Origins

Pursuant to a decision by the Rector of the then Pedagogical University of the National Education Commission in Krakow (currently: University of the National Education Commission: [link to document]), the Media Research Center was established within the Faculty of Philology on May 14, 2014. From its inception, one of the institution’s primary objectives has been the organization of academic and training conferences dedicated to media research, media education, media and digital literacy, as well as the prevention of risky and pathological media behaviors.

Consequently, the Center has fostered an interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral platform for communication among media practitioners, researchers, and theorists, facilitating increasingly effective collaboration with external stakeholders, particularly within the domains of education, pedagogy, psychology, and school counseling.

From the outset, the training, workshop, and research initiatives have garnered significant interest from emerging media scholars, particularly doctoral candidates and students pursuing undergraduate and master’s degrees in the humanities, social sciences, and the arts. Participants are drawn not only from academic institutions in Krakow but also from diverse regions of Poland and international institutions collaborating with the Center, including those in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Spain, the United States, and Israel.

Within the university’s academic framework, disciplines engaged in media studies from an interdisciplinary perspective have experienced dynamic growth. These include:

• Media and communication specializations within the Polish Philology, Cultural Studies, and Media Knowledge programs,
• Media Content and Creative Writing,
• Journalism studies,
• Programs offered by the Institute of Information Sciences and the Institute of Arts.

At the Doctoral School of the University of the National Education Commission (UKEN), doctoral candidates have the opportunity to pursue research within the discipline of social communication and media studies. This interdisciplinary approach to media research enables the Center’s faculty and collaborators to engage with issues related to applied media and cultural studies (see links, [https://studiadecultura.uken.krakow.pl/article/view/10539)) as well as the humanities in action.

Empirical research and practical experience serve as catalysts for scholarly inquiry, with research findings contributing to the resolution of media-related challenges, the formulation of policy recommendations, expert opinions, and evaluations, and the dissemination of best practices.