dr Dorota Hrycak-Krzyżanowska PhD

• • Head of Unit

ORCID:0000-0002-2510-8961

She is a researcher at the Polish University Abroad (PUNO), head of the Department of Polish Language and Culture Teaching, and a lecturer in Polish as a heritage, second, and foreign language, with many years of teaching experience. She works as a Polish language teacher-lecturer in both British and Polish educational institutions. Her research focuses on the effectiveness of hybrid educational spaces as learning environments. She is a member of the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies (BASEES), the Society for Storytelling, and the Bristol Association of Polish and Foreign Teachers of Polish Culture and Polish as a Foreign Language.

She led a research project at the Polish University Abroad – University Council of Modern Languages titled “Developing (Creative) Writing Skills in Teaching Polish as a Heritage/Second Language at the B1-B2 Level in Online Education.”

She was a partner in the NAWA research project: BJP/PJP/2022/1/00008, carried out by the Polish University Abroad – Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences: “Language, Identity, and Culture among Polish Youth in the United Kingdom.” The aim of the project is to improve the quality of teaching Polish as a heritage, second, and foreign language in the UK.

She is particularly interested in the role of artificial intelligence in language and cultural education. Her involvement in the CAPHE project is an extension of her research on the use of digital tools for language learning in virtual reality (VR) environments.

Halina Stochnioł MA

• • Unit Staff
  • Postgraduation studies Coordinator

Halina Stochniol, M.A., a graduate of Polish Studies. She lives in London since 1990. She taught Polish language at GCSE and A-level in a Saturday school for 26 years. Since 2002 she has worked for the AQA Examination Board, currently as Chief Examiner in the GCSE team. She is a long-time member of the Polish Educational Society in London and vice president of the organization.

Since 1995, she has been employed in administration at the Polish University Abroad, then as secretary of the University, and currently as secretary of the PUNO Senate until 30 September 2025.

She likes literature and enjoys traveling.

dr Joanna Rzepa PhD

• • Unit Staff

Dr Joanna Rzepa is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Essex. She studied Polish and English Studies at Jagiellonian University, specialising in translation studies and teaching Polish as a foreign language. She received her PhD from the University of Warwick, and worked as a lecturer and Polish language teacher at University College London and Trinity College Dublin. Her research interests include comparative literature, translation studies, and teaching Polish as a second and foreign language. Currently she works in the Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies at the University of Essex.

Beata Maciejczyk MA

• • Deputy Head of the Unit of Polish Language and Culture Education

Graduate of Polish philology at the Faculty of Polish Studies of Jagiellonian University, glottodidactics at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences, linguistic editing of text at the Institute of Applied Polish Studies of Warsaw University and international law at the Faculty of Law of Warsaw University. Polish language teacher with experience working in foreign Polish centers in Kazakhstan and Moldova and at universities in Warsaw and Chisinau. She is a member of examination committees for certificate exams in Polish as a foreign language.
Lecturer at postgraduate studies in glottodidactics.

Her interests focus on Polish business and legal language and on ancient text in glottodidactics.

Karolina Vine BSc (Hons), lic.

• • Unit Staff

Karolina Vine is a graduate of the postgraduate program “Teaching Polish Language and Culture Abroad” conducted by the Polish University Abroad (PUNO) and the University of Łódź. She is a teacher of an early years group at the Polish Saturday School in Maidstone. In October 2024, she won 3rd place in the “Polish Traditions and Customs” competition organized by Vademecum Nauczyciela for her lesson plan on Polish traditions and for conducting Easter palm-making workshops.
She specializes in early childhood education and in the methodology of teaching Polish to young children.

A mother of three bilingual children, she is passionate about fostering a love for the Polish language and culture among young members of the Polish diaspora, as well as supporting bi- and multiculturalism. In her free time, she cultivates the traditions of Łowicz folk culture, especially through making tissue paper flowers and traditional paper cut-outs (wycinanki).

Visiting Professors

Prof IBL PAN Agata Roćko PhD

• • Visiting Professor

Agata Roćko – Doctor of Humanities, Professor of IBL PAN – historian of literature, employee of the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Head of the School of Polish Language and Culture for Foreigners at the Faculty of Humanities of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw (2009-2017), methodologist, teacher of Polish as a foreign language with more than 20 years of experience, author of many articles on the culture and history of literature of the 18th century, as well as methodology and didactics of teaching Polish language, including Polish as a foreign language. In 2013 she received the 1st prize in the category: Institution of the Year for the best curricular, methodological and organizational solutions, awarded by the Foundation for the Development of the Education System in Poland. Author of glottodidactic specialization programs and postgraduate programs at the IBL PAN, lecturer in Polish as a foreign language methodology

at the Faculty of Humanities at UKSW in Warsaw, lecturer at postgraduate glottodidactics studies. Methodological trainer of Polish as a foreign/second language/indigenous language in Poland and abroad.

PhD Prof UŁ Edyta Pałuszyńska

• • Visiting Professor

Edyta Pałuszyńska PhD, is an employee of the University of Łódź. She works as a professor in the Department of Applied and Cultural Linguistics at the Institute of Polish Philology and Logopedics. Her research interests include public and political discourse, stylistics and language culture, as well as glottodidactics. She teaches Polish philology (grammar, stylistics, lexicology, discourse analysis, development of scientific texts), speech therapy (multilingualism, speech development) and journalism (culture of language, master’s seminar). As part of the specialization “Teaching Polish as a Foreign Language”, and she runs classes in psycholinguistic foundations of language teaching and methodology.

Phd prof. UG Małgorzata Rocławska-Daniluk

• • Visiting Professor

Prof. Prof. UG dr, hab. Małgorzata Rocławska-Daniluk- research and didactic employee of the University of Gdańsk. Studied 5-year master’s degree at the University of Gdansk, major: Polish philology, and 2-year postgraduate speech therapy studies at the Department of Logopedics, UG. Academic achievements: master’s thesis entitled. “ Linguistic aspects of mathematical text tasks”, supervisor: Prof. J. Maćkiewicz (1993); doctoral dissertation entitled. “Synthesizing words from phonemes by six-year-old children”, supervisor: Prof. J. Maćkiewicz (2002); habilitation dissertation ‘Bilingualism and bilingual upbringing from the perspective of linguistics and speech therapy’ (2012); in 2007-2009 member of the Commission on Development and Speech Disorders of the Committee on Linguistics of the Polish Academy of Sciences; since 2012. heads the international Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Language Studies of the UG; since 2014 member of the Advisory Board of “Gdańsk Studies in Language”; and review board of the journals “Logopedia”, “Polish Language” “Sociolinguistics” “Logopaedica Lodziensia”. She is active in teaching at the Institute of Logopedics UG, the Clinic for Speech, Reading, Writing and Counting Disorders in Gdansk, Ateneum Academy, WSB “Merito”, Vilniaus Kolegija in Vilnius and the Polish University Abroad in London. Author of many publications available at: ORCID:ORCID: 0000-0002-7060-2934.

Academic interests: speechopedic aspects of bilingualism, cultural competence, native and foreign language glottodidactics, prevention of articulation disorders, language education.