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Olesya Khromeychuk is a historian and writer. She is the author of The Death of a Soldier Told by His Sister (2022) and “Undetermined” Ukrainians. Post-War Narratives of the Waffen SS “Galicia” Division (2013). Khromeychuk has written for The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Prospect and The New Statesman, and has delivered a TED talk on ‘What the World Can Learn From Ukraine’s Fight for Democracy’. She has a PhD in History from University College London. Khromeychuk has previously taught at King’s College London, the University of East Anglia, University College London and the University of Cambridge. Originally from Lviv, Khromeychuk moved to the UK in 2000. She is currently the Director of the Ukrainian Institute London. (Image: Steven Stefaniuk).
Oksana Popova began working with the Ukrainian Institute London in February 2023 as manager of UIL’s Ukrainian language school, before joining our team as Administrator in September 2023. Popova has over ten years of experience working in the UK not-for-profit sector. Prior to joining the Ukrainian Institute London, Popova worked as a Programme Support Officer at the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC), an independently funded legal centre based at Middlesex University, where she worked on projects in partnership with NGOs and lawyers in Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia and gained extensive experience of many aspects of management required by a small NGO. She holds an MA in International Relations and Politics from Westminster University in London and an MSc in Financial Management from Middlesex University. She is also a qualified linguist with a BA in English Language and Literature from Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, her native city, and has many years of teaching and translation experience.
Anton Trofimchuk is a marketer and manager in the creative industries, with a proven track record of transforming communities through cultural initiatives. He received a BA in economics in his native city Rivne and an MA in Arts Management and Administration from one of the world’s top business schools, the SDA Bocconi School of Management, where he graduated with honours cum laude. With five years of industry experience, he has worked with cultural institutions and public organisations in Ukraine, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom. His projects range from opening a network of art residencies to organizing jazz festivals, from revitalizing urban spaces to collaborating with artists at risk at the Venice Biennale, from developing regional tourism branding to co-founding a crowdfunding startup. He has implemented projects with the support of UNESCO, The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, USAID, the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, as well as the embassies and governments of European countries. Additionally, he is a photographer, with his work published in Vogue Italia, Iconic, and Aperture Magazine. Anton is a strong believer in the power of empathic communication and the importance of data as the essence of marketing. He is a doer, a brother, and a team player.
Maliek Banat is a Ukrainian-Lebanese graduate from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Born in Kyiv, he moved to London to pursue a university degree in diplomacy and international relations. From 2022, he has chaired the Ukrainian Students Union (USU), a student-led organisation that represents Ukrainian student societies in over 38 British Universities. He was also previously a junior fellow at Visegrad Insight, a think tank covering political affairs in the CEE region, and a newsroom intern at Kyiv Post, an English-language newspaper in Ukraine. Maliek is passionate about Ukrainian culture and its ‘soft power’ role in global affairs.
Sasha Dovzhyk is the curator of UKRAINE LAB and editor of the London Ukrainian Review. She has gained a PhD in English and Comparative Literature from Birkbeck, taught in academia and beyond, and published in peer-reviewed journals such as British Art Studies and Modernist Cultures. As a research fellow, she is affiliated with Birkbeck and Goldsmiths, University of London. Dovzhyk has also written for non-academic publications, including The Ecologist, Hong Kong Review of Books, and Los Angeles Review of Books, on topics as diverse as the legacies of Chornobyl, food waste, and transnational decadent aesthetics. She has built and keeps running the Aubrey Beardsley Society.
Olga Sydorushkina is a Ukrainian cultural manager with 15 years of experience in managing cultural projects in Ukraine, both local and international. She worked as a coordinator and selector at the Odesa International Film Festival, and curated the film department at the Green Theatre (Odesa). Olga worked for over two years in the development of international projects at the Museum of Modern Art in Odesa. She is also the CEO and co-founder of the festival of contemporary culture PORUCH (Odesa). Olga is currently based in London, working at The Garden Cinema and continuing to develop PORUCH. Olga has joined the Ukrainian Institute London’s team as Film Festival Fellow, June-September 2023, as part of the UIL’s fellowship scheme for displaced Ukrainiains.
Sofiia has a background in strategic planning in local government, and has developed a keen interest in culture as a key factor of transformation within a society and a means to convey messages to the outer world. Born in the Soviet Union, raised and educated in Ukraine, Sofiia’s career to date has been focussed on Ukraine’s development, capitalising on the country’s rich resources, shaking off Soviet bureaucracy and rejuvenating Ukrainian institutions. Sofiia completed a master’s degree in public administration as a Fulbright scholar, completed multiple educational programmes in Ukraine and abroad and has gained a wide range of experience in working with international organisations that provide technical assistance to so-called developing countries. Sofiia will join the Ukrainian Institute London’s team as Events Fellow, August-October 2023, as part of the UIL’s fellowship scheme for displaced Ukrainiains.
Maryna Dubyna is a literary translator and editor specialising in comics. She studied Journalism at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv before beginning her career in book publishing. Maryna has worked as a coordinator at Kyiv Comic Con, developed a board game about literary translators with the Ukrainian Literary Centre’s Translators in Action initiative, and has helped organised the literary and translation festival TRANSLATORIUM (Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine) for the past five years. Her English-to-Ukrainian translations include Hank Green’s An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá’s The Umbrella Academy series. Maryna went on to receive the Chevening Scholarship for a Masters in Publishing at University College London. She has since worked as a Ukrainian-to-English translator for the Wall Street Journal, as well as other media, and as a literary agent’s assistant at David Higham Associates.
With teaching experience dating back to 2011, Olha has taught in
various locations, including Ukraine, Hungary, China, and the UK. In
2018, she established her own language school named A+ in Ukraine, which operated successfully until 2022, offering courses in different languages for all age groups and providing free classes for
disadvantaged families. Starting in 2022, Olha has been actively
involved as a volunteer at UIL. She provided childcare and supervised displaced children while their mothers attended English language classes. Additionally, she assisted mothers with interpretation and offered emotional support. Furthermore, Olha conducts English lessons for displaced Ukrainians, aiding them in integrating into British society and becoming proficient in their language.
Constance Uzwyshyn specialises in Ukrainian contemporary art and spatial interior design. Constance is originally from Canada and studied archaeology in Italy and sculpture at Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. Thereafter, she was a postgraduate student at Edinburgh University and researched Oleksandra Ekster’s oeuvre. In 1990, Uzwyshyn moved to Ukraine. She organised the first art auction in Ukraine (1993, fundraiser for the State Museum of Ukrainian Art), founded and directed Great Ukrainian Women Artist juried art exhibition (1995 Ukrainian House; 1996 Ukrainian National Museum; 1997, 1997 Lavra Gallery). In 1998, she opened the first commercial gallery in Ukraine – ARTEast Gallery and was awarded by American Chamber of Commerce of Ukraine Best Art Gallery. In 2004, ARTEast Gallery closed, and Uzwyshyn moved to United Kingdom and studied spatial interior design at Chelsea College of Art. She is the winner of BBC One, Best House in Town. In 2021, she completed MA in Art Business from Kingston University London and has a key interest in Art and Law. She is the Art Industry Specialist for the Cambridge Journal of Issues in Law, Politics, and Art. Uzwyshyn is currently a PhD candidate at Cambridge University, conducting research into the impact of war on Ukrainian contemporary art.
Marina Pesenti was the director of the Ukrainian Institute London in 2015-2020, overseeing a significant growth and expansion of the Institute and its activities. Marina has 20 years of professional experience, covering media, public affairs, conference producing and cultural management. She spent 10 years with the BBC World Service in London, producing and presenting programmes in Ukrainian and English. Marina has done analytical research for think tanks, such as Legatum Institute in London, Kennan Institute in Kyiv. Her most recent piece of research, “Cultural Revival and Social Transformation in Ukraine,” was published by Chatham House in 2020. Marina contributes to British and Ukrainian media: her pieces appeared in “The World Today,” Atlantic Council, Novoye Vremya, Kyiv Post. She is originally from Kyiv, holds a BA degree in cultural studies from the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and an MSc degree in European Political Economy from the London School of Economics.
