Notes on Contributors
Teresa Astramowicz-Leyk
(University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn) is a political scientist and a professor at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. Her scientific interests are local government, human rights and Polish political thought. She is the author of five monographs and 150 scientific articles and the editor of 14 collective publications. She is also a principal investigator and contributor in three research projects. She is employed as Visiting Professor w Lviv Polytechnik National University (2019–2023) and National University Ostrogh Academy (2022–2025) – Ukraine. She also improved her professional qualifications during research internships at Ivan Franko National University in Lviv (2019) and Lviv Polytechnik National University (2016; 2021) – Ukraine, as well as in Geschwister-Scholl-Institut für Politikwissenschaft Ludwig Maximilians-Universität in Munich (2022) – Germany.
Kornelia Batko
(University of Silesia in Katowice, Institute of Political Science), PhD, is University Professor at the Institute of Political Science, University of Silesia in Katowice. Her research focuses on the role of big data and artificial intelligence in healthcare and public policy. She leads and participates in projects dedicated to digital transformation, digital competences, institutional trust, and evidence-based policymaking.
Adam R. Bartnicki
(University of Bialystok, Faculty of International Relations) is Professor of Political Science and Dean of the Faculty of International Relations at the University of Białystok, Poland. A specialist in the political system of Russia, he also researches comparative constitutional law, human rights, and democratic institutions, and has published widely in international academic forums.
Ilona Biernacka-Ligęza
(Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin; Charles University Prague) is Full Professor. She is associated with Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Charles University in Prague, and ANS in Wałbrzych. She was Visiting Professor at University of North Carolina, University of Macerata, Canterbury Christ Church University, and University of Oslo. She works as an evaluator for many programs for the European Commission. She was awarded more than 20 research grants, among them 15 international ones. She was coordinating projects from such programs as Horizon 2020; Horizon Europe; Fulbright; and EOG, Visegrad. She was awarded the Marie Curie Individual Fellowship. She has published 10 monographs and more than 100 scientific papers and book chapters. Her research interests include local media, mass communication, digital media, cross-cultural communication, local democracy, globalization, glocalization, media and politics, media and identity, minorities in local public sphere, and health communication. Lastly, she is focusing her studies on the aspects of the digitalization process of health communication, especially in terms of active aging. The second highly explored field of her last research is the case of strategic communication challenges of the cross border areas.
Bożena Dziemidok-Olszewska
(Institute of Political Science and Administration, Faculty of Political Science and Journalism, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin) is a full professor in the Department of Political Systems and Human Rights, Institute of Political Science and Administration, Faculty of Political Science and Journalism, Maria Skłodowska-Curie University in Lublin. Her research interests are contemporary political systems and institutions, the political system of the Republic of Poland and countries of Central and Eastern Europe. She is Grant Manager – Research Support Scheme (1995) and Fundusz Nauki i Technologii Polskiej (2009–2011). She is the author of three monographs (last Odpowiedzialność głowy państwa i rządu we współczesnych państwach europejskich, Wyd. UMCS, Lublin 2012, s. 270), and co-editor of the monographs (p. ex. Współczesne systemy polityczne, M. Żmigrodzki, B. Dziemidok – Olszewska (red.), Wyd. PWN, Warszawa 2013) and dozens of scholarly articles.
Olga Grajek
(University of Wrocław) is a PhD student at the Doctoral School of Political Science and Administration at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Wrocław. She works in the Research and Teaching Projects Section at the Institute of Political Science, University of Wrocław, where her responsibilities include collecting documents on political life. She is a member of the Polish Political Science Association and the Civic Education Association. Her research interests include political violence, social participation, and the political system in Norway.
Karolina Grzyb
(University of Silesia – Faculty of Social Sciences – Institute of Psychology) is a psychologist and PhD candidate at the Institute of Psychology, University of Silesia. She is the author of a doctoral dissertation devoted to problematic Internet use and the phenomenon of FOMO (fear of missing out) in the context of family functioning. Her research interests include developmental psychology across the life span, health psychology and quality of life, as well as neuropsychology. She participated in a research project in which she applied the method of qualitative content analysis, which resulted in a scientific publication. She has attended numerous academic conferences in the fields of developmental psychology, neuropsychology, and the broader issues of mental health. She combines scientific work with practice – working with children and adolescents, while also conducting classes for university students.
Damian Guzek
(University of Silesia in Katowice, Institute of Journalism and Media Communication), PhD, DSc, is affiliated with the Institute of Journalism and Media Communication at the University of Silesia in Katowice and the Department of Communication at Palacký University in Olomouc. His research focuses on digital communication, religion, and politics. As a PI, he has taken part in several national and international research projects, including PODTRUST and INFLUPOL.
Joanna Kukier
(Netrix S.A. Research and Development Center; Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Institute of Social Communication Sciences) is Doctor of Social Sciences in the field of social communication and media studies, radio journalist. Her research interests focus on innovations in e-health, media literacy, and digital exclusion. She gained her research experience at KU Leuven in Belgium, where she completed an international internship as part of the Reinitialise project. She is the recipient of awards such as the Leopold Unger Scholarship, the Piotr Mroczyk Scholarship (named after the last director of Radio Free Europe), the Education System Development Foundation Award, and the National Academic Media Forum Grant Competition Award. She is professionally associated with the Netrix S.A. Research and Development Center.
Elżbieta Kużelewska
(University of Bialystok, Institute of Comparative Constitutional Law) is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Bialystok (Poland), where she has served as Vice-Dean for Science since October 2019. She holds a PhD and a habilitation in political science, and she is Head of the Centre for Direct Democracy Studies (CDDS). Her research interests focus on constitutional law, direct democracy, human rights, and contemporary political systems. She is Principal Investigator of the research project The Right Not to Use the Internet: Observatory (NCN OPUS LAP 26), conducted by a Polish – Belgian team from the University of Bialystok and Ghent University. She is also a researcher in the NCN OPUS LAP 24 project Risk as a Subjective Phenomenon: Integrating Cognitive Science into the Concept of Risk in European Data Protection Law in cooperation with Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).
Maciej Marmola
(University of Silesia in Katowice, Institute of Political Science), PhD in social sciences, is the author of publications on the party system, electoral behavior, and contemporary political history. He is Director of the Institute of Political Science at the University of Silesia, Poland. His academic achievements include the First Prize in the Polish Political Science Association’s Competition for the Best Doctoral Dissertation in Political Science (2019). He collaborates with public institutions and non-governmental organizations to promote Polish science and history, for which he has received distinctions such as the Historical Event of the Year Award (2016) and the Golden Copernicus Award (EDUKINO, 2020).
Joanna Marszałek-Kawa
(Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Department of Political Systems) is Professor of Social Sciences and Head of the Department of Political Systems at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland. Her research focuses on parliamentarism, political system transformations, and memory politics. Author and editor of over 500 academic works, she has led numerous projects funded by the National Science Centre and the Ministry of Education and Science of Poland. She is Editor-in-Chief of several journals, including the Polish Political Science Yearbook.
Marta Michalczuk-Wlizło
(Institute of Political Science and Administration, Faculty of Political Science and Journalism, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin), PhD, is a lawyer and political scientist, assistant professor in the Department of Political Systems and Human Rights at the Institute of Political Science and Administration of Maria Sklodowska-Curie University in Lublin. She is a member of the Polish Political Science Association and the recipient of multiple awards from the Rector of the University of Maria Sklodowska-Curie for scientific activities. She is the author and co-author of monographs and scientific articles on constitutional law, institutions of political systems and human rights. In recent years, her academic and research interests have focused on controversial legal and political issues in Poland, such as the right to legalize same-sex unions and the right to abortion.
Tetyana Nagornyak
(National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy) is Doctor in Political Sciences, Professor, and Dean of the Kyiv-Mohyla School of Professional and Continuing Education at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Her research interests include territorial branding, modeling of political processes, applied political practices, recovery and governance of post-conflict territories, the discursive dimension of politics, and higher-education management. She is Editor-in-Chief of the scholarly journal Empirio and serves on the editorial board of the European Journal of Transformation Studies (WoS). She has extensive experience designing and delivering training and professional-development programs for local self-government, adult education, and higher education. She is the author of over 100 scholarly publications. Under her supervision, 3 doctors of political sciences and 15 candidates of political sciences have successfully defended.
Agata Olszanecka-Marmola
(University of Silesia in Katowice, Institute of Political Science), PhD in social sciences; graduate in political science and sociology; completed postgraduate studies in Social Psychology in Practice. She is Director of the University Center for Creative Citizenship at the University of Silesia, Poland. Her research interests focus on political psychology, electoral behavior, and political marketing. Her academic achievements include a distinction in the Polish Political Science Association’s Competition for the Best Doctoral Dissertation in Political Science and Administration (2020).
Edyta B. Pietrzak
(Lodz University of Technology, Institute of Marketing and Sustainable Development) is an anthropologist and political scientist, a professor at the Institute of Marketing and Sustainable Development at Lodz University of Technology, a lecturer at the Erasmus Mundus Master’s Degree in Women’s and Gender Studies GEMMA, and a guest lecturer at European universities. She is ECIU & TUL Citizen Science Research Field Coordinator, Faculty’s Gender Equality Officer and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Civitas Hominibus. She is the author of 12 books and many scientific publications. Her research interests include theories of civil society, politics of diversity and socio-political contexts of sustainable development. Her current research focuses on post-anthropocentrism.
Danuta Plecka
(University of Gdańsk) is Professor at the University of Gdańsk. She was Visiting-Professor at Grigol University in Tbilisi (Georgia) in 2016; Visiting Researcher at Slavic University in Baku (Azerbaijan) in 2017; Visiting Researcher at Slavic University in Baku (Azerbaijan) in 2018; and Vistiting Professor -w L.