Kinga Anna Gajda
Prof. Kinga Anna Gajda is Professor and Director of the Institute of European Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. She holds a PhD in Literary Studies and a habilitation in Cultural and Religious Studies. Her interdisciplinary research bridges cultural studies, heritage studies, literary studies, museum studies, and memory studies, with a particular focus on Central and Eastern Europe.
Her current research explores memory and Cold War heritage, the transformation of military and industrial sites into spaces of memory, art, and education, participatory approaches to cultural heritage, and the role of heritage in contemporary European identity. She also investigates intercultural competence, cultural diplomacy, migration, and the relationship between memory, identity, and public history.
Prof. Gajda has coordinated and participated in numerous international research projects funded by the European Union, Erasmus+, the Visegrad Fund, and the Jagiellonian University Strategic Excellence Initiative. She collaborates extensively with universities and cultural institutions across Europe and has held visiting appointments and research fellowships in Germany, Austria, Finland, Hungary, Portugal, Latvia, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Albania, Montenegro, and other countries.
She is the author and editor of numerous scholarly publications on cultural heritage, memory, museums, intercultural education, and European studies. Her recent publications examine nuclear heritage, Cold War memory, post-socialist identities, difficult heritage, and the role of art in shaping collective remembrance.
Prof. Gajda serves on several national and international academic boards and research networks, including the Council on Heritage and the Anthropology of Tourism (CHAT), the Narrative Heritage Network, Women in International Security (WIIS), the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (PAU), and Una Europa thematic groups. She is actively engaged in developing international research collaborations and promoting innovative approaches to heritage studies and memory research.