Prof. Katarzyna Pisarska

Is a Polish social entrepreneur, civic activist, and academic. She is the Founder of the European Academy of Diplomacy, the Visegrad School of Political Studies, and a Co-Founder of the Casimir Pulaski Foundation and the Warsaw Security Forum. Currently, Prof. Pisarska chairs the Board of Directors of the European Academy of Diplomacy, the Casimir Pulaski Foundation, and Co-Chairs the Warsaw Security Forum. She is also an Associate Professor at the Warsaw School of Economics and Vice President of the European Forum Alpbach in Austria. She has been recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum (2014) and a Munich Young Leader by the Munich Security Conference (2022).

Wojciech Dzięgiel

A civil servant with many years of experience in the consular service of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MSZ). By training a lawyer specializing in international law, he graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and completed a one-year program at the Faculty of Law of Utrecht University (Netherlands) under a Socrates/Erasmus scholarship. He has participated in numerous training courses on international law and human rights in Germany and the Netherlands, and took part in the summer session of the prestigious Hague Academy of International Law. Over the past 10 years, he has served as consul at Polish MFA posts in Toronto and Dublin. His responsibilities included organizing official state visits, participating in events of international significance, coordinating the promotion of Polish culture, cooperating with Polish diaspora organizations, and providing consular support to Polish citizens. He is interested in issues related to international population movements and diaspora policy. At the Foundation, he serves as Executive Director and Coordinator of the Organizing Committee of the Warsaw Security Forum 2015.

Dr hab., prof. UW Aleksandra Gasztold

University professor at the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies, University of Warsaw. She conducts research on terrorism and the role of gender in security studies. She has held fellowships from the Herbert Quandt Foundation at the University of Konstanz (2001–2002), DAAD at Kiel University (2004), the University of Konstanz (2007, 2010, 2015, 2016), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (2008), Indiana University Bloomington (2013), and the University of Vienna (2015). She supervises the Student Research Society “Internal Security” and is editor-in-chief of the academic journal “Securo.” She is a social expert for the Government Centre for Security and the Centre for Political Analysis at the University of Warsaw. She is a member of Women in International Security (WIIS Poland).

Małgorzata Bonikowska Ph.D.

Has a Ph.D. in humanities, president of the Center of International Relations (www.csm.org.pl) and of the analytical center THINKTANK (www.think-tank.pl). She specializes in international relations (with particular emphasis on the European Union) and communication in public institutions. EU expert, government consultant and academic fellow, graduated from the Warsaw University (Italian studies), University of Paris-Sorbonne (history and political sciences) and the PWST (State College of Theatre) in culture history. Alumnus of two Ph.D. programs: in Poland (Polish Academy of Sciences) and abroad (SSSS, Italy), dr Bonikowska completed a specialization program at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at the Columbia University in New York (Fulbright Scholarship). She is the author of more than 150 publications and tutor of over 100 BA, MA and post-graduated thesis.

Dr Beata Górka-Winter

Political scientist, expert on international security and defence issues. Since 2000 a research fellow and program coordinator on international security in the Polish Institute of International Affairs, a leading Polish think tank. Author or co-author of numerous publications with a special focus on security sector reform (SSR), the EU and NATO policies, peace-building, international military operations, conflict resolution, missile defence, defence technologies, security policies of different countries. An advisor on security and defence policy in cooperation with the civilian and military agencies from different countries (the CEE region, the U.S., Afghanistan, the Southern Caucasus). Member of the expert group on SSR at the „Security Sector Reform – Centre of Excellence in Southern Caucasus” led by the International Visegrad Fund.  Member of the group advising the Polish MoD in drafting security strategy of Poland (2013). OSCE election observer: Kosovo (2001), Ukraine (2006). Lecturer at the University of Warsaw, European Security and Defence College, AFiB Vistula, KSAP and the Diplomatic Academy. Beata Górka-Winter graduated from the University of Warsaw, Faculty of Journalism and Political Science and National Security Faculty. She holds a Ph.D. from the Jagiellonian University. She also completed a Program on Security, Stability, Transition and Reconstruction (SSTAR) in George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and participated in the Senior Course on Security Policy in Northern Europe led by the Swedish National Defence College.

Michał Baranowski

Michał Baranowski is the director of GMF’s Warsaw office, where he focuses on transatlantic relations, U.S. foreign policy, and the relations between the United States and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Prior to helping launch the Warsaw office, he served at GMF’s headquarters in Washington, DC, where he developed GMF’s programming in Poland and CEE. Before that posting, Baranowski worked in GMF’s Brussels office, where he focused on EU and U.S. policy toward Ukraine and Georgia, and where he also established the Young Transatlantic Network.

He has published in Gazeta Wyborcza, Rzeczpospolita, the Warsaw Business Journal, the Kyiv Post, and GMF’s Transatlantic Take series. He is a member of the advisory council of the Institute for Western Affairs in Poznań, Poland. He holds a master’s of European public affairs from Maastricht University, and has studied at Mercer University in the United States and the University of Oxford.