Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, PAS
Name: Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, PAS
Address: ul. Nowy Świat 72, 00-330 Warsaw, Poland
Website: http://www.irwirpan.waw.pl/
Description:
The Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IRWiR PAN) for the past 50 years has gained a considerable recognition and acknowledgment in the fields of rural development and agriculture. It is a leading interdisciplinary research organization focused on monitoring the on-going socio-economic and environmental challenges that rural communities face. The Institute has been successful in bringing together experts in various disciplines – economics, sociology, demography, anthropology and human geography – all of whom share an interest in rural and agricultural issues. The Institute's interdisciplinary nature ensures high-quality research of the social phenomena that would not be possible to explain in isolation. The Institute conducts numerous domestic and international research and development projects on rural and agricultural issues. The Institute is an unchallenged precursor of the theoretical studies on the multi-functional development of rural areas. The main areas of its research and expertise are sustainable development (multi-functionality, rural diversification), rural labour markets (demographic and employment problems), entrepreneurship, policy modelling and evaluation as well as social change, education and rural anthropology. The Institute organizes international conference, seminars and debates on rural society issues. The Institute’s library offers a wide variety of publications on local and regional economics, agricultural economics, rural tourism, rural sociology, anthropology and many others. In 2016, the high-quality research provided by the Institute’s researchers to the society was recognized by the European Commission which granted the Institute the HR Excellence in Research logo.
Disciplines: economics, sociology, demography, anthropology and human geography
Fields of activity:
- Economics – institutional and political economy, agricultural and rural development policies, good governance, EU integration, agricultural economics, economic forecasting, modelling regional impact of agricultural policies, energy and climate policies, agri-environmental aspects of economic growth;
- Sociology – local and rural development, changes in human, social and cultural capital of rural Poland, social structure, social change, social roles of rural women, lifestyle changes, aspirations and life-goals of rural people, social history of the cooperative movement, alternative food networks, organic farming, gentrification;
- Demography – rural/local labour markets, employment and unemployment, depopulation, ageing in rural areas;
- Anthropology – rural culture anthropology, sociology of culture (cultural transformation of rural population), intangible cultural heritage, cultural aspects of agriculture;
- Human geography – territorial, economic and social cohesion; development inequalities, spatial differentiation of social and economic phenomena in rural areas, rural-urban relations, urbanisation, deagrarianisation, local development, multifunctional rural development, rural tourism, second homes.
Latest achievements:
1. Recently, the Institute in cooperation with other academic and research bodies have undertaken several initiatives to studying Covid-19 pandemic and its effects on local/rural communities as well as the agricultural sector and rural economies.
2. One of the main achievements is a systematic and summarised academic presentation of the evolution of the Polish countryside and agriculture throughout the latest century. The project “Continuity and change: One hundred years of Polish countryside”, included the evolution mechanisms, regularities and effects for rural communities, culture, economy and the spatial aspects, which were investigated from the long-term (century) perspective. The project outcome encompasses numerous publications depicting the analysed changes which has stimulated a very important interdisciplinary and intergenerational dialogue on the rural change.
3. For many years now the Institute has been researching the spatial differentiation of rural areas in Poland from the point of view of socio-economic development. These issues have been investigated on a regular basis under “Rural Development Monitoring” Programme. The main goals of the programme are to diagnose current spatial differentiations, analyse the spatio-temporal dynamics as well as shed light on differing communities’ development scenarios depending on endogenous factors.
4. Currently the Institute, as a partner, is involved in three international projects under the Horizon 2020 EU framework programme: SURE-FARM, LIFT and FARMWELL.
Research facilities:
The Institute’s library offers a wide range of publications (monographs, collective works, journals and others) on local and regional economics, agricultural economics, rural tourism, rural sociology, anthropology and other topics related to the countryside and agriculture also those approached from the spatial and historical angles.
Contact person:
Professor Adam Czarnecki
Director for Scientific Affairs
aczarnecki@irwirpan.waw.pl
(+48 22) 826 94 36
