Winter School „Contemporary challenges in protecting children’s rights” – 2026
The MIGRA Szczecin Research Team, specializing in international and European law at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Szczecin, cordially invites everyone to participate in the Winter School “Contemporary Challenges in Protecting Children’s Rights, to be held on February 24–26, 2026.
The Winter School will be delivered by outstanding experts from the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Szczecin, with its prestige enhanced by the presence of distinguished guest speakers. The event is aimed at law students, practitioners, and anyone interested in deepening their knowledge of contemporary challenges in human rights.
Agenda (click HERE)
The entire program will be conducted in English and will include both specialized lectures and interactive workshops. All sessions within the Winter School will take place via MS Teams.
The event is free of charge, and participants will receive certificates of attendance upon completion. A prerequisite for obtaining the certificate is participation in at least 80% of the sessions.
Registration link: https://tiny.pl/c7ryd6cm5
We warmly invite you to join.
Winter School 2026 – “Contemporary challenges in protecting children’s rights”
Prof. Dr. Sophie Kiladze
Prof. Dr. Sophie Kiladze is a Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Prior to joining the UN CRC in 2021, she was elected Member of Parliament of Georgia, a Chair of Human Rights Committee as well as the Chair of the Child Rights Council. She is an author of comprehensive reforms in the field of child rights and social work in Georgia. She served as a Vice-Rector of the Police Academy. Since 2023 she is a member of the Council of Europe ECRI.
Prof. Kiladze has an extensive academic experience, including the work at Max-Planck Institute for Public International Law in Heidelberg; teaching Public International Law, Constitutional Law and Child Rights Law at different universities, publishing books and articles. She is a graduate of the Law Faculty of the University of Heidelberg (Staatsexamen), Germany, holds PhD degree and is the Professor at Grigol Robakidze University.
Renata Bem – Executive Director, UNICEF Poland
Associated with the organization UNICEF Poland for over 16 years. Advocate for children’s rights and shared responsibility of adults for the future of younger generations. Develops effective cooperation models between NGOs, local authorities and business, combining social impact with operational efficiency. Responsible for strategic development of key areas of the organization. Speaker at industry, sectoral and ESG conferences.
dr hab. Joanna Nowakowska-Małusecka, prof. UŚ
Member of the International Law and Human Rights Research Team, researcher in the research study “Gender-Based Violence in International Law, Considering the Importance of International Criminal Law” at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Silesia. Research areas: public international law, international humanitarian law of armed conflict, international criminal law, with specific topics: children as victims of genocide, gender-based consequences and impacts in armed conflicts, or consequences.
Member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the International Network of Genocide Scholars, and the International Association of Criminal Law Scholars.
dr Agnieszka Wedeł-Domaradzka, prof. UKW
Agnieszka Wedeł-Domaradzka holds a PhD in international law from Nicolaus Copernicus University and is employed at the Institute of Law and Economics at Kazimierz Wielki University. Her research focuses on human rights, particularly the rights of the child, the right to life (including the context of death), private and family life, and the rights of vulnerable groups. In addition, she is the author of more than 90 publications on human rights and international law. Currently, she is working on the concept of the best interests of the child in ECHR jurisprudence. Furthermore, she cooperates with the Open Council of Europe Academic Networks (OCEAN) CoE, and she is a member of the International Law Association and the Cemetery Research Group.
Sonia Rathore
Sonia Rathore is a PhD student in International Relations at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS), Lublin, Poland. Her doctoral research examines food insecurity, informal welfare, and gendered vulnerability in comparative perspective, with cases from India and Southeast Europe, engaging with questions of social protection and human rights in contexts of welfare failure. She holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and was an Erasmus scholar at Charles University, Prague.
dr Mateusz Wąsik
Attorney-at-law, tax advisor, member of the Warsaw Bar Association and the Mazovian Branch of the National Chamber of Tax Advisors. He is a graduate of the University of Warsaw (2012) and completed doctoral studies at the Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences (2021). He has 11 years of experience in tax advisory, gained in Poland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
In 2023, he defended his doctoral dissertation (Consequences of the Lack of Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Relationships in the Polish Legal System), earning a PhD in social sciences in the discipline of legal studies. In his practice, he specializes in providing tax advisory services related to personal income taxation (personal income tax, inheritance and donation tax, civil law transactions tax), with particular focus on cross-border income taxation. For over three years, he collaborated with Lambda Warsaw, offering pro bono legal and tax advice to the organization’s clients. He is fluent in English and Spanish. He is also the author and co-author of publications on the legal protection of LGBT individuals in Poland.
prof. dr hab. Agnieszka Bień-Kacała
Professor of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Szczecin. Her research specializations include liberal and illiberal constitutionalism, constitutional change, Polish law, and comparative constitutional law.
dr hab. Michał Balcerzak, prof. US
Ph.D., Associate Professor at the Faculty of Political Science and Security Studies, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, and at the Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Szczecin. Diploma of the International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg (2004). Former Member (2015-2021) and Chair (2018-2012) of the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent (special procedure of the Human Rights Council). Elected Member and Vice-Chair of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (2022-2026). Member of the International Law Association Committee on Human Rights in Times of Emergency (2017-). Enrolled in the list of ad hoc judges of the European Court of Human Rights (2018-2022). He served previously as an expert of several Council of Europe working groups. He specializes in European and international human rights law, international judiciary and the law of international organizations.
dr hab. Anna Kosińska, prof. US
Graduate of an art history programme at the Faculty of Humanities of the John Paul II Catholic University in Lublin (KUL) and doktor habilitowany (post-doctoral degree) of law and professor of KUL and of the University of Szczecin. Co-creator of the MIGRA-TEAM research team at the Rule of Law Institute.
Coordinator of the Foreigners’ Section of the Legal Clinic at the University of Szczecin and of numerous projects dedicated to helping and integrating migrants (i.a. Support for Voluntary Returns in Lublin Region I and II co-financed from the funds of the European Return Fund). Author of monographs and publications on migration and refugee law and coordinator of NCN projects, now: “Ombudsman jako gwarant ochrony praw podstawowych migrantów” [The Ombudsman as a guarantor of protection of fundamental rights of migrants”].
dr Ewa Michałkiewicz-Kądziela
She earned her PhD in law in 2019 after defending her dissertation on “The Right to a Human Identity in Polish and International Law.” She serves as the Rector’s Representative for International Cooperation and coordinator of the Faculty’s International Cooperation Team, and serves as Vice-Dean for International Cooperation at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Szczecin.
Her primary research area is human rights and their protection in national, EU, and international law. Her research interests include issues of human identity and related rights, as well as contemporary threats to human rights resulting from social, economic, and technological changes. She teaches courses in law, administration, medical law, and uniformed services law, where she covers topics such as constitutional law, European Union law, human rights protection, states of emergency, sources of law, public interest advocates in healthcare, and more.
dr Ewa Milczarek
Agraduate of the University of Szczecin, she obtained a doctorate in social sciences in the discipline of law. Since 2016, he has been an employee of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Szczecin, currently as an assistant professor. She specializes in international and constitutional law. Her research area includes the protection of human rights in the context of socio-economic changes. Author of many scientific publications. Active participant in international research projects, influencing the development of legal standards.
dr Magdalena Zamroczyńska
Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Szczecin. Attorney at the Greater Poland Bar Association in Poznań. Her main areas of practice include criminal law and criminal procedure, as well as medical law.
mgr Zofia Niedźwiecka
Lecturer at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Szczecin, member of the Department of International Law, and member of the MIGRA – Szczecin research team. Her academic expertise includes international law, European Union law, and human rights protection.
mgr Aleksander Poczewski
Lecturer at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Szczecin, member of the Department of International Law, and member of the MIGRA – Szczecin research team. His academic interests include international law, European Union law, and human rights protection.
mgr Aleksandra Bołoz
PhD candidate at the Doctoral School of the University of Szczecin. She has completed internships at the European Parliament and the European Foundation of Human Rights. Her research focuses on human rights and international law. She actively participates in international projects, such as the Summer Law School on Human Rights in Utrecht.