Plenary: Populism, Polarization and the Consequences on Democracy
Date: Tuesday, 15 July 2025
Magdalena Musiał-Karg is a full professor of political science at the Department of Political Systems, Faculty of Political Science and Journalism, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. From 2021 to 2024, she served as Vice-Dean for Research and Scientific Cooperation at the Faculty of Political Science and Journalism, as well as Vice-Dean for Research and Development from 2016 to 2020.
In November 2022, she was elected President of the Polish Political Science Association. She also serves as Vice-Chair of the Research Committee on Political Communication (RC22) of the International Political Science Association (IPSA), is a member of the Political Sciences Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences (2020–2023; 2024–2027), and is President of the Center for European Research and Education. Since March 1, 2025, she has been a member of the Core Group of Experts on Political Parties, operating under the auspices of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
In 2016, she was a member of the Local Organizing Committee of the IPSA World Congress in Poznań, Poland. She is the initiator and main coordinator of the IPSA-Poznań Summer School for Methods in Political Science, New Media, and Communication Research, the next edition of which will be held in 2024.
Her main research interests include political systems, direct democracy and the impact of modern technologies (ICT) on democracies, particularly in the context of electoral processes (e-voting). She has also conducted research on the role of women in public life. Professor Musiał-Karg is the author of numerous publications on electronic participation, alternative voting methods, direct democracy, and political communication. She has been a visiting professor at many foreign universities, including in Granada (Spain), Tallinn (Estonia), Dresden, Frankfurt (Oder) (Germany), St. Petersburg (Russia), and Ankara and Konya (Turkey).
She is also engaged in research on the role of women in public spaces and cross-border cooperation in the Polish-German border region. She is the initiator and coordinator of the research group “Helvetic Initiative.” From 2003 to 2006, she held a PhD scholarship under the Europa Fellows II programme, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and in 2007 under the Osteuropa programme funded by KAAD. In 2014, she was awarded a three-year stipend for young outstanding scientists by the Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education.
For many years, she has been associated with Collegium Polonicum – a Polish-German academic institution – where she coordinated study programs run by the Faculty of Political Science and Journalism.