Alicja Bielak

Alicja Bielak is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences (IFIS PAN), where she has been employed since 2020. She is affiliated with the Centre for the History of Renaissance Knowledge and conducts research within the ERC Project "From East to West, and Back Again. Student Travel and Transcultural Knowledge Production in Renaissance Europe" (PI: Valentina Lepri). Prior to this position, she was a lecturer at the Artes Liberales Faculty, University of Warsaw from 2018 to 2021.

Dr. Bielak completed her literary studies degree in 2015 and earned her PhD in cultural and religious studies from the University of Warsaw in 2019. Her academic background reflects a deep engagement with early modern European intellectual traditions, particularly focusing on the intersections of literature, religion, and visual arts in the Polish-Lithuanian context.

Her research specializes in early modern literature with particular emphasis on book history, emblematics, Reformation studies, and knowledge transfer in Renaissance Europe. Dr. Bielak's work explores cultural exchanges between Poland and Western Europe, examining how ideas, artistic forms, and religious concepts traveled across borders. She has made significant contributions to understanding emblem studies in religious contexts, the transmission of knowledge through student mobility, and the literary production of Polish Renaissance figures like Daniel Naborowski and Marcin Hińcza. Her methodology combines literary analysis, religious history, and art historical approaches to provide comprehensive insights into early modern European culture.

Dr. Bielak's recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on emblem studies, Reformation history, and early modern book culture. Her work examines Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's intellectual history with particular attention to religious dissent, meditative practices, and the visual representation of ideas. She has published extensively on the function of emblems in religious and secular contexts, the role of student travel in knowledge production, and the literary output of key Polish Renaissance figures.

• START Scholarship from the Foundation for Polish Science (2022)
• Herzog August Bibliothek Fellowship in Wolfenbüttel (2021)
• LECTIO Institute Fellowship at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (2022/2023)

As a researcher, Dr. Bielak leads multiple projects including the NPRH project "Daniel Naborowski – Poet, Physician, and Diplomat at the Court of the Radziwiłł Family" since 2022. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Emblem Studies and serves on the editorial board of "Emblematica: Essays in Word and Image," contributing significantly to the international scholarly community in emblem studies.

Dr. Bielak is actively involved with the Centre for the History of Renaissance Knowledge at IFIS PAN, where she collaborates with international scholars investigating the movement of ideas across Renaissance Europe. Her research bridges literary analysis, religious history, and art history to provide comprehensive understanding of how knowledge was created, transmitted, and transformed during this pivotal period in European history.