About Us
Welcome to the website of the Department of Intermedial and Environmental Studies!
The Department was established on 24 February 2026 at the Faculty of Modern Languages of the University of Warsaw, following a positive opinion of the Faculty Council. Its creation responds to current research challenges in the contemporary humanities and results, among other things, from initiatives developed within the framework of the Excellence Initiative – Research University (IDUB) programme.
Profile
The Department focuses its activities on two main areas that define its research and teaching profile:
- Intermediality: Research concentrates on the relationships between literature, the visual arts, music, and digital media. Members of the Department analyse media as material and environmental cultural practices, as well as spaces in which narratives intersect and circulate across different representational orders.
- Environmental Humanities: The Department develops research on the relationships between culture, environment, and matter, situating itself within the field of contemporary environmental humanities and posthumanities. Particular emphasis is placed on analysing nature–culture entanglements, non-human agency, and on developing new methodologies for describing the world in both its historical and contemporary configurations. This research includes, among other areas, ecocriticism, studies of non-anthropocentric subjectivity, and reflections on the environmental conditions of cultural and media practices.
Logo Explanation
The logo of the Department of Intermedial and Environmental Studies reflects the profile of a unit whose activities focus on research into the relationships between media, culture, and the environment, as well as contemporary transformations of communication, art, and the humanities. The Department functions as a space for dialogue between different disciplines and research methodologies, developing both intermedial and environmental perspectives.
The central element of the logo is a stylized leaf – a symbol of nature, ecology, and relational ways of thinking about the world. It refers to research conducted within the field of environmental humanities and to reflections on the human position within networks of cultural and environmental interdependencies. At the same time, its geometric and simplified form emphasizes the modern and interdisciplinary character of the Department.
The internal arrangement of lines is inspired by the structure of communication networks and media circuits. It symbolizes the flow of ideas, the interaction of different media, and the dynamic relationships between literature, art, music, visual culture, and technology. The branching connections also reflect the Department’s openness to interdisciplinary collaboration and the diversity of research perspectives.
The open circle surrounding the symbol may be interpreted as a sign of dialogue, community, and an ongoing process of exchange. The symbolism of the circle also refers to the idea of harmony and balance — both between humans and the environment, and among different media, disciplines, and research perspectives. Its unfinished form emphasizes a readiness to transcend boundaries between fields of knowledge, media, and modes of interpretation, as well as an openness to new research challenges.
The logo’s colour scheme, based on deep green tones, highlights the environmental dimension of the Department’s activities while simultaneously evoking associations with growth, balance, and responsibility. The minimalist form of the logo combines clarity with symbolic multilayeredness, creating a modern visual identity for a unit dedicated to exploring contemporary relationships between media, culture, and the environment.
Collaboration and Development
The Department’s activities encompass not only research but also the development of high-ranking publishing platforms. It advances prestigious book series with De Gruyter Brill and Harrassowitz (also available in Open Access) and co-creates the international academic journal TRANSPOSITIONES.
The Department’s team consists of: Joanna Godlewicz-Adamiec, PhD, Assoc. Prof.; Piotr Kociumbas, PhD, Assoc. Prof.; and Paweł Piszczatowski, PhD, Assoc. Prof.
We warmly invite you to collaborate!