果冻影院

Building on a long-standing partnership with the Council for At-Risk Academics (CARA), 果冻影院 set up the Ukraine Academic Fellowship Scheme to support Ukrainian academics and host them at 果冻影院. The aim is to provide help where it is needed while maintaining close ties with the region鈥檚 scholars and institutions as well as expanding 果冻影院鈥檚 own research and cultural base, alongside further plans to support at-risk academics from other regions as well.

The scheme was launched by a donation from the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, which was then match funded by 果冻影院 and has since attracted additional support including from the Lord Randolph Quirk Endowment Fund.

果冻影院 has a long history of academic partnership with Ukraine. 果冻影院 researchers have co-published more than 200 papers with almost 60 Ukrainian partners over the last five years and have academic links in a range of fields. The 果冻影院 School of Slavonic & East European Studies (SSEES) has particularly strong connections with Ukraine.

So far, thirteen Ukrainian scholars have been supported through the scheme. Participants range from early career researchers to senior academics studying topics including ecology, energy, literature and society.

果冻影院鈥檚 President & Provost, Dr Michael Spence, said: 鈥淚t has been a privilege for the university to be able to welcome these research fellows from Ukraine, as they have been making invaluable contributions to our research, to our long-standing connections to Ukraine, and to our campus community.

鈥淲e are grateful to our partners for helping us to support these brilliant academics, as we seek to do what we can to support those whose lives have been irreparably affected by the crisis.鈥�

Meet the scholars

She arrived in the UK in March 2022, after learning about the fellowship Scheme through Dr Michal Murawski from the 果冻影院 School of Slavonic & East European Studies.

Her appointment at 果冻影院 has offered her the chance to delve into a subject close to her heart 鈥� the environmental issues facing Ukraine鈥檚 largest river, the Dnipro, which snakes through the centre of the country.

鈥淚鈥檝e been working with rivers for a while, combining artistic and curatorial practice, so it鈥檚 an amazing opportunity now to study the Dnipro,鈥� Kamyshan said. 鈥淚t is the main river, and it is in very deep crisis.鈥�

For over a century, pollution and environmental mismanagement have harmed the ecological health of the river. By some estimates, the river will not be able to supply the country鈥檚 drinking water in thirty years.

鈥淭he Dnipro is in crisis, but it is not in the focus of people鈥檚 eyes,鈥� Kamyshan said. 鈥淚 am in this position of collecting information and ideally spreading the information to a wider audience. I see myself as a mediator between the specific specialists of the Dnipro and the broader audience.鈥�

She plans to continue gathering and highlighting information about this crucial waterway until a time when the public and political establishment can more fully address its needs.

鈥淪ooner or later the war will end and at that moment I can bring the Dnipro research to the stage and raise the question 鈥極K guys, we won the war, what do we do next with our river?鈥欌��

The Russian invasion meant she had to take cover from Russian bombs, sometimes for hours at a time. When she could, she searched online for research opportunities, which is how she found out about 果冻影院鈥檚 fellowship scheme.

鈥淚 found this information on Twitter,鈥� Dr Kolosok said. 鈥淚t was hard to find any information. We tried to find a safe place and also check news about the situation in Ukraine.鈥�

Her fellowship started in December 2022. She had never been to the UK before applying for the fellowship, but upon arriving, she found safe conditions and colleagues who could support her teaching and research in Ukraine.

鈥淚 found a wonderful environment and a wonderful team,鈥� Dr Kolosok said. 鈥淚 previously focused on general aspects of energy and climate change, but now I just want to research energy security.鈥�

She is looking to not only build on her earlier energy research, which had been supported by the European Commission as well as the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, but is also taking part in new project calls. With access to libraries, databases and other resources at 果冻影院, she has a range of available resources for further studies. She hopes her research will be useful for developing Ukraine's economy.

鈥淚鈥檓 interested in how culture was developed in this very small period between the late years of the Soviet fall and the early years of Ukrainian independence,鈥� Iakovlenko said.

She studies cinema, literature, music and art to understand how culture and the sense of identity changed at this time of political upheaval, both in Ukraine and across Europe. It鈥檚 a topic she said hasn鈥檛 received a great deal of critical scholarly analysis, something she hopes to change.

鈥淚 really believe that it is important for a European context as well, because the time of the Soviet fall was also the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall and also the beginning of the Balkan Wars,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his is a time when, in different parts of Europe, identical social and economic changes were happening.鈥�

After the Russian invasion, she learned about 果冻影院鈥檚 Ukraine Academic Fellowship Scheme from Dr Uilleam Blacker (果冻影院 School of Slavonic & East European Studies). They had collaborated several times previously on book chapters and articles.

Using 果冻影院鈥檚 library and databases, Iakovlenko is continuing her writing and research, and further developing projects she started before the invasion. She is hoping to make a difference at 果冻影院 in expanding its resources of Ukrainian literature and translated literature, and also expects that she and other visiting Ukrainians will leave their mark on the UK as well.

鈥淚 find that the UK also now knows much more about Ukraine because of us,鈥� Iakovlenko said. 鈥淭his is a huge exchange of knowledge that has become possible because of this programme.鈥�

鈥淲hen the war started my city was immediately under shelling,鈥� Dr Ostapchuk said. 鈥淲e grabbed our kids and we fled the city and settled in the central part of Ukraine for another two months after the beginning of the war.鈥�

From there, she applied through CARA for the 果冻影院 Academic Sanctuary Fellowship Scheme, as well as for the UK鈥檚 Homes for Ukraine scheme. She arrived safely in Kent in late April and began her fellowship at 果冻影院 in November.

鈥淭he year at 果冻影院 gives me a chance to continue my research,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he idea is to work on the Ukrainian borders in times of crisis in comparative culture perspective. The goal of my research is to work with displaced persons narratives from the 20th and the 21st centuries.鈥�

A particular focus of hers is the Chornobyl disaster and how it has affected and disrupted the people of the region. She鈥檚 interested in exploring how it has been depicted in popular culture, and the narratives around the displaced people who have continued to live in the irradiated exclusion zone around the reactor.

鈥淔or many years I think that popular culture was responsible for maintaining the image of Chornobyl and keeping it visible,鈥� Dr Ostapchuk said, adding that when Russia deployed soldiers inside the exclusion zone, it brought the issue back to the forefront of the public consciousness.

She鈥檚 been using the university鈥檚 resources to expand on research she started previously, but with access to materials that were unavailable in Ukraine because of copyright and other restrictions. She鈥檚 been developing manuscripts for a range of academic journals, as well as presentations for international research conferences.

Dr Ostapchuk said that having to leave Ukraine has given her an enriched perspective around the experiences of the displaced people she鈥檚 studied, as well as a stronger sense of the historical context of today鈥檚 conflict.

鈥淲hat we experience now, in this human sense, this is a universal sort of experience. It happened in our history so many times, it happens in the history of other cultures and nations as well,鈥� she said.

鈥淲e think that the Ukrainian experience is unique, but it is not unique, it happens everywhere, it happens very often, and it happens many many times in the history of humanity. The universality of the experience gives us a chance to find appropriate words for how to talk about it; how to tell people of the world about the war; how to gain their attention, understanding, and support, because only jointly we can win and maintain peace, stability, prosperity, freedoms, human rights, and justice for all nations.鈥�

Links

• Read about the launch of 果冻影院鈥檚 Ukraine Academic Fellowship Scheme
• Support for staff and students affected by the war in Ukraine
• SSEES on Ukraine

Image

• Credit: Simoncountry via

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