Global Trends Lab invites for a seminar "Out of Ivory Towers: Can the Academics Help Solve the World’s Problems?". The event will take place at the Faculty of International and Political Studies (Kraków, 4 Reymonta St), room 111, on Monday November 8th at 5:00 – 6:30 PM.

In this seminar, we will ask scholars who specialize in politics, security studies, and international relations about their experiences in combining academic research with out-of-the-campus activities as think-tank analysts, public intellectuals, and popular authors. We will talk about the impact of their research analyses and reports on domestic and foreign policies, and discuss the ways in which academics can be part of the solutions to the local and global challenges. Finally, we will assess whether it is possible to develop relevant research programs and effective publishing models, which would successfully combine the experiences, skills, and knowledge of these experts for greater public goods.

Experts:

Dr. Patrick Mendis is an award-winning diplomat, educator, author, philanthropist, and executive in government service in the United States. An alumnus of the Harvard Kennedy School and the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School, Dr. Mendis was appointed by the Obama administration to serve two-terms as a commissioner to the US National Commission for UNESCO at the State Department until the United States withdrew from the UN agency. Currently, he is a distinguished visiting professor of global affairs at the National Chengchi University in Taipei. He is the author of over 150 books, government reports, journal articles, and newspaper columns. 

Dr. Antonina Łuszczykiewicz is an assistant professor at the Institute of the Middle and Far East of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Her research agenda was supported by the American–Polish Kosciuszko Foundation, the Taiwan Fellowship from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (ROC), and the Confucian Scholarship of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In cooperation with experts on public and international policy issues, she published numerous articles in The Harvard International Review, The SAIS Review of International Affairs, The National Interest, The South China Morning Post, and The Diplomat.

Dr. Wojciech Michnik is an assistant professor of International Relations and Security Studies at the Jagiellonian University (JU) and coordinator of the Transatlantic Project at LSE IDEAS Central and South-Eastern European Program at JU. Dr. Michnik served as an Eisenhower Defense Fellow at NATO Defense College and Fulbright visiting scholar at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute. In 2014 he worked as a foreign and security policy analyst at the Department of Americas, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland. He authored and co-authored various policy-oriented publications for New Eastern Europe; NATO Defense College; LSE IDEAS; European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, and Elcano Royal Institute. 

Chair: prof. Joanna Dyduch, Institute of the Middle and Far East of the JU.