Ambassador Aleksander Surdej took up his duties as Permanent Representative of Poland to the OECD on 31 August 2016.

Mr Surdej holds a degree in International Economics from the Krakow University of Economics as well as a degree in Sociology from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. He completed an International Studies programme at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a Ph.D. programme at the European University Institute in Florence and later conducted research at the Robert Schuman Centre, the UNU/WIDER in Helsinki and at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in Wassenaar. Mr Surdej is an expert in international economics, international regulatory policies, development economics and in global public policies.

Mr Surdej is an author and editor of 14 books and more than 70 articles related to international economics published in Polish and international scientific journals. Recently, Mr Surdej has been working on the design of the mechanisms of co-operation in the international economy stressing the role of international organisations in the provision of global public goods and in regulating business environment. As a policy analyst Mr Surdej collaborated with the Wim Kok group in the 2002 analysis of the consequences of EU enlargement, he contributed to the World Bank studies on labour market regulations in Poland and prepared several expert reports for the Polish government in the period from 1997-2001.

Mr Surdej has co-ordinated and participated in more than a dozen international research projects related to informal work, higher education, vocational training, family firms and small businesses. He lectured in the United States, Italy and Germany.

From 2007 until his appointment as Permanent Representative of Poland to the OECD, Mr Surdej was the Head of the Department of European Studies of the Krakow University of Economics and Professor of Economics.

Ambassador Surdej is married to Ms Irena Surdej and they have four children.