Dr. hab. Jan Szumski heads the History of Humanist and Social Thought Research Unit at the Institute for the History of Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In the 2017-18 academic year, he was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests include the history of Central and Eastern Europe in the 20th century in the political, social, cultural and educational dimensions, the history of the eastern territories of the former Republic of Poland and the history of the Soviet Union and Polish-Soviet relations, with particular emphasis on scientific contacts.