Latest academic achievements of WNPiSM

We are pleased to share the latest achievements of the staff of our Faculty:

The article “Has the War in Ukraine Changed Europeans?”, co-authored by Professor Natalia Letki, received the Jeremy Richardson Best Paper Prize 2025. The publication brings together perspectives from a number of fields, including public policy, political behaviour, public opinion research, migration studies, European Union studies, and multi-level governance.

Dr Dominika Harasimiuk has become the principal investigator of the AIGENT project, which has received funding under the Horizon programme. The project, scheduled to begin in October 2026, aims to develop a new European infrastructure of digital twins that will enable the simulation and analysis of interdependencies between health, housing, climate, and transport.

An article co-authored by Professor Anna Kurowska, entitled “The Bumpy Road From a Well‐Paid Earmarked Parental Leave to Engaged Fatherhood: Externally Driven Reform in a Persistently Gendered Culture”, has been published in the prestigious journal Gender, Work & Organization. The publication is one of the outcomes of a project funded by the National Science Centre.

Under the leadership of Professor Marta Jas-Koziarkiewicz, a research team has received a grant from the Mieroszewski Centre for the project “The Architecture of the New Normal: How the War Has Reshaped the Polish and Ukrainian Labour Markets, Education Systems, and Political Scenes”. The project is devoted to the analysis and exchange of experiences among Polish and Ukrainian researchers concerning the realities of life in both countries after the outbreak of the war in 2022. The Polish team participating in the project includes Dr Jadwiga Nadolska, Professor Krzysztof Szewior, Dr hab. Iryna Pavlenko, and Dr hab. Vadym Zheltovskyy, University Professor.

Professor Krzysztof Tomaszewski has completed the MBA AI & Digital Transformation programme at the Warsaw University of Technology Business School and defended his diploma thesis prepared as part of the SkillMatrix AI project. This marks an important step in the development of expert and teaching competencies in the areas of digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and strategic management.

Doctoral candidate Karolina Hermann has received a grant under the Western Balkans–Visegrad Fellowships programme. This is the only grant awarded to a Polish candidate in the field of international relations in this year’s edition of the competition. During her stay at the University of Belgrade in spring 2027, Ms Hermann will deliver, among others, a series of lectures on the significance of the Serbian Orthodox Church as a non-state actor in international relations.

An article by Dr Olga Lavrinenko, entitled “The FEMPOWER Dataset: Mapping the Fragmentation of Women’s Organizations Worldwide”, has been published by Cambridge University Press. It introduces a dataset covering approximately 9,000 women’s organisations operating in 190 countries between 1980 and 2023. The publication was prepared as part of the NCN SONATINA and SONATA grants led by Dr Lavrinenko.

Professor Marek Madej is participating in the project INFLUENCE – Russian Influences in the European Periphery: Interdependencies, Narratives, Power, implemented under the Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme. It is an international doctoral network devoted to the study of the mechanisms, structures, and tools of Russian influence in Europe, particularly in the Baltic states and the Western Balkans. The University of Warsaw will play a leading role in two doctoral projects carried out within the network.

A publication addressing current aspects of Russia’s war against Ukraine, entitled Values and Ethics in Russia’s War Against Ukraine: The Axiological Dimension of Conflict, has recently been published by the prestigious Routledge publishing house in the Contemporary Security Studies series. The volume was edited by Dr hab. Cezary Smuniewski, University Professor, Dr hab. Przemysław Wywiał, Professor at the Pedagogical University, and MA Błażej Bado.

The book presents an interdisciplinary analysis of Russia’s war against Ukraine from the perspective of values and ethics. It shows how axiological aspects related to national identity, society’s capacity for self-organisation, disinformation, gender roles, and geopolitical change manifest themselves in the context of Ukrainian resistance, as well as the extent to which, and the direction in which, this resistance is being shaped.

The volume includes chapters by members of our academic staff:

1. Introduction: An Axiological Perspective on the Study of Russia’s War Against Ukraine
   Professor Cezary Smuniewski, Professor Przemysław Wywiał, MA Błażej Bado
2. The Axiological Dimension of the Political Leadership of Volodymyr Zelenskyy
   Dr hab. Ewa Maria Marciniak, Dr Agnieszka Magdalena Zaręba
3. Funeral Ceremonies of Ukrainian Soldiers in 2022–2024: A Theological and Political Study of Funeral Speeches
   Dr hab. Cezary Smuniewski, University Professor, MA Paweł Marek Mrowiński
4. Will a Values-Driven Approach Prevail? EU–Ukraine Relations in Times of War
   Dr hab. Vadym Zheltovskyy, University Professor
5. The Evolution of Poles’ Attitudes Towards the War in Ukraine and Its Social Determinants
   Dr hab. Ewa Maria Marciniak, Dr Jonathan Scovil
6. Conclusion: The Axiological Horizon of Russia’s War Against Ukraine
   Dr hab. Cezary Smuniewski, University Professor, Dr hab. Przemysław Wywiał, Professor at the Pedagogical University, MA Błażej Bado.

We warmly congratulate everyone on these inspiring achievements. They demonstrate the scale, diversity, and international significance of the research conducted at our Faculty.