Prof. Katarzyna Byrka was appointed to the NAWA Council for the 2025–2028 term. In the years 2022–2025, she served as Chair of the International Affairs Committee of the General Council for Science and Higher Education. She currently represents the Council in the Expert Team for the Internationalisation Strategy. From 2017 to 2021, she held the position of Dean of the Faculty of Psychology at SWPS University in Wrocław. She currently heads the Centre for Research on Social Behaviour.
She obtained her PhD in 2009 from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. Since October 2010, she has been affiliated with SWPS University. In her scientific work, she focuses on motivational and volitional processes, conducting research in the field of social psychology. The main theme of her research concerns discrepancies between people's attitudes and their observed behaviours, as well as mechanisms of compensatory behaviour.
The results of her research have been published in leading academic journals in psychology. She is also a recipient of numerous research grants awarded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the National Science Centre (NCN), and the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP). She has experience as an expert and reviewer in competitions organised by NAWA, NCN, and their international counterparts.