Hugo Kołłątaj (April 1, 1750 – February 24, 1812) was a Polish Roman Catholic priest, social and political activist, political thinker, historian and philosopher. He is seen as one of the most prominent figures of the Enlightenment in Poland.

Hugo Kołłątaj was born on April 1, 1750 in Dederkały Wielkie in Volhynia to a family of minor Polish nobility; soon afterwards his family moved to Nieciesławice near Sandomierz, where he spent his childhood. He attended a school in Pińczów. He began his studies at the Kraków Academy (the later Jagiellonian University), where he studied law. Afterwards, around 1775 he took holy orders, then spent time in Vienna and Italy (Naples and Rome), where he likely encountered Enlightenment philosophy. He likely had doctorates from philosophy, law and theology.

Returning to Poland, he became a canon priest in Kraków, and a parish priest at Krzyżanowice Dolne and Tuczępy. He was active in the Commission of National Education and the Society for Elementary Books, where he was prominent in developing plans to expand the national network of schools. He spent two years in Warsaw, but returned to Kraków, where he reformed the Kraków Academy, of which board he sat from 1777, and of which he was a rector in 1783-1786. The reform of the Academy was very substantial; bringing it to the modern standards, or even exceeding them. Notably, he switched the Latin language in which the lectures were taking place to Polish language; such a move from Latin to a national language in higher education was still uncommon in Europe. The reform proved controversial enough that an intrigue by his political enemies resulted in his temporary removal, under accusation of corruption and immorality, from Kraków in 1781, although by 1782 the decision was rescinded.