• Chair

Marek Gumkowski PhD is a historian of literature. He worked for many years at the Literary Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He currently works as an editor of science and popular science publications in the field of humanities and school-books. His passions are (various: bigger and smaller) sailing boats.

  • Deputy Chair

Magdalena Czyż is a political scientist, journalist and the  Editor in Chief of the „Spotkania w dialogu” quarterly.  Actively involved in the Christian-Jewish dialogue, she is a member of the Polish Christian-Jewish Council and a former co-chair of the Helsinki Human Rights Foundation’s Group to stop antisemitism and xenophobia. Currently in love with the music of Frederic Chopin.

Irena Wóycicka – is an economist by education, a researcher and an expert in the field of social policies. Her particular interests involve gender equality and family policies. She was a minister in charge of social policy issues in President, Bolesław Komorowski’s office. She was the co-founder and the first Chair of the „Open Republic”.

  • Treasurer

Jan Herczyński is a mathematician and an expert in the field of education financing and management, a graduate of the University of Cambridge in Massachusetts and Warsaw University; a consultant in the field of de-centralisation of financing and management of education in Poland and abroad; the coordinator of the project “Improvement education management strategy on the national and local level” and the editor of the six-volume Local Government and Education series.
He reads books.

  • Secretary

Damian Wutke Damian Wutke is a graduate of International relations and Judaist Studies at Wrocław University as well as the Middle East and African Studies at Warsaw University and postgraduate studies in Humanitarian Aid. A Polish film aficionado. Likes good crime books.

  • Member

Stefan Jackowski – a member of the Open Republic Associaton since 2000. Professor of mathematical sciences affiliated with the University of Warsaw and served as the dean of the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics, and Mechanics for many years. President of the Polish Mathematical Society (2005-2013) and a board member of the European Mathematical Society (2016-2020), currently serving as the Chair of the Ethics Committee. Member of the Committee for Evaluation of Science (KEJN) and the Science Evaluation Committee (2013-March 2023). Co-hosts a series of meetings at the Polish Academy of Sciences Museum of the Earth titled “Architects and Urban Planners of 20th Century Warsaw in Bohdan Pniewski’s Villa”.

Katarzyna Kuczyńska – Koschany –  Polish language scholar, esseist and poet, (Zielony promień, 2006). Her field of interest includes interpretation of poetry, the critical reception in Poland of the works by Rilke and Rimbaud and the Holocaust. She has written books about Rilke, poetry and the Holocaust and essays. She is a patron of a student club of Jewish culture and literature enthusiasts at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, where she is also a member of the university anti-discrimination body. Member of the Polish Academy of Science and the Polish PEN. Her hobby is hiking in beautiful places, such as the Polish Bory Tucholskie Forrest, Ukrainian Chernovtse, Lublin, Paris, Provence and Tuscany.

Krzysztof Podemski PhD is a professor at the Institute of Sociology of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. Specialises in the areas of political discourse, inter-cultural relations and the civil society. A member of the Board of the Polish Sociological Society and the Board of the Centre for Public Opinion Research CBOS. Co-founder of the “Open Academy” . Columnist for the Poznan edition of the ‘Gazeta Wyborcza” newspaper. He likes listening to jazz, skiing and cycling.

Przemysław Wiszniewski – a member of the Open Republic Association since 2009. Graduate of the Faculty of Pedagogy at the University of Warsaw and a former long-time journalist at TVP S.A. Currently, he is a columnist for publications such as “Liberte” and “Studia Opinii” and other media outlets. He has worked as an anti-discrimination educator in the past on behalf of the Open Republic. He collaborates with Arbitror Publishing. He is also a member of the Journalists’ Society. He serves as a lay judge in the Supreme Court, recommended by the Committee for the Defense of Democracy and elected by the Senate of the Republic of Poland. He has been an active civil activist in street opposition movements since the end of 2015.

 

The Programme Council

Chair

Paula Sawicka

Members

Monika Adamczyk–Garbowska
Michał Bilewicz
Halina Bortnowska
Helena Datner
Cezary Gawryś
Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias
Janusz Grzelak
Elżbieta Janicka
Krzysztof Kiciński
Ireneusz Krzemiński
Henryk Lipszyc
Mirosława Marody
Dariusz Stola
Józef Pinior
Elżbieta Petrajtis-O’Neill
Krystyna Starczewska
Antoni Sułek
Robert Szuchta
Barbara Weigl
Ludwika Wujec
Krystyna Zachwatowicz-Wajda

Revision Committee

Chair

Natalia Woroszylska

Members

Cezary Gawryś
Antoni Sułek