How have Ukrainian Studies changed over the past decade – and what challenges does the field face today? The public panel discussion will explore how knowledge about Ukraine enters the media and public debate, and how research can contribute to the conversation beyond the daily news cycle.
Since 2014, and especially since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine has moved to the centre of public and political attention. During the last twelve years, experts on Ukraine and Eastern Europe have been increasingly called upon by the media, schools and the wider public to explain complex developments and respond to current events. This has also raised questions about the boundaries between academic expertise, public engagement, and advocacy.
The panel asks how public debates about Ukraine have changed over the past decade, what misconceptions persist, and what happens when academic knowledge enters media and public discourse. What can academic research contribute beyond the daily news cycle – and what should we be talking about when we talk about Ukraine beyond the war?
Participants
Tetiana Kyselova is a legal scholar and expert on mediation, dialogue and conflict resolution at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and European University Viadrina. Her work combines academic research with long-standing engagement in peacebuilding in Ukraine.
Gwendolyn Sasse is a political scientist and Director of the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS) in Berlin and Einstein Professor at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Her research focuses on Ukraine, political developments and conflict in Eastern Europe, as well as migration and displacement.
Maryna Shevtsova is a political scientist and gender researcher working on democracy, migration, social movements and civil society in Ukraine and Central and Eastern Europe. She is the current URIS Fellow at the University of Basel.
Claude Wild is a former Swiss diplomat who retired in 2025 after serving for 34 years in different posts at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in Berne and at several Swiss Embassies around the world. He was Switzerland’s Ambassador to Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova from 2019 to 2023.
Chair: Frithjof Benjamin Schenk, University of Basel
Everyone is welcome – no registration required.