Marta Bucholc

Short Biography

Marta Bucholc is a professor of sociology at the University of Warsaw’s Institute of Sociology, where she has worked since 2021, and a Permanent Fellow at the IWM. Trained across sociology, philosophy, and law, she earned her doctorate in sociology in 2006 and completed her habilitation in 2014. Before returning to Warsaw as a full professor, she held research and teaching leadership roles both at the University of Warsaw and internationally, including a period as a research professor at the University of Bonn (2015–2020). Her academic path reflects a consistent interest in how societies change—through institutions, ideas, and conflicts over values. Her research explores socio-legal studies, sociological theory, human rights, and the sociology of knowledge, often through comparative and historically informed analysis. She leads major international projects, including the European Research Council-funded “Abortion Figurations: Using Human Rights to Change Abortion Law” (2022–2027), and has directed further research on post-1989 transformation in Poland and illiberal constitutionalism in East Central Europe. Alongside her research, she contributes to academic governance and publishing through advisory and editorial roles, reviews for major research funders, and supervises graduate work across several European universities.

Areas of Expertise: 

• History of ideas
• Sociology of law
• Sociology of human rights
• Reproductive rights
• East Central Europe

Selected Publications:

Marta Bucholc, Lourdes Peroni, Towards a common EU-abortion policy? The European Parliament's resolutions on abortion as a human rights issue, European Law Journal 31(1-2) 2025: 63-80. 

Marta Bucholc, Maciej Komornik, Bananenschalen im Minenfeld. Schwierige Rekonstruktion des Rechtsstaats in Polen, Osteuropa, 6-7/2025: 65-80. 

Marta Bucholc, Nationalist Revivals and Reproductive Rights in Post-Transitional Societies, Annual Review of Law and Social Science. 21/2025: 1-19. 

Marta Bucholc (ed.), Established-Outsiders Relations in Poland: Reconfiguring Elias and Scotson, Palgrave Studies on Norbert Elias 2024. 

Marta Bucholc, “Law.” In: The Routledge Handbook of Memory Activism, eds. Y. Gutman, J. Wüstenberg, Routledge 2023, pp. 149–153. 

Marta Bucholc, “Academic Freedom in Poland.” In: University Autonomy Decline: Causes, Responses, and Implications for Academic Freedom, eds. K. Roberts Lyer, I. Saliba, J. Spannagel, Routledge 2022, pp. 119–146.