Intercultural Encounters in Complex Societies

Michal Wanke is a sociologist and Assistant Professor at the Department of Cultural Studies, University of Opole, Poland. He holds a PhD in sociology from the Jagiellonian University in Cracow (2017). He is a qualitative field researcher using a range of methods from ethnography and interviewing to arts based interventions to study drug user cultures, especially people who use cannabis in non-western contexts amid liberalizing processes globally. He also conducts research on migration related phenomena, most recently in a Horizon Europe PREMIUM_EU project aiming at uncovering migration benefits from vulnerable regions in Europe. He published in and guest edited international and Polish journals alike, he received funding from Erasmus+, National Center of Science in Poland and the Polish National Bureau for Drug Prevention. He acts in an advisory board to the Plenipotentiary of the Opole Province Marshall for Addiction Prevention. He has also been an experts' group member for the Regional Action Plan for the integration of immigrants in the Opole Province in the years 2019-2023.

Marzanna Pogorzelska is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Linguistics, University of Opole. She is interested in intercultural, social justice and gender issues. Apart from research and didactic activities, Marzanna Pogorzelska realizes projects with workshops, debates, exhibitions and performances focused on intercultural dimension of education, also using the Theatre of the Oppressed method (Forum Theatre). As a Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment at the University of Opole she performs anti-discrimination activities for both academic and wider local environment. She is the Polish recipient of The Irena Sendler Award "For Repairing the World" as well as European awards for promoting tolerance (European Tolerance Award and "Hiacynt" Award).