Andrzej Karbownik

Graduated from the Mining Faculty in 1970. He earned a Ph.D. in 1978 and a postdoctoral degree (habilitation) in 1987. He received the academic title of professor in 1999. Since the beginning of his career, he has been continuously associated with the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice where he has been employed since 1970.

Initially, he worked for the Mining Faculty where he served as Deputy Director of the Institute for Designing the Construction of Mines and Protecting the Surface and later as Head of the Mine Design and Restructuring Department. Since 1997, he has been associated with the Organization and Management Faculty in Zabrze where he has served as Head of the Business Management and Industrial Engineering Department. Currently, he is Director of the Management and Administration Institute. In 2002-2008, he served as Dean of the Organization and Management Faculty. Since 2008, he has held the post of Rector of the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice.

He was Vice-President and then, in 1993-1996 and 1997-2000, President of the Management Board of the National Agency for Restructuring the Coal Mining Industry in Katowice. In 2000-2001, he was also Deputy Minister of the Economy in the government headed by Professor Jerzy Buzek and co-author of the program for restructuring the coal mining industry in Poland.

He is President of the Supervisory Board of the Foundation for Cardiac Surgery Development in Zabrze. He is also the Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Regional Chamber of Commerce in Katowice and a Member of the Mining Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

He is the author of 336 scientific publications, 81 research papers and 92 commercial expert reports. He headed 5 research projects funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (the State Committee for Scientific Research). He lectured at the Technical University of Madrid and the Madrid School of Mining. He was a Humboldt Foundation Fellow at the Bochum School of Mining. He has supervised 8 doctoral dissertations. He lectures on engineering design, industrial and business restructuring and project management.

He is editor-in-chief of trade magazines "Wiadomości Górnicze" (Mining News), "Karbo", "Budownictwo Górnicze i Tunelowe" (Mining and Tunnel Construction) and the scientific quarterly journal "Organizacja i Zarządzanie" (Organization and Management).

In May 2010, he was awarded a Honoris Causa Doctorate by the University of Oviedo.