Team
Head
Dr hab. Urszula Markowska-Manista (Faculty of Education, University of Warsaw)
u.markowska-ma@uw.edu.pl
Dr hab. Urszula Markowska-Manista is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Warsaw, in the Department of Childhood and Children’s Studies in Diverse Contexts, and the Head of the Interfaculty Center for Research on Education and Intercultural Communication. She is a member of the Advisory Team on Children’s and Youth Participation at the Polish Ombudsman for Children.
She holds a habilitated doctorate awarded with distinction. Her research focuses on difficult knowledge and intercultural education, migration, children’s rights, participatory research methods, and education in so-called sensitive or fragile contexts. For over 20 years, she has been engaged in extensive fieldwork, including in East and Central Africa, the South Caucasus, and Central and Eastern Europe.
She is the author of numerous scholarly publications and serves as a regional editor for Bloomsbury (Education and Childhood Studies). In 2025, she was awarded the Janusz Korczak Special Award for publications in the field of children’s rights.
https://www.pedagog.uw.edu.pl/wizytowki/single-record-page/?pdb=1344
Dr Maria Balkan-Małecka (Faculty of Modern Languages, University of Warsaw)
maria.balkan@uw.edu.pl
Dr Maria Balkan-Małecka is a scholar of German studies and Swiss studies (Helvetology). She is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Modern Languages, University of Warsaw, a co-founder of the Interfaculty Center for Research on Education and Intercultural Communication, and a co-creator of the only transdisciplinary Swiss Studies (Helvetology) programme at the University of Warsaw.
Her research interests lie in cultural and literary comparative studies, with a particular focus on the German-speaking world. She conducts research on identity, intercultural communication, social transformations, and children’s literature, analysed in cultural and educational contexts. She is a regional academic editor for the Bloomsbury Education and Childhood Studies series and a member of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature, the Children’s Literature Association, and the Polish Section of IBBY.
Prof. Dr hab. Anna Jaroszewska (Faculty of Modern Languages, University of Warsaw)
a.jaroszewska@uw.edu.pl
Prof. Anna Jaroszewska is a graduate of German and Russian philology at Humboldt University of Berlin (Germany). She has over 25 years of pedagogical and glottodidactic experience at all levels of education, including extensive work with future foreign language teachers. Since 1999, she has been affiliated with the Faculty of Modern Languages at the University of Warsaw.
She is an expert evaluator for German language textbooks for the Polish Ministry of Education and Science and a long-standing member of the Executive Board of the Polish Neophilological Society. In addition to her academic career, she has completed postgraduate studies in Educational Management at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Montessori Early Education training organised by the Polish Montessori Institute, and postgraduate studies in Early Childhood Education and Pedagogical Therapy for Children with Specific Learning Difficulties at the Faculty of Education, University of Warsaw.
Her research focuses on glottopedagogy, glottogeragogy, psychological and pedagogical aspects of foreign language teaching methodology, intercultural education, non-conventional educational models, learner-friendly educational environments, special educational needs, teacher education and professional development, and glottodidactic research methodology. She is the author of over 150 scholarly, didactic, and popular science publications.
Prof. (University) Dr hab. Marta Rakoczy (Faculty of Polish Studies, University of Warsaw)
m.rakoczy@uw.edu.pl
Prof. Marta Rakoczy is a cultural studies scholar and philosopher, Associate Professor at the Institute of Polish Culture, University of Warsaw, Head of the Department of the Anthropology of the Word, and Coordinator of the Korczakianum Research Unit at the Museum of Warsaw.
Her research interests include the anthropology of writing, anthropology of education, the history of Polish modernization, and cultural studies of childhood and youth. She is affiliated with the Korczakianum Research Unit of the Museum of Warsaw and is also a member of the Interdisciplinary Childhood Studies Research Team at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw.
She has published widely in leading Polish journals and is the author of several monographs, including The Power of Letters: Polish Modernization Processes and the Avant-Garde (2022), Politics of Writing: Field Sketches from Child-Centred Modernity (2018), and Word – Action – Context: On Bronisław Malinowski’s Ethnographic Concept of Language (2012). She has also co-edited numerous academic volumes in anthropology and cultural studies.
Prof. Dr hab. Krzysztof Sawicki (Faculty of Education Sciences, University of Białystok)
k.sawicki@uwb.edu.pl
Prof. Krzysztof Sawicki’s research interests are rooted in critical social sciences, with a focus on youth at risk of social exclusion, juvenile delinquency, and qualitative research methodology, particularly ethnography in detention and correctional settings. His work is strongly practice-oriented, as evidenced by his coordination of major international projects, including Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships.
He regularly participates in sessions of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna. He serves as Secretary of the Section of Resocialization Pedagogy within the Committee on Pedagogical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
His scholarly output includes the authorship and editorship of numerous books and articles central to systematic research on inequality and education. He collaborates with Bloomsbury Education and Childhood Studies as Regional Editor for Poland, Resocjalizacja Polska as Deputy Editor-in-Chief, and Critical Review as Thematic Editor. He has extensive experience as an evaluator of projects for the European Commission (Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, Interreg) as well as national research funding bodies in Serbia and Malta.
Prof. Angela Salmon (Florida International University)
salmona@fiu.edu
Prof. Angela Salmon is an Associate Professor at Florida International University in Miami and a former Fulbright Global Scholar, with research residencies in Colombia, Poland, and Greece. Her research focuses on the interrelationships between cognition, language, and literacy, with particular attention to children’s cognitive engagement and executive functions in early education.
Her current work explores children’s participation and agency through storytelling and collective digital narratives, conceptualising narrative as a tool for influence and empowerment. She prepares teachers to engage children cognitively and emotionally in real-world problem-solving and the development of global competencies.
Her scholarship consistently promotes progressive approaches that support authentic and meaningful learning. As a long-standing collaborator with Harvard Project Zero and the Habits of Mind Institute, she has led numerous international action research initiatives, publications, and professional development projects. She is the founder and director of Visible Thinking South Florida and has served as Thinker-in-Residence for Independent Schools of Victoria (Australia). Prof. Salmon has chaired seven editions of the International Visible Thinking Conference and served as Chair of the 18th International Conference on Thinking (ICOT18).
Dr Tomaš Samek (Faculty of Education, Charles University in Prague)
tomas.samek@pedf.cuni.cz
Dr Tomaš Samek is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education, Charles University in Prague, where he teaches courses in anthropology and globalization theory. His research focuses on three interrelated areas: individual and collective consciousness, communication, and social cohesion.
His work examines the role of everyday communicative practices in shaping and sustaining social bonds at multiple scales—from small groups such as educational or professional teams to national and supranational communities, including the European Union. He pays particular attention to situated language use and public discourse in Czech and German contexts, as well as more broadly in Central Europe.
A central concern of his research is the relationship between multiple dimensions of identity and processes of collective belonging, including civic consciousness. He also analyses the connections between the social dimension of communication and innovative forms of education that extend beyond traditional pedagogical models.