About me

I am a researcher at the department of Aesthetics and Culture at Aarhus University (Denmark). Previously, I was Assistant Professor and EU Maria Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Fellow at Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (2019-2022), Affiliated Researcher at Centre Marc Bloch Berlin (2018–19), Early Career Innovation Fellow with the Institute of Advanced Study at the University of Warwick (2018–19) and British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow (2015–18) at the School of Modern Languages and Cultures (French Studies) at Warwick, UK. In 2015–16 I held visiting fellowships with Forschungsinstitut für Philosophie Hannover (Germany) and the Posthuman Aesthetics research group at Aarhus University. As Gates Scholar I completed my PhD in French Studies at the University of Cambridge, Trinity Hall, in 2014. My research has been supported by Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes and Hertie-Stiftung (Studienkolleg zu Berlin). I am a member of the Global Young Academy.

Research profile

At the heart of my research lies the question of social transformation: How can we conceptualize and engage in politics that is relevant for the 21st century? In my first book, Theorizing Contemporary Anarchism. Solidarity, Mimesis and Radical Social Change (Bloomsbury, 2017), I propose a theoretical framework that accounts for plural political practices in contemporary left-wing activism: collective housing projects, cooperative farms, autonomous zones. In my current research project, I focus on how politics is transformed in light of climate change. In my work, I attempt to articulate politics for more-than-human worlds, in which questions of collective solidarity and alternative socio-political practices play an important part. By engaging with thinkers within broadly considered posthumanities and environmental philosophy, I hope to capture a series of transformations that are taking place in philosophy, political practices, art and in our cognitive maps of the world. I am particularly interested in the works of Bruno Latour, Isabelle Stengers, Vinciane Despret, Peter Sloterdijk, Michel Serres, Alain Badiou, Jacques Rancière, René Girard and Gilbert Simondon as well as ecofeminist contributions to conceptualizing ‘nonhuman politics’.

Research expertise

  • Continental Philosophy
  • Literary and Critical Theory
  • Feminism and Gender Studies
  • Environmental Humanities
  • Posthumanism
  • Anarchism

Current book project

My second book (in progress) deals with the question of how to think politics and nonhumans together in the context of ecological crisis. It interrogates the political implications of recent posthuman theories (broadly considered) and its radical shift to nonhuman factors. The project’s central contribution is its emphasis on political practice. Whereas much of contemporary scholarship on nonhuman politics focuses on a comprehensive reconsideration of the term ‘politics’, my research addresses the concrete political action that follows from such theoretical reformulations.

Education

  • Ph.D. French Studies, University of Cambridge, Trinity Hall, UK, 2014
    Thesis title: Tribulations of Universality: Conceptualizing Slow Social Transformation with Judith Butler, René Girard, Peter Sloterdijk, and Alain Badiou. Supervised by Ian James
  • M.Phil. European Literature and Culture (First Class), University of Cambridge, 2009
  • B.A. Literary Theory and Comparative Literature (with distinction), Art History (minor), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany, 2008

Professional experience

  • Assistant Professor, EU Maria Skłodowska-Curie Actions COFUND II, Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus University, Denmark (2019–2022)
  • Early Career Innovation Fellow, Institute of Advanced Study, University of Warwick, UK (2018–2019)
  • British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, French Studies, University of Warwick, UK (2015–2018)

Languages

Polish (native), English (fluent), German (fluent), French (fluent), Danish (advanced, C1 | Studieprøven), Russian (upper intermediate, B2), Czech (intermediate, B1)

Funding, fellowships & awards (selected)

  • The Carlsberg Foundation Conference Grant, Denmark (2022)
  • EU Maria Skłodowska-Curie Actions COFUND Fellowship, Aarhus University, Denmark (2019–2022)
  • Early Career Innovation Fellowship Award, IAS, University of Warwick, UK (2018–2019)
  • Creative Exchange Impact Grant, Universities of Warwick & Coventry, UK (2018)
  • British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Warwick, UK (2015–2018)
  • Full PhD Funding from The Bill and Melinda Gates Cambridge Trust, UK (2010–2014)
  • Board of Graduate Studies Fieldwork Funding, University of Cambridge, UK (2012–2013)
  • Scholarship, Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, Germany (2010)
  • Scholarship Studienkolleg zu Berlin, Germany (2009–2010)
  • Scholarship, LMU Munich and DAAD, to study at Seoul National University (South Korea) (2007–2008)

Editorial Boards

Transdisciplinarity