About Us

Our Mission

The purpose of the Warwick Ukraine-Belarus Hub (WUB Hub) is to raise awareness and advance knowledge of contemporary issues and challenges facing Belarusians and Ukrainians, including as they relate to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its resolution. Employing insights from a diverse range of academic disciplines, WUB Hub will support and promote evidence-based policy making and stakeholder interaction through:

Improving public and policy understanding of relations between Belarus and Ukraine
Analysis of social, economic, political, cultural and historical issues which shape contemporary Belarus and Ukraine and which can inform external understanding
Engagement, wherever possible, with domestic stakeholders
Production of timely and reliable evidence in response to both real domestic policy needs but also external stakeholder initiatives
Developing practical policy recommendations for all stakeholders
Communication of evidence in ways amenable to use by policy-makers, national and international civil society, the media and other non-academic stakeholders

By delivering on its mission, WUB Hub will contribute to the objectives and principles of the Institute for Global Sustainable Development (IGSD) and the School for Cross-Faculty Studies at the University of Warwick. The IGSD fosters an interdisciplinary approach that values deep historical and cultural understanding, while drawing on pathbreaking disciplinary methodologies and theory.

Our Principles

Contemporary relevance: WUB Hub will address the most pressing political, social and economic challenges and opportunities facing Belarus and Ukraine.
Objectivity and impartiality: WUB Hub is committed to brokering knowledge and furthering understanding. It recognises that it can only do so to the extent that it remains objective, balanced and impartial.
Analytical rigour: WUB Hub will promote knowledge and understanding of contemporary Belarusian and Ukrainian societies. In doing so, it will draw on established scholarly, scientific processes and practice in order to underscore objectivity and ensure analytical rigour.
Stakeholder benefit: WUB Hub recognises there are diverse stakeholders, internal and external to Belarus and Ukraine, across and within multiple sectors. WUB Hub will seek to give voice to these stakeholders.

Our Partners

Professor Elena Korosteleva (Principal Investigator)

Elena Korosteleva is Professor of Politics and Global Sustainable Development, and Director of the Institute of Global Sustainable Development (IGSD). She is also Jean Monnet Chair of European Politics, which she was awarded twice by the European Commission in recognition of her research and teaching excellence.

Dr Paul Hansbury

Paul Hansbury joined IGSD in January 2024 as a research fellow working on the Warwick Ukraine-Belarus Hub (WUB-Hub). He has wide ranging interests in the politics and international relations of both countries, with a particular focus on security matters. His first book Belarus in Crisis: From Domestic Unrest to the Russia-Ukraine War was published in 2023 by Hurst Publishers (UK) and Oxford University Press (US). He is also an associate editor for the peer-reviewed Journal of Belarusian Studies. He holds a PhD in International Relations from St Antony’s College, University of Oxford.

Dr Tatsiana Chulitskaya

Tatsiana Chulitskaya is a senior researcher in the Institute of International Relations and Political Science (IIRPS) at Vilnius University and a fellow researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). She got her PhD from Vilnius University in 2014. Since 2011, Tatsiana also cooperates with the Belarusian think tank BIPART that focuses on public administration and civil society topics. Her research interests include civil society and civic participation in non-democratic regimes, authoritarianism, Belarusian studies, public policy and public administration, and the European Neighbourhood policy. Tatsiana has been involved in several international research projects including the EU-STRAT project focused on Eastern Partnership (EaP) programme analysis.

Dr Victoria Leukavets

Victoria Leukavets is a post-doctoral researcher at the Stockholm Center for Eastern European Studies (SCEEUS). Her research interests focus on Belarus's domestic and foreign policy, elections and protests in non-democratic regimes, and the political economy of international sanctions. Victoria holds a PhD from the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Science, where she was a Marie Curie Fellow. Her doctoral research focused on integration processes and policies in Belarus and Ukraine in relation to the EU and Russia.

Victoria has participated in several fellowships, including at the Harvard Davis Center, the European Parliament, Wilson Center, and the UK Parliament. Her work has been published in journals and books such as Europe-Asia Studies, New Perspectives, Ibidem Verlag, Caucasus Survey, Belarus Digest, Russian Analytical Digest.