I have made numerous international connections with colleagues worldwide, having given guest lectures in Belgium, Germany, and Italy, being part of research groups based in Norway and Sweden and establishing Grow, which fosters collaboration between young scholars of children's literature.
Guest lectures
Antwerpen Universiteit: Children's Non-Fiction Now! On Rediscovering Informational Books for Young Readers; Judging a Picturebook by Its Cover (and other Paratexts); Engaging the Readers in Eco-Activism through Environmental Non-Fiction Picturebooks; Not So Innocent! Ideology in Baby Books during the numerous editions of the Children's Literature Summer School.
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: ABC of Baby Books: Theory and Practice of Research.
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München: From Poland to Alle Welt: The European Reception of Maps by Aleksandra and Daniel Mizielińscy and Its Politics.
Universität Hamburg: Polish-Jewish Relations in Contemporary Polish Children's Literature.
Universität Heidelberg: Polish-Jewish Relations in Contemporary Polish Children's Literature.
Università degli Studi di Padova: How Activity Informational Picturebooks Work.
Research groups
Nature in Children's Literature and Culture (NaChiLitCul) at the Western Norway University of Applied Science (Norway) led by Lykke Harmony Alara Guanio-Uluru.
Graphic World of Children at the Lund University/Södertörns högskola (Sweden) led by Lisa Källström.
Grow
Grow is an initiative of three European early-career children's literature scholars (Rosalyn Borst, Chiara Malpezzi, and Krzysztof Rybak) that aims to stimulate transnational dialogue and collaboration among scholars of children's literature. Crossing national borders, Grow fosters exchanges on children's literature and academic traditions from different countries and seeks to put the spotlight on non-anglophone works and research as they are underrepresented in the international academic circuit.
Activities include:
• Hosting regular Grow Seminars – an online collaborative space to discuss work-in-progress, secondary sources, children's books, and encouraging cross-border exchange.
• Organising and leading various online and in-person workshops, including:
2022 (online) – Grow Workshop for European Young Scholars of Children's Literature (discussing work-in-progress papers);
2022 (online) – Grow Roundtable on Collaborations in Children's Literature Research with Nina Goga, Vanessa Joosen, and Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer;
2023 (online) – Crossing Perspectives on Failure in Children's Literature Studies with Macarena García-González and Mateusz Świetlicki (in collaboration with Colectivo La Lucila);
2023 (Podgorica, Montenegro) – Grow Session for Young Scholars (and Allies);
2024 (Padua, Italy) – Cross-Cultural Dialogues on Adult-Child Relationships in Picturebooks from Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland;
2025 (Tilburg, the Netherlands) – Grow Workshop for Exceptional and Everyday Scholars.