Introduction

The Polish Science Contact Agency PolSCA since April the 26th 2016 is registered in the EU Transparency register under the identification number: 055587821539-77, Section IV – Think tanks, research and academic institutions.

PolSCA is also registered as ‘Association Etrangere’ (Moniteur belge, 884.331.776).

Early into 2004 the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS) initiated efforts aimed at creating an office based in Brussels that would support the participation of Polish science in the European Research Area. The final shape of the new PAS foreign unit was agreed at the end of 2004. Consequently, Polish Science Contact Agency (PolSCA) started its activities in March 2005.
For a transitional year 2005 and the first quarter 2006 PolSCA Office functioned as a section of the PAS Scientific Centre in Paris. Since April 2006, PolSCA has been operating in Brussels as an independent foreign PAS unit parallel to the other PAS centers in Paris, Rome, Vienna, Berlin, and Kiev. PolSCA is a subsidiary scientific establishment created on the basis of Art. 68 of the Statutory Act of the PAS and has a legal personality in Belgium. PolSCA is supervised and funded by the Polish Academy of Sciences. It represents all Polish scientific institutions and communities and acts for their benefit. The mission of PolSCA is to promote, facilitate and foster participation of the Polish R&D community in European projects and initiatives and in particular to reinforce Polands position in the EU framework programs.

Our Team

dr Tomasz Poprawka

e-mail: tomasz.poprawka@polsca.pan.pl

Since June 2020 he is a Director at the Polish Science Contact Agency (PolSCA) in Brussels. Tomasz is a graduate of the Poznan University of Life Sciences where he obtained his master’s degree in biotechnology. In the years 2002–2003 he participated in the ‘Advances Studies in Molecular Biotechnology’ program at the University of Ghent in Belgium. In 2004, he started his four-year doctoral studies at the John Innes Center in Norwich in Great Britain. After receiving his PhD from the University of East Anglia, he moved to the National Institute of Basic Biology in Okazaki (Japan) as part of the JSPS scholarship. In 2010, he returned to Poland and joined the team of the Foundation for Polish Science, where he was involved in overseeing the implementation of programs financed from FNP own funds and programs financed under the ERDF, i.e. he coordinated the work of two teams implementing projects financed under EU structural funds for years 2014-2020. Since November 2018, he has been part of the PolSCA team in Brussels, where as an expert he was involved in monitoring science, research and innovation policy at the European Union level.

Łukasz Pieczonka

e-mail: lukasz.pieczonka@polsca.pan.pl

An expert with years of experience in international research and education programmes and European science and innovation policy. 

Since November 2024, associated with the PolSCA PAN Office in Brussels, where he is responsible for monitoring EU research and innovation policies, with particular emphasis on the Horizon Europe programme (especially cluster 2, ERC and MSCA grants and ERA Policy). His interests focus on cross-cutting issues such as social sciences  and humanities (SSH), RMA and AI in scientific research. He also actively follows the preparations for the future framework programme (FP10).

At PolSCA, he designs training courses for research managers (RMA), including as part of the V4 Training initiative. He organises webinars and thematic events, promoting cooperation and building a network of contacts between Polish institutions  and the European R&D ecosystem. He is involved in activities aimed at increasing the visibility of Polish science in Europe – from creating information content to supporting research consortia.

He also serves as Project Manager for the IMPULSE project (UJ), which focuses on the digitisation and sharing of cultural heritage in contexts such as the Metaverse, platform interoperability and new legal frameworks for the culture  and education sector.

Previously associated with the Jagiellonian University, where, as deputy head of the International Research Programmes Department, he supported applications to European research programmes. He also worked at the Pedagogical University of Krakow, where he served as a specialist and head of the International Relations Office.

He graduated from the Jagiellonian University with a degree in international relations – development studies and history, was a scholarship holder at l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Lyon – Sciences Po Lyon (France) and a graduate of the European Academy of Diplomacy.

Kuba Gudzinowicz

e-mail: kuba.gudzinowicz@polsca.pan.pl

Kuba Gudzinowicz combines experience gained in the private sector – in the field of HR – with work in the public sector, including at the University of Gdańsk and the Łódź University of Technology. He has participated in international projects (POIR, Interreg, Erasmus) and national projects (NCBR, NCN). He holds a master’s degree in administration from the University of Warsaw. He has almost ten years of experience in administration, human resources and office work organisation, as well as teaching experience at a post-secondary school in the field of labour law, administrative proceedings and office organisation.

At the PolSCA PAN Office, he is responsible for administration, finance and human resources, and supports the office’s communication and promotional initiatives.

Katarzyna Skorupka

e-mail: katarzyna.skorupka@polsca.pan.pl

She is a graduate of chemistry and special purpose materials engineering (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Łódź University of Technology, and the Military University of Technology).  She has also completed postgraduate studies in the field of EU project management, European fund administration, and artificial intelligence project management (SGH, Leon Koźmiński Academy).

She has worked in Polish scientific institutions for eight years as a specialist in the acquisition and implementation of national and international research projects. She has supported researchers in applying for, conducting and reporting on consortial projects funded under the Interreg, Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe programmes.

In recent years, she has worked at the University of Warsaw Biological and Chemical Research Centre, leading Horizon projects under pillar 2– Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness: Health (Cluster I), Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society (Cluster II) and Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment (Cluster VI).

In her new role at the PolSCA office, she will monitor EU policy in the field of research and innovation, focusing on food research, biotechnology, natural resources, agriculture and the environment (Cluster 6), as well as in the area of Health research relating to different stages of life, environmental and social factors, non-communicable diseases, rare and communicable diseases (Cluster 1).

Our activities:

• close monitoring of EU R&D policy formulation and implementation, advising and assisting in the process of preparation and presentation of important R&I projects that feature Polish participation,
• providing relevant information and assistance in Brussels to visitors, Polish members of respective EU institutions and advisory bodies, politicians interested in Polish science development,
• co-operation with offices representing the R&I sector from countries participating in EU framework programmes, maintaining working relations with respective contacts and administration bodies of the European Commission (EC) and the European Parliament (EP),
• participating in the activities of advisory bodies to the EC, suggesting candidates to those bodies, and upon request representing their Polish members,
• co-operation with the Minister responsible for science in the Polish government, the National Contact Point for Research Programmes of the EU and other relevant national bodies, institutions and organizations acting in or for the R&I sector,
• organization of meetings and seminars in Brussels that support the fulfilment of the Office’s mission; participating in events key to the promotion of Polish science in the European Research Area.

Former colleagues

Paulina Idziak

Paulina Idziak combines experience in the private and academic sectors. She is affiliated with SWPS University, where she was involved in the implementation of the Homing FNP project. She spent several months at Radboud University in the Netherlands, and her alma mater is the University of Wrocław.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Social Communication and a master’s degree in Psychology. She is a doctoral student at the SWPS University Doctoral School. In addition to her academic work, she has experience in organising promotional and educational events and employer brand management.
At the PolSCA Office, as part of communication & dissemination activities, she was responsible for direct communication with partners and research centres, as well as coordinating social media and website content. In addition, she was responsible for managing the office’s administration, finance and human resources in close cooperation with the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Izabela Maciejowska

Graduated from English studies (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań and Poznan College of Modern Languages) and postgraduate studies in EU project management (Poznań University of Economics and Business).

For twenty years she has worked in Polish research institutions as a specialist in acquiring and implementing national and international research projects. She has supported researchers in applying, conducting and reporting of consortium projects starting from the 7th Framework Programme, through Horizon 2020 to Horizon Europe, also in ERA_NET and COST initiatives.

For 15 years she was an associate editor of the Journal of Natural Fibers, now published by Taylor&Francis Group. In recent years, she has worked at the Poznań University of Economics and Business, where she led the Researchers’ Night and “Kadry ekonomiczne” projects, both aimed at popularizing science.

At the PolSCA Office, she will monitor EU research and innovation policies within the pillar I “Excellence Science” in areas such as Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) as well as research infrastructures (INFRA), additionally she will take over tasks in the area of food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment research (Cluster 6 of the HE).

Magdalena Dobrzyńska

A graduate of international relations and social policy at the University of Warsaw, scholarship holder at l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris – Sciences Po (France) and Northeastern Illinois University (USA), participant in the TransFormation.doc program of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, implemented by the University of Alberta (Canada). She has over ten years of professional experience in Polish scientific and research institutions, where she was responsible for the preparation, administration, and settlement of R&D projects and the dissemination of their results (framework programs, structural funds). In 2020-21, she managed the task of state services in stage V of the multi-annual program “Improvement of safety and working conditions,” in which she initiated and co-implemented a study on the safety of remote work. She participated in the work of working groups on smart specialization in the Mazovia Province and in expert consultations on the barometer of business impact on Sustainable Development Goals. As an expert at the PolSCA Office, she was responsible for monitoring EU policy on research and innovation, including in the areas of health and social sciences and humanities (clusters 1 and 2 of the Higher Education Act) and cross-cutting issues in Horizon Europe: cooperation between science and society (e.g., in the area of missions), gender equality, open science, scientific excellence, etc.

Jadwiga Olech-Kostka

In April 2021 she took up a position of a specialist in Polish Science Contact Agency in Brussels. She graduated in Cultural Studies at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) and completed postgraduate studies in European Administration at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Recht in Berlin. She has experience working in a public relations agency, a publishing house and in the implementation and promotion of cultural and scientific projects at the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity Institute. From 2016 to 2021 she was employed at the German Embassy in Warsaw in the Department of Science and Research, where she worked, among other things, in preparing reports, organizing events, receiving delegations and providing information on science-related topics in Germany. At PolSCA she dealed with administrative and communication issues.

Joanna Komperda

Since October 2020, she has been working as an expert at the PolSCA PAN Science Promotion Office in Brussels. She holds a master’s degree in history from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. She was a CLIOHRES.NET programme scholarship holder. For several years, she participated in documentary projects devoted to the social history of Central Europe in the 20th century, collaborating with, among others, the KARTA Centre Foundation and the History Meeting House in Warsaw. Between 2012 and 2019, she worked at the National Science Centre, where, as part of the international cooperation team, she led the NCN’s participation in international Era-Net Cofund networks: BiodivERsA and JPI Urban Europe. She also coordinated the POLONEZ programme for foreign researchers, co-financed by the MSCA Cofund programme under Horizon 2020. At the PolSCA Office, she was responsible for monitoring EU research and innovation policy in areas such as scientific excellence (European Research Council #ERC), regional policy and innovation (European Innovation Council #EIC). In addition, she was PolSCA’s lead expert in the areas of climate and biodiversity research, the environment and the bioeconomy (clusters 5 and 6 of Horizon Europe).

dr Justyna Kramarczyk

Since June 2020, she has been acting as an expert at the PolSCA PAN Science Promotion Office in Brussels. She holds a PhD in social sciences and has experience working in an international environment. She graduated in sociology and administration from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. She has experience in conducting research and communicating its results – she has participated in numerous research projects (including as manager of an NCN grant on the slow life phenomenon in 2015–2018), the results of which she has presented at many international scientific conferences. As an expert at the PolSCA Office, she is responsible for monitoring EU policy on research and innovation in areas such as scientific mobility (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions #MSCA), higher education (#Erasmus+, #European Universities), social sciences and humanities (#SSH), gender equality (#GenderEquality), and cooperation between science and society (e.g. in the field of #Missions). In addition, her tasks included administrative support for the Office and communication activities, including maintaining the PolSCA Office’s website and Facebook profile. She has been with PolSCA since October 2018, when she started working as a specialist.