Witold Sobków (born 17 February 1961 in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

) is a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

scholar, public servant, diplomat, and former deputy foreign minister.

Early life and education

From 1979 he studied at the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

, obtaining an MA in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

in 1984 and an MA in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Philology in 1987. In 1991, he was a fellow in diplomacy at the

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace and formerly The Hoover Institute and Library on War, Revolution, and Peace) is an American public policy think tank which promotes personal and economic ...

on War, Revolution, and Peace at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. He had also studied in Siena, Perugia and Venice. Between 1998 and 2000, he studied

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, Security in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, and basic

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. In 2008, he completed programs in the field of national and international security at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Career

From 1984 to 1991, he worked as a

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

and lecturer at the Faculty of Modern Languages at the

. In 1991, after the Solidarity Revolution, he began to work for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1993 to 2000 he was based at the Polish Embassy in London, where he worked his way up to the position of minister plenipotentiary and deputy head of mission. Returning to Poland, he held managerial positions in the ministry, serving in turn as deputy director of the Department of Western Europe, director for Non-European Countries and the United Nations System, and senior adviser to the Minister for European Affairs. From 2002 to 2006, he was the Polish ambassador to

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. From October 9, 2006, to December 27, 2006, he served as Under-Secretary of State For European Affairs. In January 2007, he started working as Titular Ambassador at the Department of Foreign Policy Strategy and Planning. From January 1, 2008, to April 9, 2010, he held the position of Political Director /CFSP-EU/ He then served as Poland’s Permanent Representative to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and from August 2012 to August 2016 as the Polish Ambassador to the Court of St. James's in London. From August 2016 to February 2018 he again served as Political Director at the MFA. Then he was Director for Asia and the Pacific. Since September 2021 he has been Political Director again.http://www.london.mfa.gov.pl/en/ Since October 2024 he has acted as Special Envoy for the Indo-Pacific and Special Envoy for Afghanistan.

Selected publications

* Psycholinguistic approaches to linguistic theories, Warsaw 1988, Ed. UW * ''La Realizzazione delle tecniche di lettura al livello medio-superiore'', Warsaw 1988, Ed. UW * ''Współczesny Sudan: polityka islamska'', Warsaw 1998, PISM

References

M.P. z 2010 r. Nr 55, poz. 744

M.P. z 2012 r. poz. 731

External links

* (in Polish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sobkow, Witold Living people 1961 births Politicians from Warsaw University of Warsaw alumni Academic staff of the University of Warsaw Polish philologists Ambassadors of Poland to Ireland Ambassadors of Poland to the United Kingdom Permanent representatives of Poland to the United Nations Diplomats from Warsaw