Our Trustees

Ursula Woolley

Chair
Ursula Woolley was Project Manager (Kyiv) and then Assistant Director of the British Council in Ukraine (1991-95), where she organised the opening of the first British Council offices in Kyiv, Lviv and Odesa. She was First Secretary (British Council) at the British Embassy in Moscow (1996-2000); Deputy Policy Director for East and South-East Europe at the British Council (2004-2006); Deputy Leader of Islington Council (Liberal Democrat) (2008-2010); Director of Pushkin House (2012-2016); and a member of the Advisory Board at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London (UCL SSEES) (2013-19). She is currently a PhD candidate at UCL SSEES, conducting research into recent local responses in Ukraine to Russian government history propaganda.

Igor Hordiyevych

Vice Chair & Treasurer
Igor Hordiyevych was born and grew up in Lviv, before coming to study at the University of Manchester in 1995. After graduation with BA (Hons) in Finance in 1998 Igor joined one of the leading banks in the City of London. Since that time Igor has accumulated over 18 years of financial experience, including in senior management roles in banks and investment companies. At present Igor is a CEO of a fund management company. In 2006 Igor co-founded a Ukrainian focused charity in London, where he served as a Trustee until 2015.

Orys'a Marciuk

Secretary
Iryna (Orys’a) Marciuk, grew up in Munich, Germany, and graduated from the University of Hamburg (Law faculty). Moving to London in 1997, she was instrumental in re-establishing Ukrainian Scouts in London (PLAST) and has been a keen supporter of the Ukrainian Institute London’s activities as a student of advanced Ukrainian language, a member of its reading club and as a participant in many lectures both online and in person.

Anna Reid

Trustee

Anna Reid is a journalist and historian. She worked as Kyiv correspondent for The Economist and the Daily Telegraph from 1993-5, and later covered the country for the Economist Intelligence Unit. From 2002-6 she ran the think tank Policy Exchange’s foreign affairs programme. She is the author of Borderland: Journey through the History of Ukraine (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, third edition 2015), The Shaman’s Coat: a Native History of Siberia (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002), Leningrad: Tragedy of a City under Siege, 1941-44 (Bloomsbury, 2011), and A Nasty Little War: the West’s Fight to Reverse the Russian Revolution (John Murray, 2023).

Olha Zarichynska

Trustee
Olha Zarichynska has 17 years of professional experience in coordination and implementation of projects aimed at the strengthening of civil society and promotion of youth leadership in Ukraine as well as in administrative and managerial work. She was the co-founder and a Director (2003 – 2010) of the Center for Lay Leadership based in Lviv. Over 2007 – 2014, she was a Deputy Director of the UCU Development Department and since 2014 she has been the Director of all UCU fundraising events in Ukraine and abroad. She is currently doing her PhD in Government and Economy Studies (Ukrainian Free University, DE). She has an MSc in Public Administration at the Catholic University in Lublin (Poland). In 2015, Olha ran in the local election for Lviv City Council. She is active on several boards of NGOs in Ukraine and abroad.

Rory Finnin

Trustee

Rory Finnin is Professor of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge. He is the Founding Director of Cambridge Ukrainian Studies (2008-2018); former Head of the Department of Slavonic Studies (2014-18); and former Chair of the Cambridge Committee for Russian and East European Studies (CamCREES) (2011-18). Finnin received his PhD (with distinction) in Slavic Languages and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. He also holds Certificates from the Harriman Institute and from the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University. He is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Ukraine 1995-97) and a native of Cleveland, Ohio. Finnin is also convener (with Sander van der Linden in Social Psychology) of the University’s Disinformation and Media Literacy Special Interest Group, a community of scholars and practitioners committed to advancing creative interventions against disinformation and ‘fake news’. The DML SIG is part of Cambridge’s Trust and Technology Strategic Research Initiative.

Dennis Ougrin

Trustee
Dennis Ougrin graduated from medical school in Ukraine in 1998 and came to England to undertake his postgraduate training. Dr Ougrin is a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, a reader at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, and one of the leaders of the Ukrainian Medical Association of the United Kingdom (UMAUK), which develops ties and information exchange between academic and professional healthcare organisations in the UK and Ukraine. Outside of his work in medicine, Dennis is an active member of the Ukrainian community in London, including supporting PLAST, the national scout organisation of Ukraine. In 2020, Dennis, together with his daughter Anastasia, co-authored One Hundred Years in Galicia: Events That Shaped Ukraine and Eastern Europe, a family memoir and history of their native Galicia.

Andriy Kostyuk

Trustee

Andriy Kostyuk was born and grew up in Lviv, taking a degree in law from Ivan Franko State University of Lviv in 1994, followed by a master’s degree in philosophy in 1997. During this time, he studied with the International Academy of Philosophy in the Principality of Liechtenstein, before turning to teach at the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) in Lviv, first as a visiting professor in 2000, and as Head of the Law School, since 2019. From 2009, Andriy has sat on the Supervisory Board and Donators’ Counsel of UCU. His academic interests include philosophical social ethics, human rights, and the theory of justice. As well as Andriy’s academic career, he works as a lawyer advising on corporate, finance, and tax law, and as Corporate Secretary for Galnaftogaz and Khlibprom from 2009, and managing his own law firm, Kostyuk Partners Law and Tax, since 2019.

Tetyana Nesterchuk

Trustee

Tetyana is a barrister and arbitrator practising at the Bar of England and Wales (at Fountain Court Chambers) and specialising in international law. Formerly, Tetyana worked as a lecturer in Trusts, Torts, Land and Roman law at Oxford University (2005–2015) and as a judicial assistant in the Supreme Court of the UK (2010–2011). In 2021, Tetyana was appointed as a UK expert to the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE). Tetyana is a draftsperson of the UK Seizure of Russian State Asssts and Support for Ukraine Bill introduced in February 2023.