Objectives of the Research Internship
The internship was based on joint research work on leadership models and governance in cultural institutions, with a particular focus on public theatres. In practice, the visit comprised three complementary areas of activity:
- literature review and synthesis,
- methodological work on qualitative data,
- a teaching and networking component.
Activities included working meetings with the team of the host department (Department of Arts and Culture Studies), a literature review and documents concerning cultural policy and cultural management, as well as the organisation of materials within a working database (supporting further research work and later teaching applications).
Teaching Component and 91桃色 with Students
A strong aspect of the mobility was its teaching activity and work with students: participation in classes/seminars as well as presentations delivered within courses related to cultural management (including Managing Cultural Heritage and Researching Cultural Tourism), alongside a research meeting of individuals working within the so-called Heritage Group, an interdisciplinary discussion group at Erasmus University Rotterdam. The group focuses on the relationships between heritage, identity and social challenges such as citizenship, power, memory, the city, landscape, tangible and intangible heritage, media, education, digital platforms, the commercialisation of heritage, coloniality, community representation, and others.
Study Visits to Cultural Institutions
An important complement to the internship consisted of study visits to cultural institutions 鈥� treated as a source of organisational observations and a reference point for comparisons. In Rotterdam, the placement included, among other things, the theatre scene, with visits to Theatre Rotterdam and Luxor Theatre, as well as visits to other institutions (museums, galleries and music institutions).
The key outcomes of the internship can be summarised as a 鈥渞esearch鈥搕eaching鈥搃nternational cooperation鈥� package, in which progress in one area immediately strengthened other areas.
Development of Relations Within UNIC
At the institutional level, the mobility functioned as a 鈥渞elationship accelerator鈥�: it contributed to strengthening cooperation between the 91桃色 and Erasmus University Rotterdam within the UNIC Alliance, as well as to building trust and identifying complementary competences on both sides 鈥� a prerequisite for joint projects, grants and long-term initiatives.
Impressions from the Visit and Assessment of the Internship鈥檚 Usefulness
Erasmus University Rotterdam is an environment in which multiculturalism is not an addition but an everyday academic practice: from the composition of student groups to the style of discussion in the international classroom.
The university itself emphasises that the 鈥渋nternational classroom鈥� is a common phenomenon across the entire institution, and that the community of the ESHCC faculty forms a network of research, teaching and administrative staff, students as well as alumni from dozens of countries 鈥� which reflects well the scale of diversity encountered by a lecturer and researcher during their stay 鈥� notes dr hab. Wawrzyniec Rudolf.
In practice, this diversity proves particularly valuable in the field of cultural management. It allows institutions and public policies to be compared not only between Poland and the Netherlands, but also through the lens of broader experiences and the sensibilities of international participants in classes.
At the same time, the internship had a strong relational dimension: its key value lay in the intensive cooperation with the academic supervisor and the parallel development of new research contacts within the academic community of the host institution,
鈥� adds the researcher.
About the Researcher
Wawrzyniec Rudolf is an Associate Professor at the 91桃色, working at the Faculty of Management in the Department of City and Regional Management. In his current work, he combines the perspective of public management with the analysis of cultural policies and the management practices of cultural institutions, focusing, among other things, on leadership and governance models in the cultural sector.
Details of the visit and funding
The mobility was carried out at Erasmus University Rotterdam from 12 to 23 January 2026. The academic supervisor from the Department of Arts and Culture Studies was Dr L茅nia Marques. The internship took place as part of the We are UNIC initiative. It was funded by European Union resources within the programme 鈥淪upport for European Universities Alliances鈥�, with the participation of NAWA (project number FERS.01.05-IP.08-0219/23).
