Katarzyna Anna Lubnauer (''née'' Libudzisz; born 24 July 1969) is a Polish politician, feminist, mathematician and academic teacher. She is a member of the Polish Parliament and a former leader of the liberal Modern (''.Nowoczesna'') political party. In 2023, she was appointed State Secretary in the Ministry of National Education.

Early life and education

She was born Katarzyna Libudzisz on 24 July 1969 in

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

to mother Zdzisława, a professor of

microbiology Microbiology () is the branches of science, scientific study of microorganisms, those being of unicellular organism, unicellular (single-celled), multicellular organism, multicellular (consisting of complex cells), or non-cellular life, acellula ...

and father Jerzy, a

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

. Her family had been living in Łódź since the second half of the 19th century. She graduated from the

Tadeusz Kościuszko Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko (; 4 or 12 February 174615 October 1817) was a Polish Military engineering, military engineer, statesman, and military leader who then became a national hero in Poland, the United States, Lithuania, and ...

High School No. 3 in Łódź (Polish: ''III Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Tadeusza Kościuszki w Łodzi'') as well as the University of Łódź. She briefly worked as a school teacher before she decided to continue her studies at the University of Łódź where she became a lecturer at the Faculty of Mathematics. She obtained her PhD degree in mathematics in 2001 after she wrote her doctoral dissertation entitled ''Limit Theorems in Quantum Probability''. She later assumed the position of assistant professor at the Department of

Probability Theory Probability theory or probability calculus is the branch of mathematics concerned with probability. Although there are several different probability interpretations, probability theory treats the concept in a rigorous mathematical manner by expre ...

and Statistics.

Political career

In 1993 she worked for the Democratic Union and in 1994, the Freedom Union where she was one of the local leaders of the party in

. Between 1998 and 2002, she was a member of the Łódź

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

. In 2001, she was one of the candidates for the head of Freedom Union in Łódź. She was a member of the last General Board of the Freedom Union and in 2005 she was one of the leaders of the newly reformed Democratic Party – demokraci.pl. She unsuccessfully stood for election to the

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

in 2001 and 2005. She published articles in the ''Liberté!'' magazine and was one of the organizers of the Festival of Science, Technology and Arts in Łódź. In 2015, together with Leszek Jażdżewski, she was one of the initiators of the ''Secular School'' campaign, which aimed at cutting state funding to

religious education In secular usage, religious education is the teaching of a particular religion (although in the United Kingdom the term ''religious instruction'' would refer to the teaching of a particular religion, with ''religious education'' referring to t ...

classes in public schools across Poland. During the Polish parliamentary elections in 2015, as a candidate of the Modern political party, she won a seat in the

running from the first position on the party's election list in the Łódź

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

. She received a total of 18 549 votes. In 2016, she was appointed deputy chairman of the party, and from January to May 2017 she was its spokesperson. In April the same year, she also assumed the position of the chairperson of the

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...

of the Modern party. On 25 November 2017, during the party's congress in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, she was elected the leader of the Modern party defeating in a close vote its original founder Ryszard Petru. On 9 January 2018, she was replaced by Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz as the chairperson of the Modern party's parliamentary group. In November 2019, she stepped down as leader of the party and was replaced by

Adam Szłapka Adam Stanisław Szłapka (born December 6, 1984, in Kościan) is a Polish politician, political scientist, and local government official. He has been a member of the Sejm (Polish Parliament) for the 8th, 9th, and 10th terms (since 2015). He ha ...

. In 2023, following the parliamentary election, she assumed the post of State Secretary in the Ministry of National Education in the

Third Cabinet of Donald Tusk The Third Cabinet of Donald Tusk is the Coalition government, coalition Council of Ministers (Poland), government of Poland headed by Donald Tusk who was officially nominated and confirmed as the Prime Minister of Poland on 11 December 2023 by ...

Personal life

In 1991, she married Maciej Lubnauer, a financier with whom she has a daughter named Anna. She has obtained qualifications as a

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

instructor. She has also publicly declared herself an atheist.

Controversy

In July 2024, in an official position at Ministry of Education, she said in a radio interview that "in other countries, parents who leave with their kids for vacation during a school year can be detained at airports" and suggested that a similar measure could be introduced in Poland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lubnauer, Katarzyna 1969 births Living people 21st-century Polish women politicians Polish women mathematicians 20th-century Polish mathematicians 21st-century Polish mathematicians Politicians from Łódź Members of the Polish Sejm 2015–2019 Members of the Polish Sejm 2019–2023 Modern (political party) politicians Women members of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland Polish atheists University of Łódź alumni Members of the Polish Sejm 2023–2027

Early life and education

Political career

Personal life

Controversy

See also

References