academic council

The Academic Council of the Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture is composed of recognized experts from various scientific fields, including medicine, law, the social sciences, and other branches of the humanities. The Council’s responsibilities include providing opinions on the challenges and dilemmas posed by modern science and public discourse, as well as promoting the bioethics debate. Membership in the Academic Council is honorary and does not involve any form of employment or remuneration.

academic council members:

Prof. Andrzej Kochański

Physician and specialist in clinical and laboratory genetics; full professor at the M. Mossakowski Institute of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw; head of the Neuromuscular Complex.

Since 2013 an expert of the Team for Bioethics of the Polish Bishops’ Conference. Since April 2017 Member of the Advisory Team to the Minister of Science and Higher Education for the protection of human rights in the context of the development of biological and medical sciences.

As of 2019, a member of the Advisory Panel to the Minister of Science and Higher Education on the availability of medical data for scientific research.

Prof. Bogdan Chazan

Physician, gynecologist-obstetrician. Former Director of St. Family Hospital in Warsaw and former National Consultant in Gynecology and Obstetrics, Medical Director of MaterCare International and Vice President of the European Federation of Associations of Catholic Doctors (FEAMC).

Zdzisława Kobylińska, ph.d.

Philosopher and media ethicist; former member of the Polish Parliament during its third term. Graduate of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin.

She completed her doctoral studies at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome (1989–1992), where she earned a doctorate in philosophy, based on her dissertation titled Il concetto dell’educazione morale nell’insegnamento di Jacek Woroniecki.

Research and teaching staff member at the Department of Axiological Foundations of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Warmia and Mazury.

Prof. Tadeusz Pietrucha

Biotechnologist, head of the Department of Medical Biotechnology at the Medical University of Lodz, member of the National Development Council to the President of the Republic of Poland, creator and president of Biotechconsulting Sp. z.o.o.

Prof. Krzysztof Motyka

Sociologist, lawyer and philosopher. Head of the Department of Sociology of Law and Morality at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin.

Former member of the Advisory Council on Human Rights to the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (2000-2001) and the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (2007-2012). Since 2012, consultant to the Social Council of the Polish Episcopal Conference.

Prof. Alina Midro

Physician, clinical geneticist. Head of the Department of Clinical Genetics at the Medical University of Bialystok, expert of the Team for Bioethics of the Polish Episcopal Conference. Specialist in genetic diagnostics. Cooperates, among others, with the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation in France.

Ewa Dmoch-Gajzlerska, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine at WMU

Specialist in gynecology and obstetrics; former Vice-Dean for two terms at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Warsaw Medical University. Since 2002, Head of the Department of Gynecological and Obstetric Didactics. Editor-in-Chief of the journal Midwife – Science and Practice. Head of the Gynecology and Obstetrics Department at Solec Hospital Ltd.

Andrzej Lewandowicz, M.D., Ph.D.

Physician and chemist specializing in internal medicine and geriatrics. Dr. Lewandowicz is affiliated with the Prof. Dr. Eleonora Reicher National Institute of Geriatrics, Rheumatology and Rehabilitation and serves as Deputy Regional Ombudsman for Professional Liability at the District Medical Chamber in Warsaw.

Krzysztof Wiak, ph.d.

Lawyer and specialist in criminal law. Dean of the Faculty of Canon Law and Administration at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin and Head of the Department of Criminal Law at the same university. Corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy for Life and member of the Council for Penitentiary Policy under the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Poland.

Jan Napoleon Saykiewicz, ph.d.

Doctor of economics, educator, community leader, and Polish diaspora activist; professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

Discipline: Applied economics, economic management, business management.
Research interests: Economic and social effects of transformation processes.

Studied at SGPiS in Warsaw, the University of Warsaw, and the University of California, Berkeley. Has worked in Warsaw, Pittsburgh, Berkeley, New York, Beijing, and Rome. Former President of the International Management Development Association (IMDA).

Long-time Board Member of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA). One of the founders of the Federation for Consumer Protection in Poland. Long-serving Honorary Consul of the Republic of Poland in Pennsylvania.

Recipient of numerous Polish and international awards and honors. Listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Education, Polonia Biographical Dictionary, and the Golden Book of Polish Science.

Marcin Olszówka, ph.d.

Doctor of Law, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law of Collegium Intermarium University in Warsaw; Director of the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law at the Government Legislation Center; Head of the legislative application program conducted by the Government Legislation Center; and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of The Legal Culture.

In 2010–2014, assistant at the Department of Constitutional Law and European Studies of the Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw. Doctoral dissertation entitled “The Impact of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of April 2, 1997 on the System of Sources of Religious Law” defended with honors at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw in November 2016.

Author of dozens of academic publications, mainly in the field of constitutional law, religious law, and bioethics, including several monographs, articles in highly ranked academic journals, and co-author of a commentary on the Constitution of the Republic of Poland published in 2016 by C.H. Beck Publishing House.

Justyna Melonowska, ph.d.

Ph.D. in philosophy, psychologist, and Assistant Professor at the Maria Grzegorzewska Academy of Special Education in Warsaw. Member of the European Society of Women in Theological Research. From 2014 to 2017, she was a columnist for Więź and a member of the Więź Laboratory team.

Since 2017, author at Christianitas, writing on topics related to Orthodoxy. Has participated in numerous public debates. Author of the monographs Ordo amoris, amor ordinis. Emancipation in Conservatism (APS, 2018) and Osob(n)a: kobieta a personalizm Karola Wojtyły – Jana Pawła II. Doktryna i rewizja (Difin, 2016), and co-editor of Friendship with the Other: Religions – Relations – Attitudes (PTPN UAM, 2016).

Her research interests include the philosophy and theology of the person, the concept of subjectivity in contemporary Catholic thought, the understanding of religious orthodoxy in the 20th and 21st centuries, and religious leadership. Currently, two collections of her dissertations, essays, and polemics are awaiting publication: Religion and Struggle: Machabean Writings and Religion and Struggle: Jamesian Writings.

Advocate Bartosz Lewandowski, ph.d.

Lawyer, doctor of legal sciences, associate of the Ordo Iuris Center for Litigation Intervention. Graduated with honors from the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw in 2012.

In 2013-2014, he completed a general training program at the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution, during which he practiced in prosecution offices and common courts in Warsaw, familiarizing himself with the specifics of work in law enforcement and the justice system. In 2014-2016, he completed his legal training at the District Bar Council in Warsaw, and in 2017 he passed the bar exam (Warsaw Bar Association). He is a partner at one of Warsaw’s law firms.

Doctor of Law and a graduate of full-time doctoral studies at the Institute for the Study of State and Law, Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Warsaw, where he conducts research and teaches in the fields of sociology of law, political-legal doctrines, and legal theory. He is the author of publications on substantive and procedural criminal law, the history of law, and the theory and philosophy of law, published in prestigious national (including State and Law and Sejm Review) and international academic journals. His research also focuses on the legal status of expert witnesses in litigation, reflected in the book he edited, The Position and Role of an Expert Witness in the Polish Legal System (Warsaw, 2016). Since 2013, he has been active in non-governmental organizations dedicated to economic freedom, freedom of speech, and the protection of the constitutional order.

Janusz janowski, ph.d.

rev. Jarosław Krzewicki, ph.d.

Pastor and parish priest of the Marcetelli and Girgenti parishes from 2001 to 2017; Vicar General of the Diocese of Rieti from 2014 to 2015. Currently Rector of the Higher School of Economics and Management in Łódź, where he teaches law; lecturer in legal history at ESPA in Warsaw and in canon law at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome.

He completed his theological studies at the University of Opole, and his studies in canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, earning a doctorate in ecclesiastical public law. He also pursued studies in moral theology at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas and the Alphonsian Academy in Rome, culminating in a doctorate. Additionally, he studied secular law at the European School of Law and Administration in Warsaw.

A retreat master and pastor in Rieti, he has been a resident of Rome for 22 years.

Advocate Jerzy Kwaśniewski

Lawyer, co-founder and President of the Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture. Partner at the law firm Parchimowicz & Kwaśniewski. In his legal practice, he focuses on civil litigation, civil rights and liberties, family rights, and children’s rights.

He represents citizens and social organizations in numerous precedent-setting proceedings before national and international courts and tribunals, as well as in consultative processes at the invitation of international bodies such as the Venice Commission and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. He advises national and international social and economic organizations, and has participated in the formation of grassroots movements and membership organizations that engage in public debate on human rights issues.

Until 2017, he served as President of the Board of Directors of the Polish Wine Council. He is the creator and first director of the Litigation Intervention Program of the Ordo Iuris Institute, which provided free legal assistance in several hundred cases crucial to the protection of the rights of families and children, freedom of conscience and the conscience clause, freedom of speech and assembly for pro-life advocates, and the defense of individuals accused, insulted, or persecuted for their expressed commitment to the natural social order enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.

He has served as a member of the advisory boards of four Ministers of Justice, including the Social Council for the Implementation of the Strategy for the Modernization of the Space of Justice in Poland and the Team for the Protection of the Autonomy of the Family and Family Life. In 2016, he was Deputy Plenipotentiary of the “Stop Abortion” Legislative Initiative Committee. He has been a member and secretary of the Monitoring Team for the Prevention of Violence in the Family for its third term since 2017. Since 2017, he has also been a member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars. In March 2019, he was appointed by the Polish Bishops’ Conference to the Council of the Bona Fama Foundation.

PROF. ANDRZEJ SZYMAŃSKI

PROF. JACEK BARTYZEL

Rev. Piotr Kieniewicz, Ph.D.

Catholic priest, moral theologian, and bioethicist; author of books and articles popularizing knowledge of bioethics; preacher and retreat leader. A native of Warsaw.

He has been a member of the Congregation of Marian Fathers since 1987. He currently serves as secretary of the Polish Province of the Congregation of Marian Fathers. He obtained his doctorate (2000) and habilitation (2011) at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, where he worked from 1998 to 2014. He has collaborated with the National Catholic Bioethic Center, Philadelphia, PA (2007-2008), St. Pope Paul VI Institute for Human Reproduction, Omaha, NE (2011-2015), and (since 2020) the Catholic Academy in Warsaw. Since 2017, he has been a member and secretary of the Polish Bishops’ Conference’s Expert Team on Bioethics.

Prof. BEATA ECLER-NOCOŃ

Prof. Władysław Sinkiewicz

Graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the Medical University of Gdansk. Co-founder and first head of the 2nd Department of Cardiology at the University Hospital No. 2 in Bydgoszcz from 2009 to 2017.

Author of more than 400 peer-reviewed scientific publications and the author or editor of nine monographs in the field of bioethics. Supervisor of 20 doctoral dissertations and director of 41 specializations in internal medicine and cardiology. Member of the CMKP National Examination Committee in Cardiology and an expert in echocardiography within the Echocardiography Section of the Polish Society of Cardiology.

Reviewer for three scientific journals and member of the Scientific Council of three medical journals. Member of the European Society of Cardiology, the Polish Society of Cardiology, the Polish Society of Hypertension, the Society of Polish Internists, the Polish Medical Association, the Polish Brain Stroke Society, and the Polish Society for Spiritual Care in Medicine.

In 1981, served as a strike physician for the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union of Individual Farmers “Solidarity.” Co-founder of the Club of Catholic Intelligentsia in Bydgoszcz. Chairman of the Bioethics Committee of the Bydgoszcz Medical Chamber and chairman of the Ethics Team of University Hospital No. 2 in Bydgoszcz. Co-founder of a Safe Haven Baby Box in Bydgoszcz. Former chairman of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Branch of the Catholic Association of Polish Physicians.

He has been awarded, among others, the Medal of the President of the City of Bydgoszcz—at the request of the provincial authorities of “Solidarity”—for his services to the families of “Solidarity” members during martial law in the early 1980s, as well as the Medal of National Education and the award of the Marshal of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Province in recognition of his contribution to the struggle for the independence of the Republic of Poland and the defense of human rights.

Prof. Anna Łabno

Constitutionalist and professor of legal sciences; former vice-rector of the University of Silesia. She is Vice President of the Polish Constitutional Law Society, Associate Professor at the University of Silesia, and Head of the Department of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Silesia.

Her research interests include Polish and comparative constitutional law, in particular systems of government, taking into account mechanisms of political transformation in contemporary states; the creation of the foundations of a democratic system (including the construction of civil society) in post-authoritarian states, in Portugal, Spain, and Poland; as well as issues related to the protection of human rights.

Rev. Prof. Piotr Stanisz

Head of the Department of Religious Law at the Catholic University of Lublin. His scholarly work focuses on issues such as the limitations of religious freedom during the COVID-19 pandemic, the autonomy of religious communities, the relationship between religious freedom and other legally protected values, religion as a legal category, the right to conscientious objection, state-church agreements, and the legal status of clergy.

Prof. WOJCIECH ROSZKOWSKI

Speaker at international and national scientific conferences. Author of several scientific publications. Graduate of leadership programs in law, management, and the functioning of non-governmental organizations.

Katarzyna gęsiak

She gained experience working in law firms in Warsaw. Her current academic interests focus on issues related to medical law and human rights.

academic council