Maria Theiss, Ph.D., Associate Professor – Doctor of Humanities with a specialization in political science (2006); habilitation in the social sciences with a specialization in political science (2019); currently an assistant professor; from 2013 to 2014, deputy director of the Institute of Social Policy; from 2007 to 2013, student affairs officer at the Institute of Social Policy. Since 2008, deputy editor-in-chief, and since 2020, editor-in-chief of the journal *Problemy Polityki Społecznej* (SocialPolicy Issues). Principal investigator on the following research projects: EnTrust – Informed Trust: An Analysis of Trust and Distrust in Governance – Determinants, Effects, and Countermeasures ( 2020–2024, Horizon 2020), TransSOL – “European Pathways to Transnational Solidarity in Times of Crisis: Determinants; Forms; Best Practices and Policy Responses”(2015–2018, “Horizon 2020”), LIVEWHAT – “Life in Difficult Times: How European Citizens Cope with Economic Crises and Their Social and Political Consequences” (2013–2016, 7th Framework Program), project leader of “Local Social Citizenship in Social Policy—The Case of Educational and Care Services for Children Under 5 ” (2012–2015, National Science Center, Poland).
Research interests
the impact of social policy on political attitudes and behavior, policy feedback loops, social citizenship, public discourse on social policy, local social policy, social services and their informal aspects, bureaucracy at the local level, social inequalities, qualitative research methods in social policy and politics