I am a PhD candidate at the Doctoral School of Humanities at the University of Lodz. I am interested in animal studies(especially in cinema), alternative forms of film production and film audience research. I am working on a project on the ways in which film audiences perceive film representations of so-called farm animals. In my free time, I go to the cinema, cook with friends and spend time with my housemate cat Leia.

RESEARCH PROJECTS

• Animal Rights Discourse Regarding So-Called Farmed Animals in Documentary Film: Audience Research (2025-2028) – Head of a project within NCN PRELUDIUM programme
• Ways of perceiving the representation of so-called farm animals in documentary film (2025-2026) – Head of a project within IDUB UŁ programme
• Representations of Masculinities in Animal Advocacy Documentaries in English (2000-2021), research project CIGE/2021/100 (2023-2024) – La Conselleria d'Educació, Universitats i Ocupació de la Generalitat Valenciana; University of Valencia; Head: prof. Claudia Alonso Recarte

• Pathless AI – survival guides (2023) – The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage; Head: Jacek Nagłowski, dr Michał Pabiś-Orzeszyna

• Development of a national strategy for the professional education of the film animation and special effects industries for 2023-2030 (2022-2023) – The EEA Grants 2014-2021; Head: prof. Piotr Sitarski

• Laboratory of Visual Narration (2022) – The Ministry of Science and Higher Education’s (now the Ministry of Education and Science); the Lodz Film School

• Film literacy of students from primary and secondary schools in Lodz (2018) – Polish Film Institute; National Centre for Film Culture, Lodz; Head: dr Michał Pabiś-Orzeszyna

• ThinkFilm (2016-2017) – Erasmus+; Scientific Club of Film Studies of the University of Lodz, Goethe University Frankfurt, Middlesex University London, NaFilM – Charles University in Prague; Head: dr Ewa Ciszewska

LEADING COURSES

• (Non)anthropocentric narratives. Animals in film (2023/2024), University of Lodz
• The Status of Nonhuman Animals in Culture, Law and Philosophy (2022/2023), University of Lodz
• Main Problems of Film Narration (with dr Michał Pabiś-Orzeszyna, 2021/2022), University of Lodz
• Lecturer in field of the School of Ideas (2018/2019), SWPS University, Warsaw

PUBLICATIONS

Chuszcz, P., Nadarzycka, O. (2023). Do it yourself! – on animation education for high school students. Pleograf, (4). doi.org/10.56351/PLEOGRAF.2023.4.05.

Chuszcz, P. (2023). Distribution and promotion of films by the Open Cages Poland: Between an activist agenda and digital marketing. Media – Culture – Social Communication, (19). doi.org/10.31648/mkks.8355.

Chuszcz, P. (2023). The dynamics of educational and activities run by activists from the Otwarte Klatki (Open Cages) Association and its film production system. Images. The International Journal of European Film, Performing Arts and Audiovisual Communication, 31(40), 111–125. doi.org/10.14746/i.2022.40.06.

Chuszcz, P. (2022). In Search of a Zoocentric Perspective in Non-fiction Cinema: the Example of Film Productions by the Open Cages Association. Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies, (1 (9), 1-34. doi.org/10.31261/ZOOPHILOLOGICA.2022.09.03.

Chuszcz, P. (2018). From Film Theory to Video Essays – Evolution of the Festival of Film Critics "Camera, Action" (2010-2018). Kwartalnik Filmowy, (104), 134-148.

Chuszcz, P., Kabzińska E. (2018) Reality exceeds the imagination. Interview with Marcel Łoziński. EKRANy, (46).

Chuszcz, P. (2017). Copernicus Science Centre. Exhibition Strategies of Selected Museums. Case studies. Ed. Marta Kasprzak, Monika Rawska, University of Lodz.

MOBILITY

• Spain, University of Valencia (2023/2024) – Erasmus+ Traineeship Programme with Research Group CULIVIAN (Culturas Literarias y Visuales del Animal – Animals in literary and visual cultures); Director: prof. Claudia Alonso Recarte

• Germany, 2nd doctoral summer school Łódź-Gießen (2022/2023) – Paper: Rabbit à la Berlin" – a Polish-German documentary film directed by Bartosz Konopka from the perspective of animal studies

• Spain, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2017/2018) – Erasmus+

• Slovakia, Visegrad Film Forum in Bratislava (2017) – Interviews and reports from the events

CONFERENCES AND PRESENTATIONS

NECS Conference 2024, İzmir University of Economics, 27-29.06.2024 

Paper: Empowering Animal Narratives in Mainstream Cinema? A Young Audience Perspective

International doctoral workshop UL and the Justus Liebig University Giessen "(Post-)colonialism, (Post-)migration, Transnationalism", University of Lodz, 10-14.04.2024

Paper: More-than-human refugees and migration. An example of the representations of non-human animals in audiovisuals from the war in Ukraine

The Factual Animal: Audiovisual Representations of Real Other-than-Human Animals, University of Valencia, 29.11-1.12.2023

Paper: Empathy and Other-than-Human Facial Expressions in Film

Workshop: Animal Film and Education Across Disciplines: A Collaborative Workshop on Interspecies Learning and Teaching (NECS Film Animal Studies Workgroup)

IAVS Conference, International Association of Vegan Sociologists, online, 7-8.10.2023

Paper: How do we see them? Film images of non-human animals through the eyes of viewers

(Un)Common Worlds III – Navigating and Inhabiting Biodiverse Anthropocenes, The University Of Oulu/online, 4-6.10.2023

Paper: Noticing more: ways of representing nonhuman animals in audiovisuals on war in Ukraine

The 32nd International Screen Studies Conference, The University of Glasgow, 30.06-2.07.2023

Paper: Worldmaking for all animals: non-fiction film production culture of the Open Cages Association

4th Congress of Film and Media Researchers, Polish Society for Film and Media Studies, Warsaw, 28-30.06.2023

Paper: A film zoobiography or an anthropocentric epic? A case study of Jerzy Skolimowski's film "EO"

NECS Conference, The University of Oslo, 13-17.06.2023

Paper: Do viewers feel it? Empathy for non-human animals in cinema

Conference "Personnel training in the animation and special effects industry", The University of Lodz, 19.05.2023

Paper (with Oliwia Nadarzycka): Between self-education and formal education – ways for film animation creators to acquire competences

Conference on Polish animation "ANIMOWANE, nieANONIMOWE" vol. 2, The University of Lodz/online, 17-18.05.2023

Paper (with Oliwia Nadarzycka): Do it yourself! On film animation education among high school students

Conference "Heroism, activism, sacrifice - stories past and present," Facta Ficta Research Center, 4-5.12.2021

Paper: Activism for Nonhuman Animals. An example of the culture of film production of the Open Cages Association

ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIVITY

• European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (2023-now)

Co-establishment and co-leadership of workgroup Film Animal Studies

Co-organization of NECS Conference panels

NECS membership (2022-now)

• University Doctoral Students’ Government Council (term of office 2022-2024)

Member of the Mental Health Team

Member of the Disciplinary Committee for Doctoral Students

• ANIMOWANE, nieANONIMOWE Konferencja o! Polskiej Animacji vol. 2 (2022-2023)

Co-organization of a conference on Polish animation

• The 3rd Convention of Film and Media Scholars (2019)

Participation in the organization

• National Center for Film Culture, Lodz (2018)

Internship in the film education department

Participation in the organization of the "360 degrees of film education" conference

• Scientific Club of Film Studies of the University of Lodz (2016-2024)

Organization and participation in meetings, workshops, conferences, scientific projects

Vice-president of the Scientific Club (2018/2019; 2022/2023)

International research project ThinkFilm, devoted to film education (Erasmus+)

• Festivals and cultural events organization

Freedom Games, Lodz (2018-2019)

Film Critics Festival “Camera Action”, Lodz (2016, 2018)

New Horizons International Film Festival, Wroclaw (2018)

Krakow Film Music Festival (2018)

Festival de cine y derechos humanos de Madrid (2017)

Transatlantyk Festival, Lodz (2016-2019)

SCIENCE POPULARIZATION

Popular science articles, reports, reviews and interviews for Vege Magazine and Kaleidoscope, theater and film portals Teatralia and Reflektor, among others.

Broadcasts popularizing science and research in Meloradio and Student Radio Zak of the Technical University of Lodz.

First place and the Audience Award in the Talking Science competition in the humanities category (19.05.2023, University of Lodz)

The main prize in the Professor Ewelina Nurczyńska-Fidelska Competition for master thesis "Radical film production culture. An example of the Open Cages Association” (2021, Lodz, Poland)

Winner in XXVI Jan Józef Lipski Master Thesis Competition (Special award in memory of Joanna Wiszniewicz) for master thesis "Radical film production culture. An example of the Open Cages Association” (2021, Warsaw, Poland)

Santander Universidades scholarship (University of Lodz, Academic year 2016/2017)

The Rector’s scholarship for the best students, University of Lodz (2015-2020)