People of the Centre

dr Dominik Wasilewski

(from February 2025)

Acting Director of Centre for Research on Culture, Language, and Mind, is a graduate of the Institute of Sociology at the University of Warsaw, where also obtained doctorate. In 2019-2020, acted as the UW coordinator for the implementation of the changes resulting from the new “Law on Higher Education and Science”. In 2018-2020, as a representative of the University of Warsaw, participated in the European Commission project “Regional Innovation Impact Assessment Framework for Universities (RI2A)”, coordinated by DG Joint Research Centre. In 2000-2018, worked at the Office of University Advancement, where participated in the implementation of projects funded by the European Funds, including the European Social Fund. In 2009-2018, on behalf of CRASP, participated in the work of the Monitoring Committee of the Human Capital Operational Programme and then of the Knowledge, Education, Development OP, took part in the work of the Mazovian Innovation Council and the Regional Thematic Network for the Mazovian Voivodeship. Since 2020, he has been the Programme Coordinator of the “Excellence Initiative – Research University”.

Dr Yanna B. Popova

(from June 2022 to December 2024)

Director, Centre for Research on Culture, Language, and Mind, has a doctorate from the University of Oxford and MA from the Universities of Sheffield (UK) and Sofia. She has taught at the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham. She was also a founding member of the Department of Cognitive Science at Case Western Reserve University, where she worked between 2006 and 2014. Her education has been in linguistics, literary studies, and philosophy.

Main areas of research

cognitive poetics, cognitive linguistics, metaphor theory, narratology, temporality, and the applications of enactive cognitive science to understanding art and aesthetic reception

Selected publications

Numerous articles in Frontiers in Psychology, Imago: Studi di Cinema e Media, Language and Literature, Modern Drama, Style, Cognitive Semiotics, among others.
Monograph: Stories, Meaning, and Experience: Narrativity and Enaction (Routledge, 2015) (re-issued in paperback format: Routledge, 2018).
Forthcoming articles (2024) in The Oxford Handbook of Iconicity and Pamiętnik Teatralny

Dr Jacek Rogala

(from October 2023 to September 2024)

Adjunct at the Center for Research on Culture, Language, and Mind, University of Warsaw. Formerly affiliated with the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw and the M. Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Holds a Ph.D. in Neuroinformatics from the Nencki Institute.

Main research interests

Specializes in experimental studies of aesthetic experiences in the reception of visual art, and the analysis of the properties of visual works and their impact on aesthetic perception. Additional areas of interest for Dr. Jacek Rogala include cognitive and behavioral neurobiology, as well as research into the relationship between brain structure activity and human behavior. He also studies the practical applications of EEG and fMRI neurofeedback techniques in therapies.

Selected publications

Rogala, J., Żygierewicz, J., Malinowska, U., Cygan, H., Stawicka, E., Kobus, A., & Vanrumste, B. (2023). Enhancing autism spectrum disorder classification in children through the integration of traditional statistics and classical machine learning techniques in EEG analysis. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 21748.
Żygierewicz, J., Janik, R. A., Podolak, I. T., Drozd, A., Malinowska, U., Poziomska, M., … & Rogala, J. (2022). Decoding working memory-related information from repeated psychophysiological EEG experiments using convolutional and contrastive neural networks. Journal of Neural Engineering, 19(4), 046053.
Rogala, J., Bajno, B., & Wróbel, A. (2020). A hidden message: Decoding artistic intent. PsyCh Journal, 9(4), 507-512.
Kuś, M., Rogala, J., Dreszer, J., Bajno, B. (2023). Art’s Hidden Topology. ACADEMIA. The magazine of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Dr hab. Daniel Sobota

(from October 2023 to September 2024)

Adjunct at the Centre for Research on Culture, Language and Mind, University of Warsaw. Formerly affiliated with the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. A graduate of Nicolaus Copernicus University of Toruń (Poland).

Main research interests

Metaphysics, German philosophy of the nineteenth and twentieth century, especially Martin Heidegger’s philosophy and early phenomenology, Philosophy of the question, Philosophy of theatre by Jerzy Grotowski and Philosophy of performance. A scholar of the Foundation for Polish Science (Fundacja na rzecz Nauki Polskiej). A member of the Polish Philosophical Society, Polish Association of Phenomenology. A local theatrical culture animator, a member of an art group, a coach and football player (level: UEFA B). The guiding idea of his thinking is the notion of the question, appearance and performance. The research he conducts at the Center Q is related to a book project titled, Triunity and Performance.The fundamental question of philosophy taken at the border of the history of philosophy, phenomenology and performance.

Selected publication

Numerous articles and monographs:

A Birth of Phenomenology from the Spirit of Question: Johannes Daubert and the Start of the Phenomenological Movement (Warszawa 2017, with German translation: Würzburg 2022).
Sources and Inspirations of Heidegger’s question of being (vol. 1-2), Bydgoszcz 2012-2013.