KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Prof. Margaret Archer, University of Warwick, studied at the London School of Economics and as a post-doc. at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, also working with Pierre Bourdieu. She first developed her ‘morphogenetic approach’ in Social Origins of Educational Systems (1979 re-printed 2013). She was Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick from 1979 until 2010, writing and editing over forty books, including The Reflexive Imperative in Late Modernity (2012), Making our Way through the World: Human Reflexivity and Social Mobility (2007), Structure, Agency and the Internal Conversation (2003), Being Human: The Problem of Agency (2000) and Realist Social Theory: The Morphogenetic Approach (1995). In 2011 she became Professor of Social Theory at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and Directrice of its new Centre d’Ontologie Sociale.  She continues to develop her ‘Morphogenetic Approach’ as the explanatory framework of Critical Realism’s social ontology. The Centre’s main project was exploring ‘the Morphogenic Society’ as a possible future for late modernity, in a book Series edited for Springer. She was President of the International Sociological Association (1986-90); a Trustee of the Centre for Critical Realism; a founding member of FAcSS; the British Nominee for the Balzan Prize, 2013; and a founder member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, becoming its President in 2014.

Prof. Krzysztof Wielecki is professor of sociology at University of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński in Warsaw. He is director of the Institute of Sociology, and head of Social Thought Department, and also head of Doctoral Studies at that University. He is the member of Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Member of Council of International Association for Critical Realism, member of International Sociological Association, Polish Sociological Association and Polish Philosophical Association. He is the author of many studies and sociological works in the field of social psychology, human philosophy and social ontology, and in recent years also economic sociology. He also deals with macro sociology, contemporary social theories, develops his own theory of subjectivity, civilization crisis, social order and mass culture. Previously he dealt with pedagogy, psychology, sociology of education and youth.

Prof. Piotr Mazurkiewicz is professor in Political Science and Catholic Social Doctrine at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. Catholic priest for the diocese of Warsaw in 1988. Since 1997 is working at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University delivering lectures in political ethics and philosophy, religion and politics, Church-state relations, Catholic social doctrine and European studies. In 2002-2008 was a member of the Board of the European Society on Research in Ethics Societas Ethica. Since 2002 is member of the Scientific Board of the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Science. In 2008-2012 he was Secretary-General of the Commission of the Bishops’ of the European Community COMECE in Brussels. In 2013-2014 he worked at the Pontifical Council for the Family in the Vatican. He has repeatedly represented the Holy See at international conferences organized by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe. In 2016-2018, he chaired the Working Team on Church Regulations on the Personal Data Protection. Since 2019, he is the vice-chairman of the Council of the International Center for Research on the Phenomenon of Solidarity. Since 2019, dean of the Faculty of Social and Economic Science at CSWU. Main scientific publications: Church and democracy, Europeanization of Europe, Violence in Politics, Europe as kinder surprise, Two towers and a minaret, Totalitarianism in the Postmodern Age (co-author), L’Identità Europea nel contesto della migrazione.

Prof. Andrea M. Maccarini is professor of Sociology and Department at the University of Padova (Italy). He is a board member of IACR and a collaborator of the Centre for Social Ontology. He has been visiting scholar in various Universities, among which University of California Los Angeles (Ucla), Boston University, and Humboldt-Universität Berlin. He served as Italian representative at the governing board of Oecd-Ceri (Center for educational reform and innovation), 2012-2019. His research interests lie in social theory, education, macro-sociology and cultural change. Among his recent publications: Deep Change and Emergent Structures in Global Society (Springer, 2019); Post-human Sociality. Morphing Experience and Emergent Forms. In I. Al-Amoudi, E. Lazega (Eds.), Post-Human Institutions and Organizations. Confronting the Matrix. (Routledge2019); Reflexivity, socialization, and relations to the world. Theoretical and practical challenges, in «State of Affairs / Stan Rzeczy», 1/2017.

Prof. Petter Naess

Originally educated as an architect, Næss holds a doctoral degree (Dr. Ing.) in urban and regional planning from Norwegian Institute of Technology. Næss has for many years carried out research into issues related to sustainable urban development and has published a host of international scientific articles on the topic. The prime focus of his research during recent years has been the influence of urban structure on travel behaviour. Other main research topics are planning theory, philosophy of science, and driving forces of urban development. He has for many years carried out research into issues related to sustainable urban development, with a particular focus on the influence of urban structure on travel behaviour. In later years his research has also included need analyses and assessment methods in planning and decision‐making on large‐scale transportation investments. Other main research topics are philosophy of science, planning theory, and driving forces of urban development.