Competence Network Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies Frankfurt (Oder) – Berlin (KIU)

About

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The KIU competence network is a four-year DAAD-funded project to strengthen Ukraine-related research, teaching, networking and transfer activities. The competence network, initiated and led by the European University Viadrina, includes the ZOiS, the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, the Freie Universität Berlin, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin.

KIU – Competence Network for Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies Frankfurt (Oder)-Berlin, led by the European University Viadrina, and the ‘Denkraum Ukraine’ Regensburg are the two Ukraine Centers in Germany funded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service). Together, they are working on building Ukraine-related academic research and teaching, disseminating Ukraine expertise in politics, academia, media, and civil society, as well as promoting a Europe-wide dialogue with Ukraine.

 

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KIU – Competence Network Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies

Frankfurt (Oder)-Berlin

News

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Exploring the North Azovian Greeks in Ukraine: A Practitioner and Community-Rooted Perspective on Languages, Identity, and War

Block seminar | This block seminar explores the experiences of the North Azovian Greeks (Urums and Roumeans) — an autochthonous community of Ukraine and descendants of Crimean Christians — through a practitioner and community-rooted perspective. The course focuses on how identity is shaped and preserved through language, cultural practices, and collective memory, while also introducing key historical contexts and their lasting impact on present-day forms of belonging and self-identification.

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Kateryna Haertel: Majority-minority relations in Ukraine: State minority politics in a changed security context

MONDAY, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. | Hybrid format I This lecture examines how Russia’s interventions since 2014 have transformed majority–minority relations, reframing diversity through a security lens and reshaping identity dynamics in contemporary Ukraine. More details...

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Fourty Years After Chornobyl: Echoes of the Catastrophe in Times of War

Fourty years after the Chernobyl disaster, its impact is far from over. In a special edition of the KIUrious Interview Series, environmental and cultural scholar Darya Tsymbalyuk and historian Klaus Gestwa reflect on what the 1986 catastrophe meant for the country, its people, and the environment — and why Chernobyl remains highly relevant today.

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Hungary after the elections – what does Magyar’s victory mean for relations with Ukraine?

Péter Magyar and his TISZA party defeated the incumbent Viktor Orbán. In a new episode of the KIUrious Interview series, political scientist Sonja Priebus of the European University Viadrina says that whilst the election results will usher in closer EU- Ukraine relations, the national-conservative positions heavily associated with Orbán will remain under the new government, and bilateral conflicts with Kyiv are likely to persist for the time being.

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Max Trecker: Who owns Ukraine’s Wealth? The Ukrainian National Movement and Imaginations of a Country of Plenty

MONDAY, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. | Hybrid format I This lecture explores how Ukraine has long served as a projection surface for competing economic visions from global powers, and how the Ukrainian national movement has drawn on these narratives to shape its own political and economic ambitions. More details...

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Ukrainian (Working) Lives: Vulnerabilities, Shifting Geographies, Resistance

On 22 April 2026, the Centre Marc Bloch, ZOiS and the KIU Competence Network Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies will host a workshop on research in wartime Ukraine, particularly the period after the full-scale Russian invasion. More details...

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KIU Launches: Certificate Programme in Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies for Master’s students

The Certificate Programme ‘Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies’ is a supplementary academic programme focusing on Ukraine, its history, culture, and society. It is open to Master’s students at the European University Viadrina and other German universities. The programme is the first comprehensive Ukrainian Studies programme at master’s level in Germany. It offers an interdisciplinary perspective on Ukraine by bringing together approaches from the social sciences, cultural studies, law, economics, and media studies. More details...

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Introducing Our Guest Professor for the Summer Semester 2026: Oksana Mikheieva

In the upcoming summer semester, we are pleased to welcome Professor of Sociology Oksana Mikheieva as a guest professor in our programme. Professor Mikheieva teaches at our partner institution, the Kyiv School of Economics. During the Summer Semester 2026, she will offer two courses addressing the topics of Soviet totalitarianism and occupation zones in Ukraine. Her research focuses on various aspects of migration processes related to war and forced displacement, with particular attention to the social consequences of conflict and displacement. More details...

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Fellowships and Study

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Research

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Study

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Partners

Funded by

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with funds from the Federal Foreign Office (AA)