Prof. Ewa Leś, Ph.D. – professor and researcher at the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies, University of Warsaw; from 2009 to 2019, head of the Department of Civil Society Development at the Institute of Social Policy within the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Warsaw; previously (2001–2013), head of the Department of Research on Non-Governmental Organizations at the Institute of Political Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Since 2014, she has been the editor-in-chief of the quarterlyjournal *Zeszyty Naukowe Zakładu Rozwoju Społeczeństwa Obywatelskiego*. She is a member of the editorial board of the Britishacademicjournal*Voluntary Sector Review*. Author of over 120 scholarly and popular science publications, 7 monographs, articles in domestic and international scholarly journals, and 9 edited volumes, including one monograph. Coordinator of 5 national research teams and 3 Polish sections of international research projects, including two European Commission Framework Programs. She serves as a consultant on numerous national and international research projects carried out by universities and research institutions in EU member states and EEA countries, focusing on civil society organizations, cooperative movements, social security and social integration policies, and family policy. She collaborates with the Ministry of Family, Labor, and Social Policy and the Government Council for Population Affairs. Since 2015, she has been a member of the National Development Council under the President of the Republic of Poland, in the Social Policy and Family section. Since 2018, she has been a member of the Council of the National Institute of Freedom – Center for the Development of Civil Society, appointed by the Deputy Prime Minister – Chair of the Public Interest Committee.
’s research interestsinclude social analyses of the evolution and prospects of the modern welfare state, as well as the role of the state, the market, and the civil society sector in social, family, and demographic policy. She is one of the leading researchers in the field of Polish citizenship. In the 1980s, when issues related to social organizations remained outside the scope of interest of political scientists and academic social policy scholars, she pioneered a new line of research on non-public actors in social policy. Her first publication , titled “Selected Forms of Social Agency and Development,” co-authored with Prof. Andrzej Piekara, was published by the Institute of Social Policy at the University of Warsaw in 1988.