Scholars and Polish minister clash over trans sadomasochism study

Academics have pushed back after Poland’s government stepped up its attacks on the country’s leading research agency over the funding of a project exploring transfemininity and sadomasochism.

Science minister Przemysław Czarnek promised “a complete reform of the grant system” after the National Science Centre (NCN) awarded 750,000 zloty (£146,000) to a postdoctoral project titled “Transfemininity and sadomasochism/BDSM: relationships and tensions in the field of gender production”.

The minister, part of the right-wing populist Law and Justice party, had written an “official and firm” letter to the NCN stating his “opposition to such absurd decisions”, he said on X (formerly Twitter) – noting that the funder was “independent of me and completely autonomous in deciding on competitions for grants”.

Among the planned reforms at NCN is a huge increase in the number of Polish reviewers for social sciences and humanities evaluations, the creation of an independent appeals board for grant decisions, and the publication of the identities of project proposal reviewers.

Earlier this summer, Polish and international academics warned that the well-regarded NCN was being hurt by politically motivated underfunding, with the ministry citing “absolutely non-transparent” and “scandalous” grant-making as a motivation for slated reforms.

Professor Czarnek, a specialist in constitutional law who retains a position at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin while serving as science minister, has previously said that “full academic freedom as well as freedom of academic debate is a prerequisite for the development of science”.

But he has also attributed differences in gender identity to a lack of morality in society and described these in media interviews as a form of “evil”, warning that tolerance should not extend to “acceptance of the sexual revolution and subversion of the social order”.

The NCN’s director, Zbigniew Błocki, told Times Higher Education that it was the first time Professor Czarnek had followed through on public promises to castigate the 12-year-old funder.

“The decision of which projects are funded is decided by experts, not politicians or bureaucrats like myself. That is how we’ve been functioning since the beginning,” he said. “I understand that politicians also have their opinions on various research, and maybe I myself have also, but it is very important that this process is structured and procedures are followed.”

The social sciences evaluations for the call were led by David Dolowitz, a politics professor at the University of Liverpool. He said the project, proposed by Jan Szpilka at the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, “was reviewed well by external and internal reviewers” and “only considered in and of itself, it was not considered in light of any political or social surroundings”.

Professor Dolowitz said Polish reviewers were essential, not least for their language skills, but that he saw no reason to shift the balance with international colleagues.

Dr Szpilka said potential mentors in gender and sexuality studies had been driven abroad by the political and institutional conservatism of most Polish social science and humanities faculties.

“From the moment I submitted the grant proposal, I have been anxious about the politics of it,” they said, adding that they were “exhilarated” to bag the “career defining” grant. Would they do anything differently if they could?

“I would probably still apply, because there’s very little to lose in this, and I do not believe I am personally responsible for minister Czarnek’s decisions,” they said, describing his use of the NCN grant as a “political bludgeon” and “yet another bullet to load into [the government’s] assault on such institutions”.

ben.upton@timeshighereducation.com