Ms. Agnieszka Piernik is a graduate of biology at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. She completed her Master's thesis under the supervision of Professor (Mr.) Zbigniew Prusinkiewicz at the Department of Soil Science. After graduation, she was employed at the NCU Department of Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation with Professor (Ms.) Jadwiga Wilkoń-Michalska as the Head of the Department. Under the supervision of Professor Jadwiga Wilkoń-Michalska she began her researches on ecology of halophytic vegetation and wrote a PhD thesis on halophytes as indicators of soil salinity in the region of Kujawy. She was awarded the degree of Doctor of Biological Sciences in 2000 at the NCU Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences. She gained and extended her knowledge of salt marsh ecosystems not only under the supervision of Professor Jadwiga Wilkoń-Michalska, but also during foreign internships in the Netherlands, in Germany and in Spain.
At present she is employed in the Laboratory of Ecological Modelling at NCU. Her scientific interests include ecology of halophytic vegetation, and in particular the relationships between the distribution of vegetation and environmental conditions, species tolerance to salinity, as well as monitoring and protection of saline habitats, and application of statistical methods in ecological analysis.