Doctor habilitatus of economic science, PhD in Economics, associate professor at the Department of International Economic Relations, University of Economics in Katowice and the director of the Postgraduate Study in Foreign Trade. Her research focuses on European economic integration, the European Union regional policy and competitiveness of the regions, international cooperation of the regions, including cross-border cooperation and innovation policy. She publishes extensively and she is the author, co-author of articles, chapters in monographs – more than 90 publications. Her academic teaching refers to issues of international economics, management of EU funds, EU cohesion policy and international business. She gained practical experience in the field of the EU cohesion policy, including European territorial cooperation. She was the expert of the Polish Ministry of Regional Development during preparation of the Operational Programme of Cross-border Cooperation Czech Republic-Republic of Poland 2007-2013 within the European Territorial Cooperation objective and the expert during preparation of the Supplementary Document to the Operational Programme of Cross-border Cooperation Republic of Poland-Slovak Republic 2007-2013.