Dr. Hanna Shelest

Dr. Hanna Shelest is the Security Studies Program Director

Editor-in-Chief of UA: Ukraine Analytica and Head of the Board of the NGO “Promotion of Intercultural Cooperation”. Prior to this, she had served for more than 10 years as a Senior Researcher at the National Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Ukraine, Odessa Branch. In 2014 Dr. Shelest served as a Visiting Research Fellow at the NATO Defense College in Rome. Previously she had experience in PR and lobbying for government and business, as well as teaching at Odessa National University.

She has more than 50 academic and more than 100 articles in media published worldwide. She is a regular presenter at the international conferences and commenter for the media.

Dr. Shelest is a Rotary Peace Fellow 2010, Black Sea Young Reformer 2011, John Smith Fellow 2012, Marshall Memorial Fellow 2016, TUBITAK Visiting Research Fellow 2018, Think Visegrad Fellow 2019. She was recognized as “40 under 40 Ukrainian Emerging Leader 2013” by the US-Ukraine Foundation.

Her main research interests are:

  • conflicts resolution and mediation,
  • security and cooperation, especially in the Wider Black Sea Region and the Middle East,
  • foreign policy of Ukraine,
  • NATO