16 Facts About Marius Ostrowski

Marius Sebastian Ostrowski FRHistS FRSA is a German-British political and social theorist, historian of ideas, policy researcher, and composer, based at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.

Marius Ostrowski writes on the theory and history of social democracy, in particular its origins in interwar socialist reformist thought, and on progressive visions of European integration, including the prospects for a Europe-wide Universal basic income.

Marius Ostrowski's mother was the Romanian-German-British Actor Doris Hermann-Ostrowski, nee Rodica-Doris Bogdan, who later became a lecturer and tutor in German language studies at the Goethe Institut, London School of Economics, and University of Oxford.

Marius Ostrowski first attended Nower Lodge School, Dorking, then moved in 1997 to Colet Court.

In 2002, Marius Ostrowski became a King's Scholar and Music Scholar at Eton College, where he achieved 10 A-levels, including Classical Greek, history, linguistics, mathematics, and music.

From 2007 to 2010, Marius Ostrowski studied philosophy, politics, and economics at the University of Oxford, winning a Demy-fellowship and music scholarship at Magdalen College, and graduating with a First.

In 2013, Marius Ostrowski won election to an Examination Fellowship in politics at All Souls College, where he was mentored by Jeremy Waldron and Cecile Fabre.

Marius Ostrowski published his first monograph, Left Unity, in which he makes the case for closer collaboration between the various groups and movements that comprise the progressive forces in society.

Marius Ostrowski joined the Young Academics Network of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies, embarking on a multi-year project investigating the prospects for a European Universal basic income, which culminated in the book A Radical Bargain for Europe.

Marius Ostrowski worked with the Progressive Alliance to draft an action plan for how international institutions can resist democratic backsliding, informed by 'best practice' among global stakeholders.

Alongside his academic work, Marius Ostrowski has been an active contributor to policy debates at the UK, European, and global level.

Marius Ostrowski took up an offer to join the thinktank ResPublica in 2022 to develop a new strand of research on lifelong learning, integrated tertiary education, and the political economy of skills.

In 2024, Marius Ostrowski left his role at the Lifelong Education Institute and returned to Oxford as an ESRC Policy Fellow and Researcher at the Blavatnik School of Government.

Marius Ostrowski began to learn piano at the age of 3, followed soon after by the clarinet, organ, and music composition, studying with Ruth Nye, Stephen Goss, and James Weeks.

Marius Ostrowski remains an active pianist and composer, writing above all for keyboard, influenced by late 19th- and early 20th-century Classical composers such as Bela Bartok, Lili Boulanger, Paul Hindemith, Elizabeth Maconchy, Max Reger, Dmitri Shostakovich, Richard Strauss, Germaine Tailleferre, and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

In 2021, Marius Ostrowski was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, United Kingdom.