Our scientists elected to the Polish Academy of Sciences
On 26 June, new full and corresponding members of the Polish Academy of Sciences were elected. Among them are two researchers from the University of Wrocław, who join a prestigious group of over 300 scholars recognised for their outstanding scientific achievements and authority within the academic community.
Congratulations to prof. Maciej Karwowski and prof. Marcin Stępień!
Prof. Maciej Karwowski is one of the few scholars in the field of social sciences to hold professorial titles in two disciplines: pedagogy and psychology. His research focuses on creativity, particularly on identifying and nurturing creative potential in children, adolescents, and adults.
He has co-authored numerous educational and intervention programmes (including the “Creativity Compass” programme funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education) and developed tools for measuring human creativity. His theoretical and empirical work, globally pioneering in scope, explores how beliefs about one’s own creative abilities influence engagement in creative activities. This work is summarised in the forthcoming monograph Creative Agency Unbound (with R. Beghetto), to be published by Cambridge University Press, and in many articles in top-tier academic journals.
He was the first editor of a volume summarising current knowledge on the regulatory role of beliefs (Karwowski & Kaufman, eds., 2017, Academic Press). His publication record includes nearly 300 items, with many appearing in the most prestigious journals and academic publishers worldwide.
Professor Karwowski’s work is highly regarded in the academic community, with nearly 14,000 citations to date. This places him among the most cited researchers of his generation and within the top 2% of most cited scientists globally. His research has been regularly funded by external grants, including five as principal investigator under the NCN or Ministry programmes, and involvement in seven others as researcher or supervisor.
His educational and organisational achievements are equally impressive. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Creative Behavior – the oldest academic journal devoted to creativity (since 1967) – and is the first and only non-US-based editor to hold this role. He is also the founder and co-editor of the open-access journal Creativity: Theories–Research–Applications. He has supervised over 150 master’s theses and six PhD dissertations and has reviewed nine doctoral theses (including in the Netherlands and Estonia), eight habilitations, four professorial appointments (including one at Yale University), and numerous grant applications for agencies in France, Switzerland, Israel, Austria, Belgium, and Chile. He also served as a reviewer in the honorary doctorate process for Anna Dymna at the Maria Grzegorzewska University in Warsaw. He has frequently chaired panels for the National Science Centre.
Professor Karwowski sits on editorial boards of nearly all leading international journals in the field of creativity (including Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, Creativity Research Journal, Thinking Skills and Creativity), as well as other international journals and academic book series (Springer, Palgrave). He was section editor of the monumental Encyclopedia of Creativity (Elsevier / Academic Press) and has delivered invited lectures at universities in the United States, Italy, Japan, Germany, and Switzerland, as well as regular guest lectures at the Sorbonne in Paris.
He is Chair of the Scientific Council of the Educational Research Institute in Warsaw and of the Council for Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts at Nicolaus Copernicus University, and is a member of both the Committee on Psychology and the Scientific Council of the Institute of Psychology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. From 2020 to 2023, he was a board member of the International Society for the Study of Creativity and Innovation (ISSCI), and in 2023–2024, he was the elected international representative of Division 10 (Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts) of the American Psychological Association (APA).
Prof. Marcin Stępień was awarded the academic title of Professor of Chemical Sciences on 23 September 2017. He completed his habilitation in chemical sciences, specialising in organic chemistry, on 16 December 2010 at the University of Wrocław. His thesis, Funkcjonalne porfirynoidy, earned him an award from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. He earned his PhD from the same university on 8 July 2003 with a dissertation titled Benziporfiryny – synteza, reaktywność i właściwości koordynacyjne, which also received an award.
Professor Stępień’s research lies at the intersection of organic synthesis, physical chemistry, and theoretical chemistry. His innovative work has led to the synthesis of unique molecules with remarkable physicochemical properties, such as aromaticity, fluorescence, and chirality. His academic output includes 100 publications, cited over 6,900 times (Google Scholar, H-index: 43), including papers in leading journals such as Angewandte Chemie, Journal of the American Chemical Society, and Nature Chemistry.
He has secured numerous research grants, including those from the National Science Centre (e.g. SONATA BIS, five OPUS grants, BEETHOVEN), and from the Foundation for Polish Science (HOMING, TEAM). As a supervisor of seven doctoral candidates, he leads a research group that attracts young scientists from around the globe. Since 2015, he has headed the Organic Synthesis Research Group, and since 2021, the Department of Organic Chemistry at the University of Wrocław.
In recognition of his contributions to organic chemistry, Professor Stępień has received several prestigious awards, including the Foundation for Polish Science Prize (2023), the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Award (2020), and the Wiktor Kołos Award (2010). His international reputation is confirmed by invitations to prestigious lectures, such as the Liebig Lectureship (2018) and the Zasshikai Lectureship (2019), and by his service on the editorial boards of Angewandte Chemie, Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry, and the advisory board of Chemistry – A European Journal.
His academic and organisational work also includes key roles at the University of Wrocław, such as Chair of the Discipline Council for Chemical Sciences and Vice-Dean for Research. His commitment to the academic community and dedication to mentoring young researchers significantly contribute to the advancement of Polish science.
Complied by Katarzyna Górowicz-Maćkiewicz
Date of publication: 30.06.2025
Added by: M.K.
