Received Sylff fellowship in 2025
Academic Supervisor: Magdalena Paluszkiewicz-Misiaczek, Lynne Russell, Maria Świątkiewicz Mośny
Current affiliation: Jagiellonian University/Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington
Gabriela Kwiatek, MA, is a PhD candidate in Political Science at Jagiellonian University's Doctoral School in Social Sciences in Kraków, Poland and Ngore Taupua (Visiting Scholar) at Te Herenga Waka (Victoria University of Wellington) in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her academic interests include the social and political determinants of health inequities, as well as decolonial approaches to reproductive rights and midwifery in Canada and Aotearoa. Gabriela is currently a Principal Investigator in a research project funded by the Polish National Science Centre Preludium 23, a recipient of the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund and a researcher in the European Commission's VISAR project on domestic violence. Gabriela is also passionate about local activism, having mentored dozens of youth social projects through the Zwolnieni z Teorii foundation and organized a long-term support project for Ukrainian child refugees in Kraków in the aftermath of the 2022 full-scale invasion by Russia. Her commitment to supporting other female students in starting a career in academia resulted in her co-editing two collective student-doctoral publications, dedicated to emerging scholars, including the most recent “Canada: a model for gender equality ?” (2024). Her PhD project explores the impact of political self-determination and Indigenous-led healthcare organizations on the health outcomes of Māori in Aotearoa and First Nations in British Columbia, Canada.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7530-1789
Academic Achievements, Social Engagement Initiative
Selected Honors and Awards
- The Stefania Karolina Tatrówna Prize for the best MA thesis in social sciences that includes a gender equality perspective, organized by the Department of Security, Safety and Equal Treatment – Safe JU in cooperation with the MINDtheGEPs project (2024)
- 1st Distinction for the best thesis in the field of Canadian Studies from the Polish Association for Canadian Studies (2024)
- The best MA thesis at the Faculty of International and Political Studies of the Jagiellonian University (2023)
- Jagiellonian University’s Rector’s scholarships for academic excellence for 2021/22 and 2022/23
Selected publications and conference papers
Books:
1. Co-edited book „Canada: a model for gender equality?”, ed. G. Kwiatek, A. Kasperska, T. Soroka, Księgarnia Akademicka 2024. https://doi.org/10.12797/9788383681696
2. Co-edited book "Smoking Guns - tematy dzielące Amerykę" [Smoking Guns – topics dividing America], ed. G. Kwiatek, M. Smółka, Księgarnia Akademicka 2023. https://doi.org/10.12797/9788381389006
Chapters:
1. Upcoming chapter co-authored with Ewelina Feldman-Kołodziejuk: Speaking the Unspoken: Testimonies of Forced Sterilization in ‘Sacred Bundles Unborn’, in “Contemporary maternal subjectivities on the page and the screen,” Berlin: Sciendo-De Gruyter Brill.
2. Upcoming chapter co-authored with Jacqueline Martin: Decolonizing Birth: Māori Midwifery as a Form of Self-Determination and Resistance, in: Indigeneity and the British World: Settler Colonialism, Resistance, and Self-Determination, ed. Jatinder Mann and Alison Clark, Peter Lang.
3. Co-authored chapter with Tomasz Soroka, The Quest for Gender Equality in Canada: Introduction, in: “Canada: a model for gender equality?”, ed. G. Kwiatek, A. Kasperska, T. Soroka, Księgarnia Akademicka 2024, p. 7-19. https://doi.org/10.12797/9788383681696.01
4. Health Equity and Birth: The Accessibility of Indigenous Midwifery and Birth Workers in Canadian Healthcare, in: “Canada: a model for gender equality?”, ed. G. Kwiatek, A. Kasperska, T. Soroka, Księgarnia Akademicka 2024, p. 61-76. https://doi.org/10.12797/9788383681696.05
5. The Borderlines of Indigenous Sovereignty in the United States - McGirt v. Oklahoma and Abortion, in: "Smoking Guns: tematy dzielące Amerykę", ed. G. Kwiatek, M. Smółka, Księgarnia Akademicka 2023, p. 11-25. https://doi.org/10.12797/9788381389006.01
Articles:
1. Canadian Federal Policies and the Inuit Youth Suicide Crisis: Trauma and Reconciliation, "Ad Americam Journal of American Studies" 2023, vol. 24, p. 57-70. https://doi.org/10.12797/AdAmericam.24.2023.24.04
2. Fear as a Political Tool: A Critical Analysis of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's Fearmongering Narratives, "International Studies: Interdisciplinary Political and Cultural Journal", 30(2), 69–86. https://doi.org/10.18778/1641-4233.30.04
Selected conference papers:
1. Decolonizing Health: Indigenous Health Policy and Self-Determination in Aotearoa and BC, Canada, at “Edges, Borders, Margins, and Peripheries” Association of Social Anthropologists in Aotearoa/New Zealand, University of Waikato, Whāingaroa, Aotearoa New Zealand (9-12.12.2025).
2. Colonizing Māori Birth and Midwifery, co-authored with Dr. Jacqueline Martin, “Lesolosolou: Resilience in the face of adversity” at the 26th Pacific History Association Conference, National University of Samoa (2-5.12.2025).
3. Speaking the Unspoken: Testimonies of Forced Sterilization in ‘Sacred Bundles Unborn’, “Canada: Past, Present, Future”, British Association for Canadian Studies, University of Edinburgh, Scotland (24-26.04.2025)
4. Navigating the North: Grassroots Initiatives to Counteract the Evacuation for Birth Policy in the Arctic, “Territory, Tension, and Taboo: Canada in Crisis," the 21st annual conference of the Emerging Scholars Forum of the Association for Canadian Studies in German-Speaking Countries, University of Bremen, Germany (10-11.10.2024)
5. Weaving the past and present together: the cultural significance of harakeke and its use in contemporary Māori midwifery, “Empires and Cultures of the Pacific Revisited”, 28th Annual conference of the New Zealand Studies Association, Prague, Czech Republic (9-12.07.2024)
6. Decolonizing Midwifery in Aotearoa: The Role of a Māori Midwife in a Colonial Healthcare System Through the Centuries, Native American and Indigenous Studies Association conference, Bødo, Norway (6-8.06.2024)
7. Indigenous Health Policy, Self-Determination and Transpacific Cooperation in British Columbia, Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand, “Transcending boundaries: Interdisciplinary Insights in Transpacific Studies” at Johannes Guttenberg Universität in Mainz, Germany (10.02.2024)
8. Reclaiming Sovereignty: Strategies of Inuit Youth Suicide Prevention in the Canadian Arctic, 20th Annual Conference of the Emerging Scholars Forum of the Association for Canadian Studies in German-Speaking Countries "Contested Canada: Navigating Past, Present and Future Sovereignties" at Freie Universität in Berlin, Germany (30.06.2023)
Volunteering
Mentor | Zwolnieni z Teorii Youth | Poland / remote | Aug 2020 – Jun 2022
• Guided 181 high school and university students across 46 community service initiatives, offering strategic advice (on stages such as project design, budget design and project implementation), feedback, and conflict resolution support.
Coordinator | School Supply Drive for Ukrainian Refugee Children | Kraków | Mar 2022 – Nov 2022
• Mobilized donors and partnered with Kraków City Hall’s Education Department and local companies to assemble and deliver 363 fully equipped backpacks across seven primary schools.
• Managed procurement and logistics for >1,000 notebooks, 200 backpacks, and 150 pencil cases on a rapid timeline.
Volunteer | UN FCCC COP 24, Katowice | Oct – Dec 2018
• Supported conference logistics and delegate services, including transport coordination and live translation for international participants.
Selected research grants:
- Ryiochi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellows for the year 2025/2026 – fellowship to support research in Aotearoa New Zealand.
- Principal Investigator in a Preludium research grant funded by Narodowe Centrum Nauki [National Science Centre] titled “Indigenous Health Policy and Self-determination in a ‘Post-colonial’ World of Canadian British Columbia” Project ID: 2024/53/N/HS5/04005 (February 2025-February 2028)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriela-r-kwiatek/
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7530-1789
