Xymena Kurowska

Xymena Kurowska is a Professor of International Relations at Central European University, with formal affiliations in both Vienna and Budapest. She received her PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and an MA in International Relations from Warsaw University.

• PhD, Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute
• MA, International Relations, Warsaw University

As a leading scholar in International Political Sociology, Kurowska specializes in interpretive policy analysis, security practices, and the intersection of sociological, psychosocial, and anthropological approaches with relational and interpretive methodologies. Her work critically examines the ethics of academic practice, cyber diplomacy, and the paradoxes of liberal global governance in a fragmented world order.

Her recent research agenda spans narrative IR, posthumanism, ritual theory, and cyber norm contestation. Articles like "Rituals of world politics" and "Trickstery: Pluralising stigma" demonstrate her focus on affective, embodied, and pre-discursive dimensions of international relations.

Scientific awards include:

• 2023 CEU Teaching Excellence Award
• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellowship at Aberystwyth University's Department of International Politics

She has served as:

• CEU Principal Investigator for the Global Norm Evolution and Responsibility to Protect Project
• Chair of the International Political Sociology Section at ISA
• Co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of International Relations and Development
• Academic Rapporteur for the EU Cyber Direct Project

Kurowska's teaching emphasizes security theory, interpretive methods, and the ethics of knowledge production, with a pedagogical style that confronts the tension between neoliberal academic structures and critical scholarship. She actively engages with early-career scholars through mentorship and editorial work.