Joanna Kęsicka is a graduate student in the MA/MSc program in International and World History at Columbia University and the London School of Economics.
Born in Poland and raised in the Polish-German border region, she grew up between different historical narratives and became interested in how politics, religion, and collective memory shape identity and society. She studied History and Art History, with additional coursework in Law, at the Universities of Heidelberg and Tübingen. She graduated with a Bachelor's degree with the highest distinction for her thesis on the Solidarność movement in 1980s Wrocław and the Catholic Church's role in Poland's political transformation.
Beyond academia, Joanna has also engaged directly with civic and political institutions, gaining a practical perspective that complements her historical approach to politics. During secondary school, she served as President of the State Student Council of Saxony, representing over 320,000 students. She later continued to bridge these insights with her work building educational non-profit programs, volunteering with Caritas, and interning at the German Bundestag.
At Columbia and the LSE, she plans to focus her research on institutionalized political and religious authority in post-1945 Eastern Europe, particularly how institutions shape societal change while themselves being reshaped by broader political transformations.
She has been supported by a scholarship from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation since 2021.
