With reflection on history, bold plans for the future, and the spirit of togetherness, the Faculty of Social Sciences officially opened the academic year 2024/2025. During the inauguration ceremony, the role of the social sciences - including sociological sciences, the discipline represented by prof. Andrzej Rychard, who was entrusted with the Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski Chair this academic year - was recognised.

‘I believe that together we will be able to cope with any challenge,' said convincingly prof. dr hab. Michal Harciarek, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, to the participants of the ceremony, who this year came in exceptionally large numbers. He cited the record number of people receiving doctoral and postdoctoral promotions and awards as an example of the Faculty's resilience. He then gave the floor to the Rector of UG, prof. dr hab. Piotr Stepnowski.

Prof. Piotr Stepnowski began by describing scientific research in the words of Umberto Eco: ‘”Scientific research is carried out because someone sees a path that no one has seen before, and a couple of other people show great flexibility in their decisions and decide to trust them”. At the University of Gdańsk, this is what we do to turn this flexibility and this trust into the best possible research results and the best possible academic education. The Faculty of Social Sciences is an excellent example of the fact that it is possible to run a variety of courses - based on research practised at the highest level - which are annually among the top ten most popular courses in the entire university.’

These courses always include psychology, sociology, or journalism and social communication.

The UG rector also spoke about contemporary challenges facing the university, including the need to flexibly adapt educational programmes to the needs of the changing labour market and civilisation conditions, as well as the challenges of science. According to prof. Piotr Stepnowski, the internationalisation of the university, such as strategic partnerships or international exchanges, is also of great importance. He considered the inclusion of administrative staff in mobility programmes to be a success for UG in this respect: ‘Only in this way, by including without exception all members of our university community, do we become a truly internationalised European university.’

At the end of his speech, prof. Piotr Stepnowski announced that the University of Gdańsk would be celebrating its 55th anniversary in the next calendar year. Numerous events are planned in connection with the jubilee, integrating the entire academic community and people connected with UG.

The Rector then moved on to a special point in the ceremony: the entrusting of the Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski Named Chair to prof. Andrzej Rychard: ‘I am delighted that in this special anniversary year we are entrusting the Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski Chair to an outstanding sociologist, Professor Andrzej Rychard,’ he said. ‘It is worth recalling that exactly 50 years ago, in 1974, the Senate of the University of Gdańsk conferred the title of doctor honoris causa on the patron of our Chair, Mr Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski, for the first time in the history of the university,’ he added. He thanked prof. Andrzej Rychard for accepting the invitation to take up the chair, while emphasising the importance of sociology today.

‘I am moved because I am going back to my roots,’ expressed prof. A. Rychard moments after the ceremony of taking over the Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski Named Chair. ‘I am from here, I am from Gdańsk,' he added, citing an example of a common family place with prof. M. Harciarek. ‘Thank you for this extremely tangible expression of what I will be doing this year. I am very much counting on the academic community, which I see as extremely dynamic. There is a spirit here: the spirit of Gdańsk, as it should be.’

In his presentation of the Faculty of Social Sciences to the new students and assembled guests, prof. M. Harciarek used a quote from Tina Turner's song: ‘You're simply the best’. - and it was in this spirit that he introduced his faculty. After presenting the educational offer, development opportunities, ongoing research, challenges and achievements related to science (such as three journals with an Impact Factor - a success for which the Dean thanked the editors of the journals), the Dean addressed the students: ‘If even at the beginning of your academic journey you are a bit disappointed, give yourself a chance. Perhaps it is only in later years that you will discover what really interests you.’ He also encouraged young people to become actively involved in the life of the university, for example in initiatives such as the Academic Citizens' Budget, thanks to which a chillout zone was created at WNS. Prof. M. Harciarek also shared the Faculty's realisations and plans unrelated to science.

Piotr Patalas, a representative of the Students' Parliament, addressed a few words to the students (including the most important information on organisational issues or opportunities for support). The oath of office for first-year students was led by the new Vice-Dean for Student Affairs, dr Dominik Bień.

After the traditional Gaudeamus Igitur performed by the University of Gdańsk Academic Choir, prof. Michał Harciarek mentioned three professorial titles awarded to WNS researchers: prof. Danuta Plecka, prof. Monika Trojanowska and prof. Anna Maria Zawadzka. Commemorative diplomas on the occasion of the degrees were presented by the Vice-Rector for Cooperation and Internationalisation, dr hab. Anna Jurkowska-Zeidler, prof. UG. The inauguration was followed by the presentation of postdoctoral diplomas and doctoral promotions. The doctoral students then took the traditional oath before prof. A. Jurkowska-Zeidler.

After the presentation of the KEN medals and the Rector's awards, the audience was invited to listen to an inaugural lecture by prof. Andrzej Rychard entitled ‘From transformation through counter-transformation to post-transformation? On Polish dynamics'.

‘Sociology is not only the study of public opinion,' remarked prof. A. Rychard. He also expressed his joy at the fact that sociology is still on the educational offer of the University of Gdańsk. In his lecture, he talked about two types of processes influencing reality: historical (long-term) processes and contingent, accidental phenomena. He also warned that it is not always easy to determine which of these processes underlie the events we observe. Instead, it is easy to make mistakes. He gave as an example Poland's history from the communist and contemporary times. ‘The depth of events does not always result in their inevitability,’ he said, referring among other things to the belief in the “inevitability” of martial law. There was also a theme of social initiative and its role in the lecture: ‘We are not slaves to where we started,’ he stressed, after which he cited examples of events that often determined the direction of the historical process - such as the events that led to the collapse of communism in Poland in 1989. However, ‘it did not have to be that way’: 4 June 1989 was at the same time the anniversary of the first partly free elections in Poland and the Tian'anmen Square massacre in China. Prof. A. Rychard also tried to describe the processes he is currently observing in Poland - and expressed concern about the presence of elements of the ‘old in the new’ in the context of the slowly progressing modernisation process of Polish society.

‘I think that the spirit of the new will come from here,’ he said. ‘After all, no other city has done as much good for Poland as Gdańsk has done. I am grateful that I can, at least a part of it, being in this cathedral, give to Gdańsk - because I know that when you give, you also get.’

Prof. A. Rychard's lecture was received with a standing ovation. The inauguration ceremony at the WNS ended with a performance by the University of Gdańsk Academic Choir, which performed a song by The Beatles entitled ‘Let it be’. ‘Let us rejoice in being such a great community,’ concluded the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, prof. Michal Harciarek.