speakers

Zajmuje się kulturową sprawczością literatury, jej wpływem na sposoby życia jednostek, wspólnot oraz przestrzeń. Autorka książek Długi cień Don Kichota (2015), Sensy błądzenia. La Mancha i jej peryferie (2018) i nominowanej do Nagrody im. Marcina Króla monografii Ruch Amereidy (2024). Jej rozprawa o feministycznej reinterpretacji „Solidarności” otrzymała nagrodę w ogólnopolskim konkursie na pracę magisterską poświęconą NSZZ „Solidarność” (UAM, 2005). Dyrektorka Instytutu Kulturoznawstwa UWr oraz redaktorka czasopisma „Konteksty. Polska Sztuka Ludowa”.

A Polish journalist, social activist, and publicist focusing on issues of civilization and the impact of technology on social life. Chair of the board of the Stefan Batory Foundation. Head of the Science section at the socio-political weekly Polityka. Founder of the Centre for Future Studies at Collegium Civitas and lecturer at the Graduate School for Social Research at the Polish Academy of Sciences. Member of the Polish PEN Club.

A Polish philosopher and publicist. Her work centres on the philosophy of subjectivity, post-secularism, Jewish thought, and the influence of psychoanalysis and the Romantic tradition on philosophy. Head of the Research Group on Post-Secular Thought at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. A Jewish Studies professor at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham.

A Polish social psychologist, sociologist, and publicist. His research focuses on conspiracy theories, prejudice, intergroup conflict, threats to positive social identity and dehumanization, mainly in the context of xenophobia, antisemitism, and ethnic conflicts. A University of Warsaw professor. Head of the Centre for Research on Prejudice at the University of Warsaw. Vice-chair of the Psychology Committee at the Polish Academy of Sciences. Member of the Scientific Council of the Robert B. Zajonc Institute for Social Studies.

A German philosopher. Director of the Polish branch of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Warsaw. Associated with the foundation for twenty years. A former director of the regional office in Croatia and Slovenia (2015–2018) as well as Serbia and Montenegro (2018–2022). He has been heading the Polish branch since May 2022.

A Polish cultural manager, European studies expert, and university lecturer. Deputy Director at the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, responsible for the programme and strategy areas. Co-founder and first president of the City of Literature Foundation (Miasto Literatury). A lecturer at the University of Warsaw, the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, and the Theatre Academy in Warsaw. Originator, co-creator, and organizer of national and international artistic, literary, and educational events.

A Polish translator and populariser of contemporary Italian political philosophy, specializing in Machiavellian thought. Doctor of Social Sciences. Editor of Znak, a socio-cultural monthly magazine. He publishes bestselling books and teaches at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.

A Polish sociologist and communication expert. Plenipotentiary of the Director of the European Solidarity Centre for International Affairs and Protocol, International Relations Section Manager. Responsible for developing relations and cooperation with partners. She coordinates international projects on culture, memory politics, and building international awareness of solidarity.

An American activist and social campaigner born in Hong Kong. Founder and President of the Campaign for Hong Kong, an organization that lobbies politicians to introduce laws supporting democratisation and human rights in Hong Kong. He was one of the initiators of a successful campaign that led the U.S. Congress to pass legislation opposing human rights and democracy violations in Hong Kong – the Human Rights and Democracy Act, the Hong Kong Autonomy Act (2019). He has been sanctioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China and is subject to an arrest warrant issued by the Hong Kong authorities (2020).

A Polish philologist and communication specialist. She gained experience, among others, within the structures of the European Commission. Senior Specialist in the International Affairs Section at the European Solidarity Centre. Responsible for developing and maintaining cooperation with partners.

A Polish lawyer and local government official, Mayor of Gdańsk, and Vice President of the Board of the Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot Metropolitan Area. A delegate to the European Committee of the Regions, member of the Council of the Paweł Adamowicz Union of Polish Metropolises, and Vice-Chair of the Council of the European Solidarity Centre. On behalf of the residents of Gdańsk, she was presented with the Princess of Asturias Award for Concord (2019).

A Polish economist and writer. Doctor habilitatus of Economic Sciences, retired Associate Professor at the University of Gdańsk. A former member of the Monetary Policy Council (2004–2010). He worked on the Prime Minister’s Economic Council (2010–2014). He was actively involved in the press office of the Gdańsk Shipyard strike in August 1980. A co-founder of the then-underground magazine Przegląd Polityczny [Political Review] (1983) – his collaboration with the magazine continues to date. He co-organised the First Congress of Liberals in Gdańsk. His novel Szklanki żydowskiej krwi (Glasses of Jewish Blood) was nominated for the Pomeranian Literary Award “Wind from the Sea” [Wiatr od morza] (2021).

A Polish journalist born in Norway. An expert on international relations, specializing in intercultural relations. A member of the Jan Nowak-Jeziorański College of Eastern Europe. Editor at New Eastern Europe. Particularly interested in the region of the former USSR and Sub-Saharan Africa.

A Polish economic journalist, Editor-in-Chief and Programme Director of Radio TOK FM.
Recipient of numerous awards, including the Sharp Pen (Ostre Pióro) Award presented by the Business Centre Club (2007), the Best Economic Journalist in the 12th edition of the Władysław Grabski Competition (2014), and the Grand Press Economy Award (2018). He served as a member of the Jury for the President of Poland’s Economic Award (2014–2015).

A British specialist in German economic history and globalization processes. Claude and Lore Kelly Professor in European Studies at Princeton University, as well as Professor of History and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School. Associated with the Bendheim Center for Finance. Historian with the International Monetary Fund. Awarded the Helmut Schmidt Prize in economic history (2004) and the Ludwig Erhard Prize for writing about economics (2005). The author of numerous books and a monthly columnist for Project Syndicate, an international non-profit organization publishing political and economic commentary by leading intellectuals.

A Polish columnist and political scientist. A co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Liberté!, a socio-political magazine. A co-creator of the Freedom Games debate forum. He has worked on populism and new narratives for the European Union at the European University Institute in Florence and at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna. A graduate of the Marshall Memorial Fellowship programme. A columnist and commentator for outlets such as the Gazeta Wyborcza, the Rzeczpospolita, Polityka, TOK FM, and TVN24. Selected by the Teraz Polska (Now Poland) foundation as one of the 25 leaders for the next 25 years.

A Polish philosopher, writer, translator, academic lecturer, publicist, and radio and television journalist. Doctor of Philosophy. Co-host of Kwiatki polskie (Polish flowers) on Polish Television. A columnist for Newsweek Polska. Honoured with the Warsaw Woman of the Year title (2023). A recipient of several awards, including the Mariusz Walter Media Personality of the Year Award (2024) and the Wirtuale Award (2025).

A Polish-German cultural manager, political scientist, editor, and essayist. Director of the European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk. Editor-in-Chief of the bilingual Polish-German Dialogue Magazine. The author and editor of numerous books on historical, political, and literary issues. An expert in international politics, collaborator with institutions such as the American-German Aspen Institute Germany in Berlin and the Bundestag. A member of the Gdańsk Social Council of the Commissioner for Human Rights.

A Polish philosopher and political scientist, PhD. His research interests include social and political theory, the history of the idea of solidarity, social movements, memory politics, and the crisis of democracy (illiberalism in Central and Eastern Europe). He serves as the director’s plenipotentiary for science at the European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk. He reads at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk and at the Collegium Artes Liberales of the University of Warsaw. An author of numerous books.

A Polish sociologist, commentator, and activist. She works at Södertörn University in Stockholm and at the American Studies Center, the University of Warsaw. Her research focuses on gender issues, social movements, and civic society. She is the author of numerous academic articles and books. For over a decade, she was active within the Warsaw Manifa (a women’s rights movement). She is an honorary member of the Dla naszych Dzieci (For Our Children) associations, and is actively involved in the board of the Akcja Demokracja (Action Democracy) foundation and the Women’s Council at Warsaw Mayor’s office.

A Polish poet, musician, academic lecturer, and activist committed to commemorating the history of the Jewish community in Pomerania and the victims of Nazi crimes. His work oscillates around history, memory and ethics. The author of books published and translated in the USA, Germany, France, Greece and Slovenia. A member of PEN America as well as the European literary platform Versopolis. This year’s resident artist at Yale University. He has delivered his lectures at dozens of universities, mainly American, and taken part in  international literary festivals.

A Belarusian lawyer, politician, and diplomat. Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus, and Head of the National Anti-Crisis Management. Minister of Culture of Belarus (2009–2012), Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Poland (2002–2008) and to the French Republic (2012–2019). He was Director of the Janka Kupała National Academic Theatre in Minsk, losing his post after publicly supporting the election protests. In 2023, a Belarusian court sentenced him in absentia to 18 years in prison. A laureate of the Lech Wałęsa Solidarity Prize (2024).

A Polish philosopher of culture, psychiatrist, and psychoanalytic psychotherapist. He specializes in political philosophy and the philosophy of culture, applying phenomenological and psychoanalytic tools, particularly Lacanian psychoanalysis. A professor at the Polish Academy of Sciences, and a lecturer at the Institute of Philosophy, the University of Warsaw. His book Prześniona rewolucja. Ćwiczenie z logiki historycznej (Sleepwalking the Revolution: An Exercise in Historical Logic) (2015) was nominated for the Nike Literary Award and the Kazimierz Moczarski Historical Award.

A Venezuelan economist and sociologist. An opposition leader, accused by the authorities based on fabricated evidence, captured, and sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison. The European Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and several other human rights organizations condemned his arrest, recognizing it as politically motivated. Ultimately, forced to flee the country (October 2020). Politically active, he is a co-founder of the Primero Justicia party (2000) and the national coordinator of the Voluntad Popular party (2009). Former mayor of the Chacao municipality in Caracas.

A Serbian politician. A member of the Europa Nostra Council, the European Federation for Cultural Heritage. Secretary General of Europa Nostra Serbia. A member of the Board of Trustees of the European Museum Forum (EMF). The founder of the Center for Democracy Foundation in Belgrade (Serbia). A former long-time member of the Serbian parliament, chairwoman of the Parliamentary Committee for Culture and Media, and a member of the City Council. A former member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where she served as vice-chair of the Committee on Culture, Education, Science and Media, and vice-chair of the Subcommittee on Culture, Diversity, and Heritage (2012–2016).

A violinist, composer, music promoter, and educator. Concertmaster of the Polish Radio Orchestra in Warsaw. The founder and second violinist of the Lutosławski Quartet, and for the past twenty years, the artistic director of the Ensemble Festival and the Princess Daisy Festival. A lecturer at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. He has run violin and chamber music courses in Poland, the UK, Italy, Greece, Singapore, Mexico, Turkey, and South Korea. A multiple award winner, including a Gold Record together with the Młynarski–Masecki Jazz Band for the album Płyta z zadrą w sercu [A Record with a Thorn in the Heart] (2020), and the Fryderyk Award (2023) together with the Lutosławski Quartet.

One of the most original and versatile artists on the Polish music scene. He plays all keyboard instruments, composes, conducts, produces, arranges, sings, teaches, and curates. His first passion was jazz and improvised music, and today he finds fulfilment through working across a wide stylistic spectrum. His virtuosic blending of genres, and breaking the boundary between high art and entertainment have become his signature traits. As a classically trained pianist, he regularly engages with Europe’s musical heritage, interpreting it with a rare combination of freedom and erudition.

A Ukrainian human rights lawyer and civic society leader. Head of the non-profit organization Center for Civil Liberties, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. An active advocate for democratic reforms in her country and the OSCE region. Following Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, and the widespread war crimes and human rights violations, she called for the creation of a special international hybrid tribunal to investigate these crimes.

A cultural manager, Deputy Director of the European Solidarity Centre for Civic Culture. At the ECS, she is responsible for socio-cultural and educational projects aimed at fostering civic awareness and sensitivity to the world around us. A co-creator of pro-social solutions in the city, and the author of various human rights programmes. Presented with, among others, the Paweł Adamowicz Equality Award.

A cultural manager and expert in cultural promotion and communication, specializing in the coordination and organization of the commemorative programme of anniversary events. Deputy Director of the European Solidarity Centre. A member of the Programme College and Steering Committee of the Paweł Adamowicz Civic Studies Institute. A member of the boards of the National Museum in Gdańsk, the Malbork Castle Museum, and the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk.

An Italian historian, journalist, and publicist, specialist in marketing, media relations, and event organisation. Editor of the Poli-logo. Dialoghi plurali a est portal. Long-time Director of Italy’s public radio and television broadcaster Rai. Head of strategic marketing operations at the Rai Radio. A co-author of the book Polonia mon amour (Polska, moja miłość) (2006), on Poland’s recent history, where contemporariness is viewed through the lens of past events.

A German journalist, economist, and professor of economic journalism at the Technical University of Dortmund. He focuses on key contemporary issues: money, credit, and currency; globalization and geopolitics; demography and productivity; climate change and decarbonization; democracy, public discourse, and populism. He writes weekly articles for the Manager Magazin and Der Spiegel, presenting the most important economic developments. Together with economists from other universities, he founded the Narrative Economics Alliance Ruhr (NEAR), a team researching the interaction between markets, politics, media, and society.

A Belarusian poet, translator, and human rights advocate. She collaborates with independent media outlets. Chair of the Council of the Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House, and President of the Belarusian PEN Centre. She graduated from the Faculty of Philology at Belarusian State University, earned her master’s degree at European Humanities University, and pursued postgraduate studies at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin. She has worked within the NGO sector.

An American philosopher and writer. She writes extensively on the Enlightenment, moral philosophy, metaphysics, and politics. She studied at Harvard University and Freie Universität Berlin (Free University in Berlin). Before joining the Einstein Forum (2000), she was a professor at Yale University and Tel Aviv University. A member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the American Philosophical Society. The author of nine books translated into fifteen languages. Her articles appear in both American and German press.

A Polish diplomat with nearly thirty years of experience, having served as Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland, Director of the OECD-UNDP Partnership for Democratic Governance, and Poland’s Ambassador to Japan. Executive Director of the European Endowment for Democracy. He oversaw the launch of the Polish Aid programme (2006–2008) and served as Director General of the Polish Foreign Service (2005–2006). During the communist era, he was an active member of the democratic opposition and editor-in-chief of the Independent Publishing House of the University of Warsaw, his alma mater.

A Polish philologist and sociologist, cultural manager, cultural animator, and academic lecturer. Director of the National Centre for Culture. He studied at the Jagiellonian University, Université d’Aix-Marseille, and Collegium Civitas. For seventeen years, he worked for the cultural development of Kraków, serving as Programme Director of the Kraków Festival Office, then as the Mayor’s Plenipotentiary for Culture, and later as Director of Development and Creativity at the Department of Culture of Kraków City Hall. He was involved in the creation of many international festivals in Kraków, including Misteria Paschalia, Sacrum Profanum, the Conrad Festival, the Miłosz Festival, and the Kraków Film Music Festival. He supervised the establishment of the Kraków UNESCO City of Literature programme.

A Polish sociologist. Assistant Professor at the Institute of Sociology, the University of Gdańsk, and Senior Research Specialist at the European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk. His research focuses on radical social movements, civic society, and democratization in Central and Eastern Europe. Vice-president of the Zatoka Foundation, a Polish NGO dedicated to supporting and conducting research as well as organising academic events. The author of numerous publications.

A Ukrainian historian and essayist, professor at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt-on-Oder. Director of the Viadrina Center for Polish and Ukrainian Studies. His publications concern intellectual history, historiography, genocide, and memory studies in Central and Eastern Europe. The founder of the Berlin-Brandenburg-Ukraine Initiative (2015), which later developed into the PRISMA UKRAЇNA Research Network at the Transregionale Studien Forum in Berlin. A recipient of the DIALOG Prize of the German-Polish Society for his “commitment to promoting knowledge about Ukraine and its historical interconnections in Europe” (2022). He has conducted research and taught at universities in Basel, Cambridge, Geneva, Berlin, Paris, and Vienna.

A Polish philosopher, PhD in humanities, researcher specializing in the development of new technologies, particularly green and sustainable technology, humanoid artificial intelligence, social robots, and wearable technologies. Professor at Kozminski University. A graduate of The New School for Social Research in New York, where she participated in research on identity in virtual reality, with a particular focus on Second Life.

An Indian anthropologist and sociologist born in the United States. President and Rector of Central European University in Vienna. She leads a research group on soft authoritarianisms at the University of Bremen. A former Rector of the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna, Professor of Social Anthropology and Sociology at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva, and Director of the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva. A co-founder of the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at CEU in Budapest.

An American-Polish political scientist, journalist, and publicist. Editor-in-chief of the New Eastern Europe magazine, and director of the Warsaw Euro-Atlantic Summer Academy (WEASA), an annual summer school for mid-career professionals organised at the College of Europe in Natolin. A member of the editorial board of Eurozine, a network of over 100 European cultural journals. Res Publica Nowa included his name on the “New Europe 100” list – the 100 most important innovators in Central and Eastern Europe (2014). He was also shortlisted for the European Press Prize in the editor category (2012). A recipient of the Transatlantic Media Fellowship (2019). Previously, he worked in public administration in Washington, D.C.

A Polish political scientist, English studies specialist, and academic teacher. Deputy editor-in-chief of New Eastern Europe, a bimonthly magazine dedicated to issues concerning Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as well as European Eastern policy. A member of the board of the Jan Nowak-Jeziorański College of Eastern Europe in Wrocław. She has worked, among others, for the Foreign Policy magazine in Washington, D.C., and spent five years analysing policy at the World Bank. The author of numerous academic and political publications in Polish and English, and a co-author of the book Will Women Save the World? Feminist Foreign Policy (2020).

A Polish lawyer, entrepreneur, and public official. Director of the National Institute of Telecommunications, a state research unit. Telecommunications market expert. A former president of the Office of Electronic Communications (2006–2012) and a former Minister of Digital Affairs (2015–2018). She also worked for many years in the telecommunications sector, associated with the Wilekopolska Broadband Network and the Internet for Mazovia project. She also served as the chief strategic advisor for the Polish Chamber of Commerce for Electronics and Telecommunications.

A Polish local government official. Marshal of the Pomeranian Voivodeship (since 2010). A former mayor of Jastarnia and councillor to the Pomeranian Regional Assembly. A co-initiator and former chairman of the Board of the Municipal Union of Communes. A co-organiser of environmental investments, including comprehensive water and sewage management solutions for the Hel Peninsula and Puck Bay, the construction of bike paths around Puck Bay, the construction of a network of sailing and fishing marinas, and the opening of wartime fortifications to tourists. A promoter of northern Kashubia culture and Baltic fishing.

A Polish lawyer, social activist, and publicist. A co-founder and president of the Panoptykon Foundation. A  member of the Council for Digital Affairs, a think tank whose members support the Ministry of Digital Affairs and the Committee of the Council of Ministers for Digital Affairs with their knowledge and experience. The host of the Panoptykon 4.0 podcast, published by the Panoptykon Foundation and Radio Tok FM. A member of the international network of social entrepreneurs Ashoka. A former vice-chairwoman of the European Digital Rights network, an association of civil and human rights organizations from across Europe (2012–2020).

A Turkish writer and journalist who has been engaged for years in the fight for human rights and freedom of speech. She is not afraid to tackle difficult topics such as violence against women and rising social tensions. She has worked, among others, for CNN Turk in Venezuela and Argentina. After writing articles critical of the government, she was dismissed from two editorial offices, and subsequently set out to travel around the Middle East. Her features have been published by The New York Times, Der Spiegel, and The Guardian. She received the Ambassador of New Europe award, bestowed by the European Solidarity Centre and the Jan Nowak-Jeziorański College of Eastern Europe in Wrocław, for the best book on European issues Turkey: The Insane and the Melancholy (2018).

A Polish writer, essayist, screenwriter, poet, and psychologist. A Nobel Prize laureate in Literature ” a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life” (2018). She was also awarded the International Booker Prize for the novel Flights (2018), and twice the Nike Literary Award for Flights (2008) and The Books of Jacob (2015). A member of the Literary Union, a professional and creative association for literary authors. Since 2015, she has organized the Mountains of Literature Festival in Nowa Ruda and surrounding areas. Her books have been translated into more than 40 languages.

A Polish statesman, President of Poland (1990–1995), the first democratically elected president after 1945, and the first ever in Polish history to be appointed through a general election. A Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He was an electrician working at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk when he became involved in opposition activities. He led the great strike in August 1980, which concluded with the signing of an agreement with the communist government. He became the first chairman of NSZZ “Solidarity,” the first independent trade union behind the Iron Curtain. The withdrawal of Soviet troops from Poland was one of the achievements of his presidency.

A diplomat, politician, local government official, social activist, and entrepreneur. Plenipotentiary of the Director of the European Solidarity Centre for Polish-Ukrainian Solidarity and a member of the International Affairs Section. Former Consul General of Ukraine in Gdańsk, and Chair of the Lion’s Society, one of the first independent Ukrainian socio-cultural organizations. Former Deputy Chair of the Lviv Regional Council, Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Tourism at the Lviv Regional State Administration.

A Polish jazz singer. She debuted with the solo album My Lullaby, which achieved a gold record status (2002). Her first album in Polish Beauty Is Dying features nine tracks based on poems by wartime poets about life in Warsaw during the 1944 uprising (2007). Her concert album Live at Palladium became triple platinum (2008). She won the Fryderyk award in the Album of the Year category (2008), granted by the Polish Phonographic Academy.