A Graduate of the Faculty of Political Science and Journalism at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań in 1999. Arkadiusz Ptak obtained his habilitation in political science in 2017 and also completed postgraduate Executive Master of Business Administration studies in 2021.
Since 2018, he has served as Mayor of the Town and Municipality of Pleszew, having previously spent 12 years as Deputy Mayor. He is also a professor at the Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. From 2007 to 2012, he was affiliated with Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań as an academic researcher.
His research focuses on local government, electoral competition, social capital, local and regional development, and the peripheral status of urban areas. He is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Italian National Council of Architects, Planners, Landscape Architects and Conservators.