HERG

Full name:

Higher Education Research Group

Appointment of the team:

2025

As humanity has evolved, so have the challenges faced by higher education institutions. Nowadays, universities are under pressure to demonstrate their relevance and usefulness for their local communities, especially regarding economic growth and job creation.

The HERG initiative focuses on finding how cities benefit from the presence of higher education institutions. It can provide evidence to show how universities are able to transform their regions and contribute to the well-being of their respective communities.

The research group consists of researchers from multiple backgrounds (e.g. urban development, politics, education and research) to fully understand the role of universities in the development of regions.

Team Leader

Dominik Antonowicz

Bio:

Dominik Antonowicz is an Associate Professor at the Department of Science and Higher Education Studies at Institute of Sociology, Nicolaus Copernicus University.
His research is located in the field of higher education and it focuses on public policy analysis—particularly on goal-setting, implementation, and evaluation, as well as on university governance and management.

For over 20 years, Dominik has been a very active researcher who has published extensively in the field of his expertise, conducted several international and national research projects and gained considerable working experience in the most established higher education research centers in Toronto, Porto, Tampere and Enschede.

He is also a member of the Editorial Boards of major academic outlets such as European Educational Research Journal, European Journal of Higher Education and Higher Education Research and Development.