PhD, studied Political Science and Political Philosophy at the University of Toronto and the Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. At the latter one he obtained his doctorate. Since 1996 he is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Kritika & Kontext and during 1996-2006 he founded and directed the educational institution Society for Higher Learning based in Bratislava. During 1996-2001 he was a representative of the Foundation Project on Ethnic Relations (PER) in Slovakia, based in Princeton, U.S., specializing in inter-ethnic conflicts. He teaches political science at the Comenius University in Bratislava. Author of the book An Attempt to Analyze Slovak Society. Regularly publishes articles in Slovak and English magazines on the subjects of Slovak politics, the EU, as well as political theory. Member of the advisory board of Eurozine – an online magazine providing a network of European Cultural journals. Director of Bratislava Institute of Humanism, a nonprofit organization. Since June 2006 he is rector and lecturer of Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts (BISLA).
Experts
Samuel Abrahám
Nikko Biernacka
A freelance photographer, founder of the Machina Fotografika Foundation, she promotes people who work in photography, supports the creative development of women and performs educational activities in visual arts. A graduate of Cultural Studies at the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznań and Creative Photography in Opava (Czech Republic), with a diploma in Dita Pepe’s seminar. She exhibits both in Poland and abroad. She publishes in newspapers: Polityka weekly, Wysokie Obcasy magazine, Tygodnik Powszechny weekly, as well as in books. She strives to make fashion a tool for the promotion of important social, artistic and cultural events and she attains this goal in “artfashion” photo sessions. She has also completed coach training organized by NGO Trainers’ Association STOP, currently participant in the Leaders Program of The Polish-American Freedom Foundation. She works on project „440 km”, which aims to support women’s development with physical disabilities and make them more visible in public space.
Krzysztof Bobiński
Is the President of Unia & Polska, a pro-European organisation. He worked with the Financial Times as its Warsaw Correspondent from 1976 to 2000 and later published Unia & Polska, a magazine devoted to EU issues. He writes for openDemocracy and is associate editor on the Europe section of Europe’s World. He is a co-chair of Steering Committee of Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum. He studied modern history at Magdalen College, Oxford. He is a Commander (II class) of the Stella della Solidarieta’ Italiana.
Anna Danilewicz
Cultural animator and manager; currently a head of Education and Exhibitions Department in the Army Museum in Białystok and also a coordinator of social and educational actions and international cooperation in Sybir Memorial Museum (under construction), previously: Head of Department of Coordination of Artistic Work, Marketing and Gaining Funds in Dramatic Theatre in Białystok. Journalist cooperating with Association Marcel Hicter in Brussels and other independent projects, trainer of the Borderland Summer School 2012. Graduated from Białystok University, completed also European Diploma for Cultural Project Management, International Seminary for Cultural Operators, trainings for open education, science and culture, strategic development of cultural organizations.
Jean-Pierre Deru
Jean-Pierre Deru holds a PhD in Law from the University of Louvain, Belgium (U.C.L). He was teaching at the Faculté Ouverte de Politique Economique et Sociale at the U.C.L. Director of the Association Marcel Hicter pour la Démocratie Culturelle, director of the European Diploma in Cultural Project Management which trained more than 570 cultural operators from all over Europe and beyond in cultural cooperation projects management, and member of various European cultural networks; among others Oracle, the European Network of Cultural Administration Training Centres (ENCATC) and the European House for Culture.
Vít Dostál
Deputy Director of the Association for International Affairs (AMO) Research Center. He pursues his PhD in European Studies at the Faculty of Social Studies of the Masaryk University in Brno. He holds also MA in European Studies and BA in European Studies and International Relations from the Masaryk University. He completed study stay at Collegium Civitas in Warsaw and internships at the Czech Embassy in Poland and the South Moravian Region Representation to the EU. He has been cooperating with AMO since 2006. He covers the Polish internal and foreign policy, Central-European cooperation and Czech foreign and European policy.
Martin Ehl
PhD at Charles University, Prague in Political Science, recipient of numerous fellowships and professional courses in the U.S., Poland, Hungary, Belgium, Italy and Slovenia. In 1999 he was a research fellow at Institute of International Relations, Prague, between 2001-2006 lecturer at University of West Bohemia Pilsen teaching global issues. Since 2001, a reporter for the Czech economic daily Hospodářské noviny, and since 2006 the head of the foreign desk. Previously, he worked in various Czech written media outlets, incl. TV and radio. He has published articles in the Serbian, Slovak and Polish press. His main areas of expertise include: Central Europe, Balkans, security policy, transatlantic relations, globalization, Latin America and Spain. From 2009 onwards, lecturerin Central and Eastern European Political Systems at the Metropolitan University in Prague. Author of a book A Third Decade: about the Life, Politics and People between Brussels and Gazprom.
Danuta Glondys
She holds a PhD degree in the Humanities, MA in English Philology and in Political Studies. In the period 1993–1999, she was director of the Cultural Department of the Municipality of Krakow and following it, the Regional Director of the USAID programme in Poland. She is the European Commission expert in the European Capitals of Culture programme selecting and monitoring all ECOC since 2009. Director of the Villa Decius Association in 2001-2016, she is now the Plenipotentiary of the Board for International Affairs, responsible for its initiating and implementing programmes which advocate international cultural and intellectual cooperation and promotion of intercultural dialogue and human rights.Lecturer at the Jagiellonian University and the Humanistic Studies Department of the University of Technology in Krakow. Her research field covers relations between culture and politics and European integration. Author of numerous articles and publications. An avid traveler.
Magdalena Góra
Currently working at the Institute of European Studies, Jagiellonian University, Kraków and is at present the visiting researcher at the Centre for European Studies, Lund University, Sweden. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the Jagiellonian University, and her doctoral thesis (2007) concerned the issues of relations between Poland and Israel after World War II. Her academic interests include processes of collective identity formation in the context of EU enlargement, the European Union as an actor in international relations, contemporary Polish foreign policy. She participates in several research projects. She also co-edited volumes: "Collective Identity and Democracy in the Enlarging Europe" (with Zdzisław Mach and Katarzyna Zielińska) (2012); "Democracy, State and Society. European integration in Central and Eastern Europe" (Katarzyna Zielińska) (2011).
Iván Gyurcsík
Currently, Ambassador of Hungary to Poland. He also held a position of Head of Department of Bilateral Relations, Central Europe, Regional Cooperation. Previously, worked as diplomat dealing with international politics and press, then as deputy head of mission in the Embassy of Hungary in Prague. He holds PhD from Budapest School of Economics and Public Administration in Budapest. He speaks English, Czech and Slovak.
