Professor Kinga Anna Gajda, PhD, DSc is a cultural studies scholar and Professor at the Jagiellonian University, currently serving as Director of the Institute of European Studies. Her research focuses on cultural heritage, memory studies, identity transformations in Central and Eastern Europe, migration, the Russo-Ukrainian war, and the cultural legacies of communism and the Cold War. She has developed a particular expertise in nuclear heritage, memory politics, and participatory approaches to heritage management.
Over the last five years, she has led and participated in numerous international research and educational projects funded through European and university excellence schemes, including Erasmus+, CERV, Una Europa, and COST. She is involved in the COST Action Terra Atomica: Exploring the Afterlives of Nuclear Landscapes in Europe (CA25116), which brings together researchers, heritage professionals, artists, and policymakers to examine Europe's nuclear legacies and landscapes. She also contributes to the Erasmus+ project INES – Inclusivity in European Studies, the CERV-funded Memory Makers: Youth Driving the Future of Remembrance initiative, and the UNA Europa project FEMDIERI on women in diplomacy and international relations.
Professor Gajda has held visiting and research appointments at numerous European universities and research centres, including institutions in Germany, Portugal, Latvia, Finland, Hungary, Italy, and Slovakia. She is the editor or co-editor of several international volumes published by Peter Lang and Routledge and serves on the editorial boards of a number of international journals.
Her academic achievements have been recognized with the Medal of the National Education Commission, several Rector’s Awards of the Jagiellonian University, and the International Award for Excellence for her research on nuclear memory and cultural heritage.