Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz graduated from the University of Warsaw (majoring in Sociology). In 1994-2003 she worked in the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), where she obtained her Ph.D. (her thesis was entitled: “The Political Activity of Poles in the years 1989-1995”). From 1992 to 1995 and in the years 1999-2012 she was at the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW), a Polish think-tank, where among other roles she was a Head of the Russian Department and a Vice-president. In 2011 she was in Brussels as the Permanent Representative of the OSW, and was in charge of the OSW’s involvement in a joint research project with the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI).

Ms. Pełczyńska-Nałęcz was also a member of the Steering Committee of the Civil Society Forum of the EU’s Eastern Partnership (2009-2010) and a member of the officially-sponsored Polish-Russian Group on “Difficult Matters” (2008-2012). She has participated in many Polish and international research projects and is an author of several books and articles on post-Communist transformation in Russia and Eastern Europe, on Polish Eastern Policy and Polish-Russian relations.

In January 2012 was nominated for the Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Speaks fluent Russian and English.

She is married and has 3 children.