University of Manchester appoints UK's first Professor of Comparative and Ukrainian Politics

The University of Manchester has appointed the first ever Professor of Comparative and Ukrainian Politics in the UK.Olga Onuch is an academic whose expertise on Ukrainian politics and society has led her to become one of the leading Ukraine experts both in the UK and internationally.

Since the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine, she has focused her research on political engagement in the country, and has been a member of an advisory group to the Ukrainian government since 2014.

Professor Onuch has worked with diverse policy-makers from Ukraine, the UK, USA, EU and Canada.Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, she has dedicated herself to recording and understanding the war.

She has also released a highly-regarded book, The Zelensky Effect, about the role of civic national identity in Ukraine and how it influenced President Zelensky and directed his leadership. The University of Manchester says the Professorship will raise the profile of Ukrainian scholarship and studies at the University and in the UK more widely, making Manchester a leader in the field.The Professorship will also enable Olga Onuch to undertake more public engagement and outreach activities with the inception of a keynote public lecture on Ukraine, as well as helping her to fundraise for further public facing events which engage the local community in Manchester and support Ukrainian refugees.

She will also continue to expand on existing collaborations with organisations including the British Council in Ukraine, focusing on youth engagement.The university aims to develop a large centre focused on the comparative study of Ukrainian politics, elections, political participation and democratic resilience.

It will be designed to support UK, EU, North American and Ukrainian policymakers working on political reforms relating to EU accession, reconstruction, and civic duty, engagement and resilience in Ukraine and beyond.

Professor Onuch said: “I am very proud of the University of Manchester’s leadership in supporting Ukrainian students and scholars."

She added: “My wish is that having this title hosted here will motivate more Ukrainian students to study at The University of Manchester, and that more students who want to learn about Ukraine will come to the university.

I also hope that the first professorship to name Ukrainian Politics explicitly in the English speaking world brings my family and friends in Ukraine a bit of pride.

Above all I hope that this move is not just a first, but rather that it starts a trend.”Leigh Gibson OBE, Ukraine Director for the British Council. said, “We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Olga and her department to understand more about the role young people have played in the development of Ukraine as a democratic nation, and the critical contribution they will make to recovery and rebuilding in the future.”Liverpool Pride holds Kyiv's LGBTQ+ celebration on war-torn Ukraine's behalf

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