Dr hab. Marcin Wąs, prof. UG, Director of the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Gdańsk, has been elected Chair of the Council of the Archaeological Museum in Gdańsk. Professor Wąs is the first academic from the University of Gdańsk to be entrusted with this role, which had previously been held for several terms by prof. Tadeusz Grabarczyk of the University of Łódź.

Prof. Marcin Wąs was elected Chair of the Council on 16 October this year. He was appointed to the Council for the 2026–2030 term as a representative of the University of Gdańsk in April 2026 by the Marshal of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Mieczysław Struk. The 12-member Museum Council comprises representatives of the provincial and municipal administrations (of Gdańsk and Sopot), as well as the Scientific Association of Polish Archaeologists, the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Wrocław, and the directors of the museums in Biskupin, Toruń, and Wrocław.

The Council’s primary objective is to oversee the fulfilment by the Archaeological Museum in Gdańsk of its statutory duties, its mission to foster intellectual curiosity and to promote cultural heritage.

The appointment of prof. M. Wąs as Chair of the Museum Council is a positive sign of the strengthening cooperation between the University of Gdańsk and the Archaeological Museum in Gdańsk, which is one of the strategic partners within our university’s socio-economic environment. It is worth noting that relations between the Institute of Archaeology and the Museum have been extremely fruitful over the last few years. A good example of the active partnership between the two institutions includes, amongst other things, the participation of archaeology students in excavation research carried out by the Museum, and the involvement of the Archaeology Students’ Research Society in regular museum events aimed at popularising archaeology and knowledge of the distant past. Furthermore, the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Gdańsk and the National Archaeological Museum jointly undertake publishing, conference and research projects, which allows us to look optimistically towards the future development of Gdańsk’s archaeological community, an increasingly significant proportion of which consists of graduates of the University of Gdańsk’s archaeology programme.