Department of Cultural Studies

Scope of research

Apart from research and teaching, our staff is also involved in initiatives benefiting local communities and the society, and collaborates with business partners. As a department within the Faculty of Humanities, we offer cultural study programs (including a practical program – School of Ideas). Our projects aim to meet the needs of the contemporary world.

We share our knowledge and skills of analyzing and describing the surrounding world with our students. We carry out assessments and forecast directions of change. Furthermore, through our academic and auxiliary activities, we strive to actively and effectively impact the change.

We are united by the mission of social responsibility, engagement of our researchers in their work, and initiatives that support cultural equality in the society, which is diverse with respect to nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc..

We stand on the shoulders of our distinguished former colleagues and mentors, including Professor Jolanta Brach-Czaina, Professor Jerzy Bralczyk, Professor Mirosław Duchowski, Professor Roch Sulima, Professor Anna Zeidler-Janiszewska, Professor Wojciech Burszta, Professor Wiesław Godzic, and Professor Maciej Mrozowski.

Education Concept – Our Difference

Our concept of education is rooted in transdisciplinary, critical and engaged attitude towards science and teaching that our researchers represent. It combines the Polish tradition of cultural and media research with the German tradition of Kulturwissenschaften and the Anglo-Saxon tradition of cultural studies. Nevertheless, we believe that the most interesting ideas emerge “between”, also between disciplines, hence our students acquire knowledge and skills derived from various “tool boxes”. For that reason, we enrich the critical tradition with elements of speculation, and we combine the development of assessment and research skills with methods used in design, which are focused on the development, testing, and creation of conceptual, and sometimes material, porotypes.

Many of our students begin their professional careers while still studying. Our programs often open doors to companies and organizations that collaborate with our lecturers. These employers know that our graduates are well prepared to meet the needs of today's businesses, public administration, and other organizations.

We have also been inspired by study programs offered by other universities, which partnered with us on various projects. Our influences include:

• Comparative Media Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that combine practical projects and media analytics tools
• Critical theory program offered by the School of Criticism and Theory at Cornell University
• Management of social and business initiatives based on humanistic values promoted by the Institute of Social Ethics at the University of Lucerne
• Cross-cultural practices concerning sustainable development, protection of the environment, and democratic values developed by the Baltic University Programme
• Processes and procedures concerning the development of education offer and achieving education outcomes developed by the University College London

This intertwining of theoretical, research and project elements has been inspired by the current leading innovators in project-centered work, such as the Parsons School of Design in New York and Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University.

Key characteristics of our teaching program – our difference:

• Focus on the present – the knowledge and practical skills we teach, equip our students with critical thinking skills, methods, research tools, and knowledge of normative systems that allow them to not only understand the contemporary world in all its complexity and comprehend dynamic changes, but also diagnose these complexities and transformations, forecast the direction of the changes, and gain agency by active participation.
• Interdisciplinary approach – our study programs are based on the body of knowledge derived from several disciplines and various research strategies and practices, which allow scholars to describe and analyze complex contemporary phenomena.
• Networking – during the course of study, students have an opportunity to meet not only their academic teachers, but also many professionals who work in the creative sector, representatives of public and private institutions, and community activists from Poland and around the world.
• Empathy – as academic teachers, we believe in mutual feedback, empathetic approach, building strong bonds with students based on trust, and engagement.
• Experience – the core of the “School of Ideas” program consists of an extensive system of mandatory practicum modules, spread evenly across the years of study. The goal of the practicum, which every semester, is carried out in collaboration with a different entity, e.g., cultural institutions, businesses, NGOs, municipalities, is to immerse our students in actual environments where services and innovations are designed. This allows our graduates to gain practical experience indispensable in the job-search process.
• Agility – our programs are designed to help students gain team and project management skills and react to a rapidly changing world.

Scope of research

We draw on various research traditions and are inspired by different areas of research, such as anthropology, social communication, linguistics, and philosophy. This is a result not only of our diverse research interests, but also of our biographies and biographies of key Polish researchers specializing in culture and media, who have laid the foundation of our Department.

Research Centers

The Institute of Humanities oversees the work of the following research centers:

• Center for Comparative Research on Memory Cultures (CCRM) led by Katarzyna Bojarska, Ph.D.
• Center for Cultural Research of Technologies led by Professor Mirosław Filiciak
• Creative Economy Research Center led by Professor Dorota Ilczuk

We also contribute to research projects carried out by other interdisciplinary centers at SWPS University, such as:

• Center for Research on the Economics of Memorial Sites, which researches the economic and cultural aspects of memorial sites
• 4CAST Center for Climate Action and Social Transformations, which studies attitudes towards climate change.

Student Research Clubs

Student Research Clubs bring together students who are interested in cultural studies Participation in the clubs provides students with an excellent opportunity to learn how to apply their newly acquired theoretical knowledge in practice. The research clubs also facilitate exchange of ideas and provide a platform for broadening one’s interests. Our students pursue their interests and test their ideas in the following clubs:

• Student Studio [Frame]
• MyGender Student Research Club
• School of Ideas Student Research Club

Awards for Best Theses

Since 2022, we have been awarding students who have written the best undergraduate and graduate theses in the discipline of cultural studies. This recognition is conducive to the promotion of innovative research in the filed of contemporary culture. We encourage thesis advisors and reviewers to submit their nominations atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Conferences and Meetings

Since 2009, we have been involved in various projects carried out by an inter-university research center established in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts – the Institute of Research on Public Space (IBPP) (formerly the Center for Research on Public Space). Together, we have conducted many interdisciplinary research projects and published numerous articles.

We contribute to projects carried out by inter-university teams specializing in media research.

We organize and participate in international conferences that focus on cultural and media studies. In June 2023, we organized the 4th Meeting of Film and Media Researchers. In September 2025, together with the University of Warsaw, we will host the 5th Meeting of the Polish Association of Cultural Studies.

Our Publications

We publish in key scientific journals devoted to culture and religion studies and media and social communication studies, including Polish publications such as: Teksty drugie, Przegląd kulturoznawczy, Kultura współczesna, Czas kultury, Kwartalnik filmowy, Pamiętnik teatralny, Konteksty. Polska Sztuka Ludowa, Studia Slavica, Estetyka i Krytyka, Prace Kulturoznawcze, Elementy. Sztuka i design, Narracje o Zagładzie, Kultura i Społeczeństwo, Athenaeum, Polskie Studia Politologiczne, and international journals, such as: Arts, Memory Studies, Game Studies, Critical Studies in Television, Images. The International Journal of European Film, Performing Arts and Audiovisual Communication, and European Journal of Cultural Studies. We also contribute chapters to books that are published by prestigious publishing houses listed on the ministerial list II, such as Bloombsbury, MIT Press, and Routledge.

OSWPS University Press: Since 2022, a journal focused on visual culture studies Widok. Teorie i praktyki kultury wizualnej has been affiliated with SWPS University.

Knowledge Sharing

A belief in the social mission of our department translates to our commitment to popularization of knowledge about cultural studies. We are present in traditional and social media, including dailies (such as the national daily Gazeta Wyboracza and local dailies), weekly opinion magazines (e.g., Polityka, Newsweek, Tygodnik Powszechny, and Wprost) as well as radio and television programs and online platforms.

Our numerous initiatives also carry a huge educational potential. For example, the report on the notion of “sisterhood” developed by Sandra Frydrysiak, Ph.D. and Marta Majchrzak, provided a foundation for activism concerning women’s rights. The report suggests that practicing “sisterhood”, understood as women’s solidarity, helps to reveal systemic nature of women’s issues, which are often treated as taboo subjects by the society.

We should also mention the collaboration of Karol Jachymek, Ph.D. with numerous cultural and education intuitions, such as the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute, the Center for Citizenship Education, Filmoteka Szkolna – a resource of selected films from the national archive addressed to teachers and students, the School with Class Foundation, and the New Horizons Association, which aim to popularize knowledge concerning adolescent (pop)culture, digital media, and communication practices common among members of the Generations Z and Alpha. For this purpose, Dr. Karol Jachymek, develops scripts for lessons and lectures, e-learning courses and runs workshops for teachers, educators and parents on these topics.