Dr. Mirela Marta Banach, historian and political scientist, is a research assistant at the Institute of European Studies, Jagiellonian University. She is currently involved in the Horizon-Europe research project RECLAIM – Reclaiming Liberal Democracy in the Postfactual Age. She also leads a research initiative under the Excellence Initiative (ID-UJ), focusing on the idea of Risorgimento in Polish-Italian relations, analyzing it from a transnational comparative perspective and fostering interdisciplinary and international collaboration.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations and a Master’s degree in International Relations from Sapienza University of Rome. She obtained a double Ph.D. in History of Europe from Sapienza University of Rome and in Political and Public Administration Sciences from Jagiellonian University. Her doctoral research focused on the underground press of Solidarność, its role in building information networks in Western Europe, and its impact on democratic transformation.
Dr. Banach is a member of “CIRCgE” at Università degli Studi Internazionali di Roma (UNINT) and of the Polish group of the Institute for the History of the Italian Risorgimento. She has teaching experience from LUMSA University, the University of Teramo, and UNINT, as well as expertise in archival research across European archives.
Her research interests include the political history of Poland and Italy, their mutual relations, the history of international relations, as well as transnational opposition and democratic movements. She is the author of publications on constitutional history, historiography, and political processes in a transnational context, offering a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective. Her academic work encompasses interdisciplinary research projects that support international academic collaboration, with a particular focus on Polish-Italian relations and the challenges of contemporary democracy in Europe.