On Wednesday, October 28, 2015, a seminar of the research team for the “Polish immigrant organizations in Europe” project was held at the Poznań Institute for Western Affairs. The seminar participants included: Dr. Michał Nowosielski and Witold Nowak of the Institute for Western Affairs and members of the research team: Dr. Michał Garapich (University of Roehampton), Dr. Agnieszka Legut (Pedagogical University of Cracow), Dr. Joanna Leska-Ślęzak (University of Gdańsk), Magdalena López Rodríguez (Middlesex University), Dr. Piotr Plewa (Ministry of Labor and Social Policy) and Dr. Mikołaj Stanek (Complutense University of Madrid, University of Coimbra). It was also attended by Wojciech Tyciński of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Deputy Director of the Department for Cooperation with the Polish Community and Poles Abroad).
The seminar was aimed at bringing members of the newly recruited team closer together and launching the concept development phase of the project. The initial discussions extended to the project goals and detailed research objectives. These helped formulate specific concepts and the overall project framework. The seminar participants subsequently proceeded to design qualitative research instruments to be applied during the fieldwork, which was scheduled to begin in 2016.
I wish to thank all seminar participants for coming to Poznań and for the valuable contributions which they tirelessly provided during our meeting!