We believe that this Society will become an integral part of Oxford’s academic and cultural life and will contribute to the formation of Ukrainian intellectual elite.
Roman Zaviyskyy, Eleonora Suhoviy
In winter of 2004, two Ukrainian students from Lviv, Eleonora Suhoviy and Roman Zaviyskyy, having met at Oxford, resolved to establish a Ukrainian Society promoting Ukrainian culture and intellectual heritage within Oxford University.
We were faced with various difficulties during the lengthy process of drafting our Constitution and registering the Society, yet our efforts were finally greeted with success as we gathered a group of dedicated students passionate about involvement in the Society.
Roman Zaviyskyy graduated from the Lviv Theological Academy (now Ukrainian Catholic University) in 1999 and earned a master’s degree and licentiate at the Catholic University of Leuven (formerly known as Louvain) in Belgium. He then taught theology at UCU and in 2005 started doctoral studies at Oxford. He completed his doctorate in Theology in 2011 and presently is a Professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University. In addition to founding the society Roman was the first President of the OUUS and is a trustee of Ukr-Aid, a charitable organisation. He lives and works in Lviv, together with his wife and son.
Eleonora Suhoviy is from L’viv, where she studied at the Specialist Music Boarding school named after Solomia Krushelnytska, before moving to the U.K. to continue her education. Having matriculated at Oxford University, Eleonora became actively engaged with a number of student societies that focused on domestic and foreign policy and debated current social, political and cultural issues. She also won a landmark immigration case which received wide national and international media coverage, and she continues being interested in law. After completing her studies, Eleonora worked for one of the largest public sector organizations, and subsequently moved into the field of education, which has always been one of her main passions. She is currently Head of Carfax Educational Consultants at Carfax Education.
Date and time: 25 May 2017, 5:30 PM
Venue: Blavatnik School of Government
Admission free
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Mikheil Saakashvili was President of Georgia for two consecutive terms between 2004 and 2013. As a result of Saakashvili’s reforms in Georgia, the rate of corruption in the country was drastically reduced and the business environment was improved significantly. In 2015, Mr Saakahsvili became the governor of Ukraine's Odessa region, a post he held until November 2016.
The lecture will be introduced by Professor Ngaire Woods, Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government, and moderated by Yelyzaveta Yasko, current MPP student at the School and President of Oxford University Ukrainian Society.
The event is free and open to all. To attend, please register here.
Date and time: 26 Apr 2017, 4:00 PM
Venue: Merton College, the Mure Room
Admission free
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The Trinity term has begun, and this week we will have an outstanding opportunity to meet Gennadiy Afanasiev, a Ukrainian human rights activist of Crimean origin who spent over 400 days in Russian prison. One month after the annexation of Crimea, Mr Afanasiev was arrested on the charge of 'terrorist activities' after participating in pro-Ukrainian demonstrations and sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment in a Russian penal colony. As a result of a high-profile prisoner exchange, he was released in 2016. We are delighted to welcome him to Oxford to tell us about his struggles, captivity and ongoing activism.
Date and time: 23 Feb 2017, 8:30PM
Venue: Worcester College, Lecture Room B, OX1 2HB
Price: £1.50 (includes a glass of wine)
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International Film Society is showing one of Paradjanov’s masterpieces, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors.
Paradjanov, an Armenian director and one of the great cinematic geniuses of Soviet cinema, tells a simple Romeo-and-Juliette-like story set in the Ukrainian Carpathian mountains. In Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, the simple tale of the unrequited love of Ivan and Marichka serves to revolutionise the art of story-telling in cinema, showing astonishing originality through the use of music, cinematography and camerawork. The film is a hypnotising whirlwind of colour and sound set against a background of folklore and traditional tales, which seems to come to us from another world.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/7516458