandi and tactics used in terrorist attacks in the EU and the USA), which she combines with her interests in the field of anti-terrorist security and physical protection systems for industrial facilities. Her publications focus on jihadist terrorism and the security of facilities subject to mandatory protection and CI (critical infrastructure). She has experience in preparing, coordinating, and implementing the so-called AT attachment in industrial facilities and conducting training in broadly understood safety. President of the Polish Society of National Security, a national security think tank.
Professor Ewa Wysocka
Institute of Pedagogy
A graduate of two degree programmes at the University of Silesia -Rehabilitation Pedagogy and Psychology, which she consistently combines as part of her scientific and research
work. Employee of the Institute of Pedagogy, head, coordinator, expert, and participant of numerous scientific and research grants in the field of psycho-pedagogical
diagnostics (including NCBiR, EFS), the result of which are professional diagnostic tools used in psycho-pedagogical practice.
Lucie Zormanova, PhD
Institute of Pedagogy
PaedDr. Lucie Zormanova, PhD is a lecturer at the University of Silesia. Her research includes distance education, comparative pedagogy, and pedeutology.
Agata Zygmunt, PhD
Institute of Sociology
She is a sociologist, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Sociology of the University of Silesia in Katowice, and a graduate of Inter-Faculty Individual Studies in the Humanities at the University of Silesia. Her research interests focus on the issues of social demography, social policy, sociology of social problems, gender, and Internet sociology. She is the author of many scientific articles, published in collective works and scientific periodicals, and a participant and speaker at national and international conferences and symposia. Her professional experience also includes research activities related to the design and implementation of empirical research (quantitative and qualitative). She is the author and co-author of methodological concepts of nearly 30 research projects and numerous research reports. She cooperates with local government units to prepare strategic documents (e.g., strategies for solving social problems) and programs implemented by aid institutions (authorship of foster care development programs).