Education Studies News and Events

The Educational Leadership Programme for Ukraine, was initiated in 2024 by Dr Bo Kelestyn (WBS). At that time, the Warwick community worked together based on goodwill and volunteering, to welcome 40 educational leaders from Ukraine to come to Warwick for residentials and learn about education reconstruction during war and post victory. The outcomes for those participants have been very substantial with several leading major educational transformation activities in Ukraine since. Bo Kelestyn and Gwen van der Velden have focused on seeking continuation funding since then.

In February 2025, SELCS received confirmation that just under a million pounds in philanthropic funding has been made from an exceptionally generous source. This funding allows us to provide a Masters in Education Reconstruction for another 40 Ukrainian Education Leaders over three years. It also funds professional development for even more Ukrainian participants. As the funding confirmation came just after the loss of USAID funding, our Ukrainian partners were extraordinarily pleased to see such continued support from the UK and Warwick specifically.

The funding also supports an educational development project with the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, so that the programme can ultimately be run in an appropriate version within Ukraine itself. More about the programme can be found here: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/academy/connect/let-ukraineLink opens in a new window

Professor Gwen van der Velden, who is now part of SELCS' Education Studies team and engaged with the philanthropic funder, would like to thank all colleagues who have worked on making the programme such a success last year. Gwen said 'This is a substantial funding success, but the impact of the funding is going to be much more impressive, with Ukrainian colleagues committing to the transformation and rebuilding of education at home. These efforts are very much part of what turned out to be a genuinely shared interest across all of SELCS: to see education as a way to improve people's lives and take societies forward. This funding success is really about all of us, and the difference we can collectively make!'