Higher Education, Science and Technology (HEST)

Leader of the group – dr hab. Dominik Antonowicz, prof. UMK

The Higher Education, Science and Technology (HEST) Group consists of researchers focused on the study of problems related to science in its broad sense, its social dimension, the functions it performs and, above all, the organizational forms. The following main research topics are being pursued HEST Group:

1. The functioning of the university boards and council
   The research investigates the role of university boards and councils, structure, composition and scope of power in the system of higher education institutions in selected European countries. This study is carried out by research teams from four universities (University of Tampere, KTH Stockholm, and University of Aveiro).

2. Public sector of universities of applied sciences in Poland
   This is an attempt to define a strategy for the development of the public non-university sector in Poland by learning about their institutional identity. It aims to diagnosing the challenges they face and mapping the full spectrum of performing functions both within the higher education system, but most importantly for society and the economy.

3. Equity in university education and students’ trust in learning
   The research examines how students at Polish universities understand and evaluate fair treatment by academics and university authorities. The study wants to establish how (in)fair treatment affects student satisfaction and perceived legitimacy of university authorities.
4. Knowledge co-creation and environmental activism – the case of air pollution
   The study focuses on the analysis of the mechanisms of knowledge co-creation and its use in the activities of actors (NGOs, society, experts) involved in the fight against air pollution.

dr hab. Dominik Antonowicz, prof UMK – is a leader of Department of Research on Science and Higher Education at Nicolaus Copernicus University. His research interest focuses on higher education policy and governance. He worked as a postdoc in Centre of Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS), University of Twente (2008-2009), Centro de Investigação de Políticas do Ensino Superior CIPES,  University of Porto (2016) and visiting professor in Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) University of Toronto (2020-2021). Dominik authored and edited several books and a number peer-review articles in respected international peer-review journals (e.g. Higher Education, Studies in Higher Education, Higher Education Policy) and chapters in edited volumes published by e.g.  Oxford University Press, Routledge, Palgrave-Macmillan, Springer or Sense.