Employees and co-workers
EDYTA TYC Chairwoman of the Foundation Board
A long-term activist in international organizations in Poland and abroad. Related to the academic community, she graduated economic, commercial and pedagogical studies at the University of Economics in Katowice. Scholarship holder of international programs in Portugal, Belgium and Germany. Specialist in economic development. She conducted research in South America and Afghanistan. While working on the development market, she carried out economic and marketing analysis as well as development projects. In the development sector, she worked directly with USAID-United States Agency for International Development, EUPOL-European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan, CFLI-Canada Fund for Local Initiatives in Afghanistan or PRT-Provincial Reconstruction Team. She cooperated with organizations from the European Union, the United States of America and Asia.
PRZEMYSŁAW WOJCIECHOWSKI Member of the Foundation Board
A graduate in sociology with a specialization in “Social Communication” at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. Specialist in coordination of development projects and organization of events. A lover of traveling in the Caucasus. Joining passion with professional life, for several years he has been involved in the implementation of projects related to the development of tourism and mountain rescue within the Polish development cooperation program of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland on the territory of Georgia. He was also responsible for coordinating the 7th and 8th Humandoc International Documentary Film Festival. For many years he was involved in conducting external and internal audits in enterprises as well as market analysis.
MAGDALENA CHRAPEK-WAWRZYNIAK Member of the Foundation’s Board
She has been associated with Poznań for years, where she completed MA studies in art history and archeology at the Faculty f History of the University of Adam Mickiewicz. She also studied ethnology and cultural anthropology and philosophy. She then developed her interest in how to study and present the past during PhD studies at the Institute of Archeology, Adam Mickiewicz University. The subjects that particularly interested her during education were the broadly understood protection of cultural heritage, museology as well as the history and methodology of archeology. She took part in numerous archaeological researches in positions of various chronology or functions, both in the country and abroad. For many years she managed archaeological field research and a research team developing the results of works and material obtained during excavations. She collaborated with the Institute of Archeology of the Adam Mickiewicz University as a technical and technical editor of texts published in his publishing series. She also worked for the Operations Command of the Armed Forces as an expert on archeology and protection of cultural heritage in the US-Polish cell PRT-Provincial Reconstruction Team at the base of the Polish Military Contingent in the Ghazni Province in Afghanistan. He also has publications in the field of history and archeology in the form of problem articles as well as analysis and interpretations of archaeological material.
She is also the author of reports and registers of monuments prepared for conservation services, including the Provincial Monuments Conservator’s Offices. She is fascinated by microhistory, biographies of things and places, and looking for new ways to combine traditional and modern methods of recording, interpreting and ultimately presenting traces of ancient culture or fragments of the past. Her latest theories of research on the past and culture, as well as all technological innovations enabling multidimensional presentation of history are close to her.
ANGELA SZYSZŁO Member of the Foundation Board
A graduate of political science and social sciences at the University of Szczecin and post-graduate studies in counteracting terrorist threats at the Faculty of Management and Command of the Academy of War Art. In 2007-2010 she studied at the Centre for International Conflict Analysis at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom. She worked, among others for the Operational Command of the Armed Forces as an expert in administration and education, implementing development projects with a total value of over USD 100 million. Coordinator of projects implemented from the budget of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Polish Aid and short ad hoc projects implemented from the budget of the United States Armed Forces “Money as a Weapon System-Afghanistan” (MAAWS-A) from the Commander’s Emergency Response Program (CERP). Political Advisor on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Commanders of the XII, XIII and XIV changes in the Polish / American military contingent in Ghazni, Afghanistan. The professional experience on the missions has been enriched by work in the Civil-Military Cooperation Board in the structures of NATO of the Multinational Corps Northeast. As a High Civil Representative to the Polish Task Forces in Afghanistan, she was awarded the Commander’s Award for Civilian Service.
JOHN BAILLIE Employee of the Foundation
John Baillie is an international development professional with a background in economic development including private sector development, international trade promotion as well as technical and vocational education and training. John has extensive experience of advising government ministers, has represented G7 countries at international conferences and has held several international as well as multilateral mandates in donor coordination such as donor focal point for the National Priority Program Integrated Trade and SME support facility of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and EIF-Donor Facilitator for the World Trade Organization. He has successfully initiated, championed and brought to fruition wide reaching reform initiatives which have had a direct impact on improving the ranking of developing countries rankings according to the World Bank ease of doing business indicators. John holds a Master’s Degree from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, a Diploma in Economic Pedagogy from the University of St. Gallen and is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA).
PIOTR PIASTA Co-worker of the Foundation
Born in 1981 in the village of Brudnów, Wieniawa commune, where he currently lives and works. He is a visual artist, independent documentary filmmaker and cultural animator. In his works, he touches on the subject of history, time and memory, which he often considers in the context of village life. He has numerous activities involving small communities with whom he implements film projects, workshops and exhibitions. He is the co-author of the documentary film about the memories of World War II “Tak Było”, realized with Marta Stysiak, 2009. In 2012, he directed a film about the disappearing culture of the commune of Wieniawa “Songs Poems Rituals”. Since 2014, he has been recording a series of films with the elderly entitled “Last item” In 2015, during a six-month stay at an artistic residence in the United Kingdom, run by Berwick Visual Arts in cooperation with the Center for Rural Economy, at the University of Newcastle, he made a series of video films entitled “The Realm of Forgotten Existence”, which deals with the role of the elderly in the modern world. In 2016, the video work “May Devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary” was created. In 2018 the artist was recognized for his creative activities in the Radom subregion with the Mazovian Cultural Education Program award. Together with Magdalena Chrapek-Wawrzyniak, he is the co-author of the project “Welcome, dedicate, and say goodbye. Traces of ancient rites of passage in the folklore of the Radom village “, implemented as part of the National Culture Center program” Culture-Intervention 2018. EtnoPoland” His films are presented and awarded in Poland, as well as in England, Germany, France, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Argentina and Mexico.
MICHAŁ KIERZKOWSKI Co-worker of the Foundation
A graduate of history at the Faculty of History of the University of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan.
In 2010, with distinction, he defended his Phd thesis at the Institute of History of Adam Mickiewicz University “Oral history as a research method of history. Historical and methodological study.” In 2011, his doctoral dissertation was nominated for the prize of the Prime Minister. In the years 2007–2008 a scholarship holder of the Kościuszkowska-Visiting Scholar Foundation at University at Buffalo, State University of New York. Author of several dozen articles and scientific reviews, co-editor of three collective papers. He published, among others in “Historical Quarterly”, “Methodological History Studies”, “Comparisons”, “Sensus Historiae” and “Wroclaw Oral History Yearbook”. Participant of several dozen Polish and international scientific conferences. Member, founder and vice president (II term 2009-2013) of the Polish Society of Oral History. University lecturer in the years 2005-2018. Co-author and implementer of numerous oral history projects, including “With the river in the background. Biography of the cathedral sluice “- Center for Cultural Tourism Route, Poznań 2014,” Poznań-saint Marcin. Listen to the street. To see a story, “Zamek Culture Centre, Poznań 2014,” You still have to say. From the Śródka Social Archive. Part 2 ”, Cultural Tourism Centre, Poznań 2018. Interested in the methodology of history, theory of memory and oral history with particular accent on Central Europe.
ANNA KSIĄŻEK Co-worker of the Foundation
Graduate in Psychology (Master studies), Pedagogy (Bachelor studies) and Science about Culture (Bachelor studies). Trainer, coach, social projects coordinator, activists and youth worker. She collaborated with international organisations like Ashoka, Amnesty International or Scout movement. Co-founder of the initiative ExChange the World within which she travels around the world collecting stories of changemakers. Based on interviews she created a unique methodology to prepare and empower people to become changemakers themselves. As a trainer she has more than 1000 hours of experience, mostly with NGOs, but she collaborates also with public institutions and the private sector. For a few years she has focused mainly on Global Education, changemaking and creating social projects, personal development, social entrepreneurship.
Full portfolio: http://ksiazekanna.strikingly.com/
ANDREA PUCCI Co-worker of the Foundation
Chemist, researcher and permaculturist. He is co-founder of the Exchange the world initiative, thanks to which he travels the world meeting changemakers in order to support them and popularize their inspiring stories. Within this undertaking he also had the chance to volunteer in dozens of projects connected to the environment, from natural production down to recycling and reuse of resources. So that, an experience at a time, he became involved in DIY and alternative agriculture. These are his core interests, together with social dynamics. Over the years he had the chance to live in different countries in Europe and abroad, developing a deep fascination for languages as a gate to understand different ways of being.