Profile

I come from Poland – a country east of Germany and west of Russia. This is my fourth year in Oxford where I live with my husband Zbyszek (‘Zibby’ for our English friends) and our 2-years-old son Antek (‘Anthony’).

Currently I’m juggling between being a mother and writing my DPhil thesis in environmental history at the Faculty of Classics. In my free time (have I really said ‘free time’??) I’m trying to make our world a better place to live.

I love cats, reading good books, dancing, playing board games, cycling, swimming, cooking (and eating) and travelling (I’ve visited 25 countries so far and I still want more). I like Disney classic animations, electronic music parties and playing bridge.

I’m doing a DPhil in environmental history. I focus on an ancient region located in modern southwestern Turkey in the Roman period (around 1 cent. BC – 4 century AD). In my research I’m using classical texts (eg. Cicero or Strabo), modern anthropological theories or archaeological data (mainly settlement patterns and tons of sherds of ceramics) in line with the results of various sciences (eg.: climatology, zoology, botany, ecology) to work out how relations between ancient people and their environment looked like.

I’m asking questions such as: did climate changes affect our history? Could environment determine people’s traits or behaviour? Did ancient people change their landscape consciously? How did micro-ecologies function in a world without modern knowledge and inventions?

While trying to understand all these problems I find charming stories about dwarf mammoths, jokullhlaups, Hittite honesty or Seljuk creativity in restoring Roman ruins. I never feel bored in my work (unless I’m working on pottery sherds…). Every day brings a different intellectual adventure.

Oh yes, I’m not a native speaker. I’ve been learning English since I was seven and it still brings me a lot of suprises…

Most of my weekly and daily schedules are dictated by my little son (he used to wake up at 4.30am at some point and he has no mercy…). Usually we wake up around 7am and at 9am Antek goes to his childminder and me and Zibby go to work. I work mostly in the Sackler library where I have my favourite seat that is always occupied if I come too late. Sometimes I need to visit other libraries. Around 1pm I have lunch and the obligatory cup of coffee. At 5.30pm I finish my work and hurry back home to meet my boys. Together we play with our neighbours, kick a ball or splash around in paddles. Sometimes in evenings we skype with our families and friends from Poland. Every Saturday we go to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. On Sundays we meet with our friends.

But this is only when I have my real ‘working days’. I’m on part-time studies and it means that I don’t work everyday. The rest of the week I spend with my little one exploring Oxford and its neighbourhood (I can honestly say that I know every single slide from Reading to Banbury). During vacation we leave Oxford for longer time to go to Poland. Also, from time to time I need to visit places I’m writing about and that’s a thing!

Every day is fascinating!

Me and my boys exploring the world
(babies are the best researchers)