Professor Nataliia Tikhonova delivered a lecture to a large group of St Mary’s students on the impact of the war in Ukraine on society and education. Nataliia is a Lecturer and Researcher at Kyiv National University and is currently living in Belfast. Due to the war, her research has been interrupted and in order to assist her in continuing her work, St Mary's University College has facilitated Visiting Academic status.

Nataliia lectures in management at the Institute of Innovative Education at her home university and specialises in business planning, project management, marketing and the theory of organisation. While at the College her research will include post-conflict reconstruction and the structural policy of the European Union.

This is the third Ukrainian university the College has been working with in recent years. Since 2019 and the St Mary’s intensive study programme at the University of Lviv - where St Mary’s students studied for a time with Ukrainian students - staff at the College have also been engaged in information exchanges and joint presentations with colleagues from the historic Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University in Lutsk. Nataliia’s contribution is a much welcomed enhancement of the College’s going partnerships with our Ukrainian associates. Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture (KNUCA) will have a particularly formative role in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine and as the country completes its accession into the European Union.

Nataliia was joined by her daughter Anastasiia from the Ukrainians In Northern Ireland community group. The event was organised by Dr Gerard McCann from the International Office at St Mary’s.