We are pleased to announce that the participation list for the XIX UNESCO / Janusz Korczak Chair International Summer School 2026 is now closed. The Summer School will take place in Warsaw at The Maria Grzegorzewska University from 25 August to 25 September 2026.

In line with the key principles guiding UNESCO’s call for action, the International Summer School aims to promote innovative thinking and active engagement with major contemporary global challenges. In turbulent and rapidly changing times, dialogue, solidarity, and critical reflection are essential for building inclusive, democratic, and sustainable societies. The Summer School provides a unique platform for academic exchange, intercultural learning, and collaborative reflection on education, social justice, human rights, and democratic participation, drawing inspiration from the legacy of Janusz Korczak and UNESCO values.

More information about the XIX UNESCO Chair Summer School here

The UNESCO Janusz Korczak Chair Fellows 2026

Prof. Gabriela Argumedo

Prof. Argumedo holds a PhD in Health received from the University of Bath, UK (2019). In 2020 she joined the National Institute of Public Health (Mexico) as a research fellow and was promoted to Professor by the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She works at Department of physical activity and healthy lifestyle, National Institute of Public Health, Mexico. National Representative of the UNESCO Chair Global Health & Education in Mexico, a member of the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, the International Society for Physical Activity and Health and the International Health Literacy Association. Her research focuses on healthy behaviours promotion -mainly physical ativity- and health literacy in school settings

  Mariam Bregvadze

Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at Caucasus International University (Georgia) and a UNESCO Chair Fellow under the Polish National Commission for UNESCO Fellowship Programme (2025/2026). She holds a Master’s degree with honors in Diplomacy and International Politics from Sokhumi State University. Her academic and professional work focuses on digital diplomacy, peacebuilding, and security in the South Caucasus. Ms. Bregvadze serves as a United Nations Representative and Delegate for an ECOSOC-accredited organization (CEDAC) and is a member of the Cyber Jurisprudence International Initiative (CyJurII). She is a laureate of the 2025 Youth Peace Award, conferred by the Office of the State Minister of Georgia for Reconciliation and Civic Equality, in recognition of her contribution to peacebuilding and civic engagement. She has participated in a number of international academic and policy forums, including UNESCO MOST Programme events and the World Forum for Democracy at the Council of Europe. During the UNESCO Chair Summer School, she will present on “Legal and Social Protection Policies for Children in Georgia’s Occupied Territories,” examining the challenges of safeguarding children’s rights in conflict-affected contexts, with particular reference to international legal frameworks, humanitarian considerations, and policy responses in the South Caucasus region

  Nurşen Okur 

Nurşen Okur holds a Master’s degree in Childhood Studies and Children’s Rights from the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. She is currently engaged in voluntary work with refugee children in an accommodation centre in Berlin, Germany. She is a researcher specialising in inclusive education for refugee children, with a particular focus on special educational needs (SEN) and the institutional design of support mechanisms within education systems. During the UNESCO Chair Summer School 2026, she will present her study titled “Teachers and School Counsellors Supporting Refugee Children with Special Educational Needs: A Qualitative Case Study from Turkey.” Her research is based on qualitative work with teachers and school counsellors, examining how educational actors respond to the complex needs of refugee children within school settings. Her presentation will explore how collaboration between teachers and school counsellors shapes inclusive practices and support mechanisms for refugee children with special educational needs

   Lika Chimchiuri 

Georgian legal researcher, recipient of UNESCO Chair Fellowship (2026), and Ph.D. student in Law at Caucasus International University. She is affiliated with Sokhumi State University as an invited lecturer and Assistant to the Rector, and serves as Chief Researcher at the Peace Education Center. She previously worked as an Assistant at the Forensic Medicine Laboratory at the Faculty of Law and Diplomacy. Lika is also a United Nations Representative and Delegate of CIRID (an NGO with ECOSOC consultative status), as well as a member of the Young Scientists’ Council of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences. In 2025, she was awarded the State Minister’s Office Peace Award for Youth for her innovative peace initiative promoting dialogue, reconciliation, and sustainable peace. Her research focuses on international humanitarian law, international criminal law, artificial intelligence, cybercrime, digital sovereignty, and peacebuilding. During the summer school, she will present on “Children and Deviant Behavior in the Digital Age,” addressing issues such as cyberbullying, online radicalization, digital addiction, and the role of AI in child protection.

Academic Supervisors 

Prof. Anna Odrowąż-Coates

Full Professor of Social Sciences in the Field of Education. Habilitation in Social Pedagogy, PhD in Political Sciences, MA in Sociology. Currently Head of Doctoral School and the UNESCO Janusz Korczak Chair at Maria Grzegorzewska University. Previously vice-rector for development (2020-2024). Chair of the Board of the Research Network of Sociology of Education of the European Sociological Association and Vice-Chair of the Polish Educational Research Association.  President of the International Korczak Association (IKA). Chair of the Early-ASD Research Team: Interdisciplinary Teachers' Professional Development LAB. Expert at the intergovernmental office of MOST Management of Social Transformations at UNESCO HQ, Paris 2024. Task expert at BRPD Ombudsman for Children Rights Office and at the KNP PAN Polish Academy of Sciences. She is editor-in-chief of "Language, Discourse and Society" (ISA) and co-editor of the journals "Society Register" (UAM) and "Pedagogika Społeczna NOVA" (UAM). She researches social science issues related to inequality, inclusion, human rights, and children's rights.

Prof. Marthinus Conradie

Marthinus Conradie holds a PhD in critical discourse analysis and inferential pragmatics from the University of the Free State (South Africa), where he is currently employed at the Department of English. His research interests are grounded in critical race theory, critical whiteness studies and discourse analytic frameworks, which he has applied to everyday political argumentation, experiences of racialisation in higher education and constructions of whiteness. In 2023, he was awarded a C2 rating by the National Research Foundation. His publications offer analyses of South African students’ racialised experiences in higher education, including online discussions of personal experiences of racial discrimination and micro-aggressions on university campuses, everyday citizens’ online deliberations via asynchronous news forums, as well as media depictions of Africa in print advertising.

Dr Seran Demiral

Seran Demiral is a children’s and science fiction author, as well as a Philosophy for Children/Communities (P4C) trainer. With a background in architecture and sociology, she weaves social issues into her fiction while bringing her experience with children, youth, and older adults into academia. She is a Horizon Europe ERA Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Sociology, University of Porto, Portugal, where she integrates arts-based methodologies and forum theatre into her research, fostering creative and participatory approaches to understanding youthful digital subjectivities and collective cultures. She is also a co-leader of Working Group 3, Technology and Innovation, in the COST Action (CA22167) PAAR-net.

Dr Cecilia Zsögön

Sociologist from Argentina, with a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires, an MSc in Social Policy and Planning, and a BA in Sociology. Her research focuses on human rights and children’s rights, including child labour, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, children deprived of liberty, and the design of social policies in border regions. Dr Zsögön has taught at multiple universities, including the National University of Misiones and the University of Buenos Aires. She has been awarded a Doctoral Fellowship from the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research of Argentina (CONICET), an Erasmus-Amidila Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, and an NCN grant in 2025.