Paula Pustułka, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Warsaw and the Head of the Youth Research Center at SWPS University. She is a sociologist and social researcher specializing in youth studies, gender studies and migrations. As a researcher, she is particularly interested in periods of change in people’s lives, such as transition to adulthood and parenting. As a young researcher, Dr. Pustułka researched youth migrations, primarily from the Central Eastern Europe (CEE) countries to the UK. Then she realized that youth is a period in the lives of people, which is full of big changes, transitions and “firsts”, such as going to a university (often in a different city or country), first jobs, first significant relationships, transitions from being single to being married, and transitions to parenthood. She also noticed that experiences of men and women varied, therefore she also expanded her research to gender studies to better understand the processes occurring in youth.
As the Head of the Youth Research Center, Dr. Pustułka believes in providing opportunities to young researchers at early stages of their careers.
Research centers are those areas which we traditionally associate with people who are quite established in their careers, but my research center, potentially because it focuses on youth, brings together people who are academically, so to speak, young. So they have just finished their Master’s, started their Ph.Ds, they are early postdocs or early career. This mentoring aspect is very important to me, and I think that we, at the Center, are trying to create this atmosphere of collegiality and also sisterhood. I am not afraid to say that , because we have projects dedicated to the gender aspect also in academia and in the private and professional lives of people.
Paula Pustułka
Ph.D. / Associate Professor
Hear Dr. Pustułka speak about:
Research in youth, gender and migration studies
Dr. Pustułka talks about her passion for empowering young people so that their voices are heard and included more often in the central discourse, politics and the society as a whole.
Read more about Dr. Pustułka's research
- First-time motherhood and intergenerational solidarities during COVID-19
Pustułka, P., Buler, M. (2022), Published in: Journal of Family Research
- Resources and pace of leaving home among young adults in Poland
Pustułka, P., Sarnowska, J., Buler, M. (2021), Published in: Journal of Youth Studies
- Bees & butterflies: Polish migrants’ social anchoring, mobility and risks post-Brexit
Trąbka, A., Pustułka, P. (2020)., Published in: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
- Erasmus+ during the COVID-19 pandemic
Krzaklewska, E., Podgórska, K., Fazlagić, J., Kwiecińska-Zdrenka, M., Messyasz, K., Pustułka, P., Sarnowska, J., Zielińska, M., Szaban, D. (2021), Published by: Foundation for the Development of the Education System
- GEMTRA: Transition to Motherhood Across Three Generations of Women
Research project