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Rafał Brzoska
Rafał Brzoska INPST.AS
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#23 Fireside Chat, Rafał Brzoska x Aleksander Hycnar

📅 Sep 18, 2026 Rafał Brzoska Foundation 12 MIN 219 VIEWS 40 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS
Can the knowledge gained at Sciences Po and the University of Chicago help Poland better respond to economic challenges? The guest of the next episode of Fireside Chat is Aleksander Hycnar – a Rafał Brzoska Foundation scholarship recipient, an economics student at Sciences Po in Paris, currently studying at the University of Chicago. He is interested in macroeconomics, monetary policy, and economic growth and development. Aleksander gained experience in the Monetary Policy Department of the Central Bank of Armenia. He is also a co-founder of Young Think – a youth think tank preparing public...

What Rafał Brzoska said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

In this fireside chat, Rafał Brzoska interviews Aleksander Hycnar, a scholarship recipient and economics student. Brzoska introduces Hycnar's background, including his studies at Sciences Po and the University of Chicago, his work at the Central Bank of Armenia, and his co-founding of Young Think. Hycnar discusses his choice to study Armenia, his interest in macroeconomics and monetary policy, and his views on Poland's economic challenges, particularly low innovation. He offers advice for Minister Domański, emphasizing increased investment in research. Brzoska explains the inspiration behind the foundation, crediting his wife and his own humble background, and expresses pride in supporting talented individuals. The conversation concludes with Brzoska wishing Hycnar success.

Key takeaways

  1. Hycnar believes Poland's low innovation rate is a major structural problem.
  2. Hycnar recommends increased investment in the research sector for Poland.
  3. Brzoska founded the Rafał Brzoska Foundation to support talented people from difficult starts.
  4. Hycnar aims to apply his economic education to practical use in Poland or Europe.

Numbers and commitments

FigureWhat it refers toTypeAt
17 Age at time of scholarship to UWC Dilijan other 1:34

Chapters

  1. 0:00Introduction of guest
  2. 1:02Rowing training routine
  3. 1:29Experience in Armenia
  4. 3:19Interest in macroeconomics
  5. 5:04Future career aspirations
  6. 6:23Young Think think tank
  7. 7:05Policy advice for Minister Domański
  8. 8:13Reason for applying to foundation
  9. 9:31Inspiration behind the foundation
  10. 11:53Closing remarks
Rafał Brzoska 0:02 ↗
Rafał Brzoska Foundation. Hello, everyone. Another fireside chat with one of my scholarship recipients. This time, Aleksander Hycnar. Hi.
Aleksander Hycnar 0:14 ↗
Hi. Good morning.
Rafał Brzoska 0:18 ↗
As usual, I'll introduce you first, to set the stage for our conversation. Here we go: a third-year economics student at Sciences Po in Paris. Currently on an exchange at the University of Chicago, where he will begin his Master's degree next year, meaning this September.
Aleksander Hycnar 0:29 ↗
That's right.
Rafał Brzoska 0:33 ↗
His interests include macroeconomics, monetary policy, economic growth and development. His experience includes work at the Monetary Policy Department of the Central Bank of Armenia. I'll ask about Armenia in a moment. Co-founder of Young Think, a youth think tank developing public policy recommendations for Poland. Impressive. And besides that, an active athlete and member of his university rowing team, competing in regional and national events in the US. I didn't know that. Did I miss anything?
Aleksander Hycnar 0:59 ↗
I think that's everything. It's all correct. Those are the key things.
Rafał Brzoska 1:02 ↗
I'll start with the least obvious part. How often do you train for rowing?
Aleksander Hycnar 1:06 ↗
Our training schedule is such that we get out on the water about five or six times a week.
Rafał Brzoska 1:15 ↗
A week?
Aleksander Hycnar 1:17 ↗
That's right. And on top of that, there's training that we do individually, at the gym for example. That's two or three times a week. We always have Fridays off, so that's great.
Rafał Brzoska 1:29 ↗
All right, so what's the story with Armenia? Why Armenia?
Aleksander Hycnar 1:34 ↗
It was partly by chance, but not entirely. I was 17 at the time and received a scholarship from the United World Colleges Association to study at UWC Dilijan, a secondary school in Armenia, and I chose Armenia deliberately, because I think it's a very interesting country. It isn't as popular as, for example, some countries, especially Asian ones, which have certainly enjoyed—and still enjoy, for good reason—a great deal of popularity, but Armenia is developing very rapidly and, what's more, has a very, very, very interesting culture blending Europe and Asia.
Rafał Brzoska 2:16 ↗
And the recent elections, which will really shake things up.
Aleksander Hycnar 2:21 ↗
Yes, the elections that took place, I think, yesterday, on Sunday, 7 June.
Rafał Brzoska 2:28 ↗
Yes, yes.
Aleksander Hycnar 2:30 ↗
Still, I think there's a clear goal, a direction in which Armenia is moving—towards Europe—and that's very important. And also, from Poland's perspective, I believe the most interesting things happening in the world in terms of economics and economic development are not happening in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom or France, because they already have things fairly well established and have been doing things the same way for decades.
Rafał Brzoska 3:00 ↗
That's right.
Aleksander Hycnar 3:02 ↗
But countries like Armenia, Thailand and other rapidly developing countries need new models, because they are building their institutions. And I think Poland also has an important role here, because we went through that process quite recently, and now they certainly need that kind of support.
Rafał Brzoska 3:19 ↗
Exactly. So tell me, why this particular area of economics—macroeconomics and monetary policy? We can all see the direction in which the Western world is heading today. Towards extreme levels of debt, and for many, many years people have predicted that it must end in a major crisis. Are you pursuing this field because it fascinates you, or because you see an opportunity in the economic developments ahead of us—an opportunity for specialists who will later have to fix it all?

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Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX
APA

Brzoska, R. (2026, September 18). #23 Fireside Chat, Rafał Brzoska x Aleksander Hycnar [Interview transcript]. Rafał Brzoska Foundation. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2962168/

MLA

Rafał Brzoska. "#23 Fireside Chat, Rafał Brzoska x Aleksander Hycnar." Rafał Brzoska Foundation, 18 Sep. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2962168/.

BibTeX 
@misc{brzoska2026_2962168,
  author       = {Rafał Brzoska},
  title        = {#23 Fireside Chat, Rafał Brzoska x Aleksander Hycnar},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, Rafał Brzoska Foundation. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {sep},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2962168/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}