Prof. Dariusz Brzostek, PhD, and Dr Joanna Augustyn from the Faculty of Humanities at Nicolaus Copernicus University have been awarded grants from the National Programme for the Development of the Humanities under the ‘Socrates’ module. The researchers from NCU received over 140,000 PLN to prepare and publish academic works.
The National Programme for the Development of the Humanities competition supports researchers in the humanities and related fields in carrying out projects of particular significance for national, European or global cultural heritage. Funding is also provided for, amongst other things, long-term research relevant to the state’s scientific and educational policy. In the ‘Socrates’ module, applications are submitted by researchers planning to publish a book or monograph disseminating their research findings. The maximum funding amount for a single project is PLN 80,000.
The winner of the competition was Prof. Dariusz Brzostek from the Department of Cultural Studies, who, thanks to funding from the NPRH, will develop and prepare a monograph based on an original concept of science fiction as speculative-narrative anthropology, realised within the realm of popular artistic fiction (literary, film, television and radio) reflecting on key anthropological issues developed using conventionalised plots typical of the genre. The project will be carried out in 2026–2027, and the grant amount is PLN 73,917.18.
The second project from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń to receive funding from the NPRH is the planned publication The Non-Binary Middle Ages by Dr Joanna Augustyn of the Department of Literary Studies in Romance Philology. The subject challenges the popular conception of the Middle Ages, focusing on figures who defy the binary gender opposition: women in male disguise, non-binary individuals, people who change gender through divine intervention, and saints who preserve their virginity in male habits and renounce sexuality. Although there was no public debate on gender studies at the time, Dr Augustyn’s research into literature shows that issues of gender ambiguity, the transgression of norms, and the entanglement of gender in language and power relations can already be found in 13th- and 14th-century texts. A total of PLN 67,740.54 has been allocated for the preparation and publication of the book.
Source: NCU Information Portal