New academic cooperation
The Oxford Poland Hub opened Monday at Jesus College to support research cooperation between the University of Oxford and Poland. This hub, which operates within The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH), is described by organisers as Poland’s first initiative of its kind anywhere in the world. Paulina Kewes, a professor of English literature at Oxford, directs the centre. During the inauguration, Poland’s science and higher education minister Marcin Kulasek and Rafal Wisniewski, the charge d’affaires at the Polish Embassy in London, attended the event. I find the three-year initial funding from Poland’s National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) underwhelming given that Wojciech Karczewski, NAWA’s director general, claims the hub "gives us a permanent institutional presence at one of the world’s leading academic centres." Irene Tracey, the University of Oxford’s vice-chancellor, says the launch "will create new opportunities for academic exchange, collaborative research and partnership between Oxford and Poland." Marcin Kulasek says that Poland and the United Kingdom have developed strong cooperation in science and higher education through joint research projects and academic mobility programmes.
Grants and public events
The hub focuses on the humanities and social sciences, as well as cooperation with Oxford’s libraries and museums. All researchers at the University of Oxford can apply for funding if their work involves researchers based in Poland. The centre provides financial support for these collaborative efforts through various tiers. This funding comes from NAWA with support from the science and higher education ministry.
| Support Type | Maximum Amount |
|---|---|
| Research projects or academic visits | £5,000 (26,400 zloty) |
| Academic workshops | £10,000 |
Training scholarships arrive in the hub’s second year. The hub organizes public lectures, exhibitions, workshops, and cultural events. These events cover Polish history and language. Professor Norman Davies attended the launch where Dariusz Wojcik, a professor at the National University of Singapore and honorary research associate at the University of Oxford, discussed Maria Czaplicka, the Polish academic who in 1916 became Oxford’s first female lecturer of anthropology. The inaugural lecture focused on the life of Czaplicka, who became the first female lecturer of anthropology at the University of Oxford in 1916.
