The election of a right-wing populist president in Poland could block long-awaited reforms to higher education and research, academics fear.

Karol Nawrocki narrowly beat the liberal Warsaw mayor Rafa? Trzaskowski in a second round run off on 1 June.

Aligned with the right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS), Nawrocki¡¯s victory puts him at odds with the current government, run by Donald Tusk¡¯s Civic Coalition (KO).

¡°Although the Polish presidency is not especially powerful, the president has veto authority,¡± said Barbara Piotrowska, assistant professor in public policy at King¡¯s College London. ¡°Nawrocki is expected to veto key elements of the Tusk government¡¯s legislative agenda.¡±

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The result is therefore likely to be a further blow to many academics already?disappointed in the progress of the Tusk administration on higher education and research.

Micha? Bilewicz, director of the University of Warsaw¡¯s Center for Research on Prejudice, said the government has been ¡°widely criticised for taking insufficient action to reverse the damaging policies implemented during the PiS rule¡±.

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¡°Researchers frequently criticise the evaluation system for research institutions, which relies too heavily on bibliometric indicators,¡± Bilewicz continued. ¡°The percentage of GDP allocated to science remains very low in Poland, and success rates in grant competitions have not significantly improved.¡±

The Tusk government has attempted to initiate ¡°a series of interventions aimed at reversing politicisation and strengthening institutional integrity in the higher education and research sectors,¡± Piotrowska said, among them the dismantling of PiS-established institutions such as the Copernican Academy.

Yet despite widespread approval of the institutions¡¯ closure in the academic community, Piotrowska noted, the current president Andrzej Duda stalled the plans; now, ¡°with the electoral victory of Nawrocki, this reform is likely to be dead¡±.

Nawrocki, who will be inaugurated in August, is a historian and head of the state-run Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), while he formerly directed the Museum of the Second World War ¨C roles Bilewicz described as ¡°concerning¡±.

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¡°During his leadership at these institutions, an idealised narrative of Poland¡¯s past was promoted, along with the glorification of morally questionable figures, such as partisan commanders responsible for atrocities against Belarusians and Jews,¡± Bilewicz told?THE. ¡°In the narrative of the camp supporting Nawrocki¡¯s presidency, any mention of the negative aspects of Poland¡¯s past is treated as a betrayal.¡±

The result also has personal implications for Bilewicz who, since 2019,?has seen his promotion to full professor blocked by current president Duda, who called him an ¡°anti-Polish scholar¡± in a recent interview.

¡°I believe this was in reference to my research on antisemitism,¡± Bilewicz said. ¡°Any mention of this problem in Poland is treated as a betrayal of the nation.¡± Nawrocki, he fears, is likely to continue to delay his promotion.

Piotrowska said cases like Bilewicz¡¯s could have a ¡°chilling effect¡± on other scholars, impacting ¡°the type of topics that researchers hoping for promotion may want to pursue¡±.

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Academics who see Nawrocki¡¯s election as an indication PiS is likely to return to power in the next parliamentary elections, Piotrowska added, ¡°may steer clear of sensitive topics, further distorting research agendas¡±.

While relations with the European Union are primarily managed by the prime minister, the president ¡°plays a symbolic and diplomatic role¡±, said Piotrowska. Nawrocki¡¯s Trump-endorsed euroscepticism could ¡°undermine Poland¡¯s growing role as a key EU actor¡±, she added, risking ¡°reputational damage¡± for?the country.

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If the Eurosceptic right were to gain control of both the government and presidency in Poland, Bilewicz said he feared it would follow a similar path to that of Hungary, which has been locked out of EU funding steams after the assets of most public universities were transferred to board-led foundations, prompting fears of control by Viktor Orb¨¢n¡¯s ruling Fidesz party.

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com