Adam Bodnar

Member of the Eleventh Term Senate. Born on 6 January 1977 in Trzebiatów. He graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw in 2000, in 2001 he completed the LLM studies in comparative constitutional law at the Central European University in Budapest. In 2006, he obtained his Doctor of Laws degree, and in 2019 – a post-doctoral degree (doktor habilitowany). From 2006 to 2020 he was a lecturer at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw, and from 2019 to 2020 he held the position of a professor at the Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology. Since 2021, he has been Dean of the Faculty of Law at the SWPS University in Warsaw. He is a visiting professor at the University of Cologne and a senior fellow at the CEU Democracy Institute, Budapest. In the second half of the 1990s, he cooperated with the “Nigdy Więcej” Association. From 1999 to 2004 he worked at the Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. He was a member of the Experts’ Forum of the European Institute for Gender Equality and the Board of Trustees of the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, as well as an expert of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. He has cooperated with numerous non-governmental organisations, including Fundacja „Panoptykon” (the “Panoptykon” Foundation) (chairman of the programme board), Stowarzyszenie im. prof. Zbigniewa Hołdy (the Association of Prof. Zbigniew Hołda) (co-founder and member of the board). From 2004 to 2015 he was an associate of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, coordinator of the precedent cases programme, secretary and vice-president of the board. He served as Ombudsman from 2015 to 2021. He is a member of programme and advisory boards of national and international organisations, including Fundacja „Kongres Obywatelskich Ruchów Demokratycznych” (the Congress of Civil Democratic Movements Foundation), World Organization Against Torture, International IDEA, World Justice Project, Civil Liberties Union for Europe. His work includes scientific publications in the field of law. He has received numerous awards for his services to the protection of the rule of law and human rights, including: Honorary Award “Odznaka Honorowa Gryfa Zachodniopomorskiego”; the Wincenty Witos Medal for Merits to the People’s Movement. He is a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.Founder and President of Fundacja Kongres Praw Obywatelskich (Civil Rights Congress Foundation). Non-partisan.

Polish human rights activist and ombudsman