Anastasia Piliavsky

Anastasia Piliavsky is Reader in Anthropology and Politics at King’s College London and Founder of the Ukrainian Cosmopolis in Odessa. Her work focuses on vernacular political language, political legitimacy, and cultural politics in conflict-affected societies, particularly in India and Ukraine. She writes and speaks widely on language politics, democratic legitimacy, and social cohesion under conditions of war and political strain. At the forum, she will speak about mobilisation, legitimacy, and the political consequences of state-led culture wars during wartime.

Gennady Druzenko

Gennady Druzenko is a Ukrainian public intellectual, constitutional scholar and founder of the Pirogov First Volunteer Mobile Hospital (PDMSh), one of Ukraine’s best-known frontline medical initiatives. Before the Russian invasion, he focused on constitutional law, constitutional design, and Ukraine’s European integration. Since 2014, he has operated at the intersection of war, frontline emergency medical response, and civil society. At the forum, he will address emergency rule, the risks facing Ukrainian democracy under conditions of war, and the constitutional prospects and challenges of the post-war Ukraine.

Brendan Simms

Brendan Simms is Professor of the History of International Relations at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Cambridge Centre for Geopolitics. His work focuses on European power, war, and state formation from the early modern period to the present. He is the author of numerous books on European geopolitics, grand strategy, and the historical foundations of international order. At the forum, he brings a comparative perspective on how states emerge from war and what determines whether they stabilise or fracture.

Ganna Yudkivska

Ganna Yudkivska is a Ukrainian human rights lawyer and expert in constitutional law and judicial reform. A former judge of the European Court of Human Rights (2010–2022), she is currently Vice-Chair of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and Vice-President of the European Society of International Law. Her work focuses on constitutional reform, rule of law, democratic accountability, and the resilience of legal institutions under conditions of political strain. At the forum, she will speak about constitutional reform and democratic governance under prolonged wartime emergency rule.

Ella Libanova

Ella Libanova is Director of the Ptoukha Institute for Demography and Social Studies at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. One of Ukraine’s leading demographers and social economists, she has shaped national policy on population, labour markets, poverty, and human development for over two decades. She has advised Ukrainian governments, international organisations, and UN agencies on demographic and social policy. At the forum, she will set out the scale and structure of Ukraine’s demographic crisis and the conditions necessary for population recovery and return.

Piotr Kulpa

Piotr Kulpa is a Polish public policy expert and Undersecretary of State in Poland’s Ministry of Economy and Labour. Since 2005, he has worked extensively on Ukrainian administrative reform, decentralisation, and state capacity, including as leader of the EU project “Support for the Administration of Ukraine.” His work focuses on the deeper “meta-institutions” that shape whether formal reforms succeed or fail. At the forum, he will discuss the structural weaknesses of Ukrainian governance and the limits of standard Euro-American reform instruments.

Volodymyr Minenko

Volodymyr Minenko is a Ukrainian theatre and film actor with decades of experience in experimental theatre, film, and performance. A long-time actor of Kyiv’s Dakh Theatre, he has participated in numerous productions and international tours across Europe. In 2023, he joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine and took part in combat operations in the south and north of the country before being discharged after being wounded. He has since returned to the stage at the Ivan Franko National Drama Theatre. At the forum, he will speak from a frontline serviceman’s perspective about mobilisation and the human experience of war.

Gert Antsu

Gert Antsu is the Director for Ukraine, Moldova and Southern Caucasus and Special Envoy for Eastern Partnership at the Estonian MFA. He has served as Ambassador to Ukraine and Belgium (co-accredited to Belgium and Luxembourg) and as Deputy Permanent Representative to the European Union (Coreper I). He worked on the preparation of Estonia for EU membership from 1997 and after the Estonian accession to the EU as the Director for EU Affairs in the Government Office and advisor to Prime Minister. He has lectured extensively on the European Union related topics in various Estonian universities and has shared Estonia’s EU accession experience in Croatia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. 

Marina Gribanova

Marina Gribanova is a Ukrainian psychologist, rehabilitation specialist, and public commentator based in Kharkiv. She heads the rehabilitation centre Narconon Kyiv and works on addiction recovery, trauma, and social reintegration. In recent years, she has become a widely followed public voice on the social and psychological consequences of war, polarisation, and cultural conflict in Ukraine. At the forum, she will speak about the social psychology of alienation, identity pressure, and the emotional consequences of coercive cultural politics under wartime conditions.

David Williams

David Williams is Professor of Law at Indiana University and one of the principal international contributors to debates on Ukrainian constitutional reform. He is the lead author of Ukraine’s Constitutional Manifesto and has worked extensively on constitutional design, decentralisation, and democratic resilience in post-authoritarian states. His work focuses on how legal systems survive periods of extreme political and military pressure. At the forum, he will discuss constitutional recovery and democratic legitimacy after prolonged war.

Evgeniy Stepanov

Evgeniy Stepanov is Head of the All-Ukrainian Trade Union of Combatants of Servicemen and Veterans, and has worked on veterans’ advocacy, reintegration policy, and post-service support structures since the beginning of the war in Donbas. His work focuses on the long-term social consequences of mass mobilisation and military service. At the forum, he will discuss national veterans’ policy, reintegration, and the risks of exclusion and social fragmentation after war.

Ugo Poletti

Ugo Poletti is an Italian journalist based in Odessa and Editor of The Odessa Journal. He has reported extensively on Ukraine, regional politics, and Black Sea affairs for international audiences. His work focuses on media narratives, public discourse, and the ways Ukraine is perceived abroad. At the forum, he will discuss how Ukraine’s internal culture wars shape European perceptions of the country and interact with Russian information warfare.

Elena Knyazeva

Olena Knyazeva is an Оdessa-based sociologist, Director of the Pulse Sociological Research Centre, and Associate Professor at Odessa Polytechnic National University. Her work focuses on public trust, political legitimacy, wartime social attitudes, and the emotional relationship between citizens and the state. She has conducted research on shifting patterns of trust and alienation in Ukraine during the full-scale war, including the relationship between symbolic wartime leadership and institutional credibility. At the forum, she will speak about trust, emotional withdrawal, and the changing social psychology of belonging under prolonged wartime conditions.

Khalid Sheptitsky

Khalid Sheptitsky is Head of the Odessa Regional Trade Union of Combatants and Military Personnel and a combat veteran based in southern Ukraine. Holding a Master’s degree in psychology, he works closely with veterans, wounded soldiers, and military families on the everyday realities of reintegration after war, including treatment, housing, financial insecurity, and social adaptation. At the forum, he will speak about the pressures facing soldiers and their families and the challenges of rebuilding civilian life after prolonged military service.

Anne van Aaken 

Anne van Aaken is a German legal scholar and economist and Professor of Law and Economics, Legal Theory, Public International Law, and European Law at the University of Hamburg. One of Europe’s leading thinkers on law, institutions, and governance under conditions of political strain, her work bridges legal theory, behavioural economics, corruption studies, and international law. She has advised organisations including the World Bank and OECD and was the first female legal scholar in Germany to receive an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship. At the forum, she will speak on constitutional legitimacy, institutional trust, and post-war state reconstruction.

Dmytro Kharchuk

Dmytro Kharchuk serves in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and works on veteran reintegration and military support initiatives. His experience bridges frontline service and the practical realities of demobilisation and post-war adaptation. At the forum, he will speak about military service exhaustion, demobilisation, and the social pressures facing soldiers returning to civilian life.

Sergei Sakhanenko

Serhii Sakhanenko is Professor of Public Administration at Odessa Polytechnic National University and Head of the Association of Public Administration Researchers. A specialist in local government, decentralisation, and institutional reform, he has spent more than three decades working on questions of public governance and administrative systems in Ukraine. His work focuses on how centralised systems reproduce themselves through cadre and institutional logics, and on why decentralisation may be essential for meaningful reform in a socially and regionally diverse country. 

Said Isaiev

Sergiy Isaev serves in the Sheikh Mansur Battalion, a Chechen volunteer unit fighting for Ukraine against Russian forces. Formed by opponents of Ramzan Kadyrov and Russian rule in the North Caucasus, the battalion has become one of the most visible symbols of the participation of non-ethnic Ukrainians in Ukraine’s defence. Its fighters frame their struggle as part of a broader fight against imperial domination and authoritarian rule. At the forum, he will speak about military service, belonging, and the role of national minorities in Ukraine’s wartime and post-war political community.

Michael Wasiura

Michael is the English Language Editor at The Insider. From 2022-2023, he worked as Newsweek’s correspondent on the ground in Ukraine. Since 2006, he has spent a total of thirteen years in Russia and Ukraine, working as a journalist, university instructor, village school teacher, and television talk show pundit.

Representative of the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights TBC

A representative of the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights will participate in the forum from the Ombudsman’s office. The discussion will focus on the legal and human rights dimensions of mobilisation, emergency governance, and relations between the state and society under wartime pressure.

Ashot Avanesyan

Ashot Avanesyan is Head of the Ethnic Minorities Union of Ukraine and works on questions of minority participation, representation, and civic belonging. His work focuses on the role of Ukraine’s national minorities in public life and national defence. At the forum, he will discuss the participation of ethnic minorities in Ukraine’s wartime mobilisation and what citizenship and belonging mean in a multi-ethnic society under war.

Yuriy Romanenko

Yuri Romanyenko is a Ukrainian political analyst, historian, and editor of the analytical publication Hvylya. He is also the creator of the widely followed Romanyenko YouTube channel, where he comments on Ukrainian politics, war, statehood, and geopolitical change. His work combines historical analysis with contemporary political strategy and public commentary. At the forum, he will address what Ukraine’s European allies still fundamentally misunderstand about the country — and why those misunderstandings matter for Ukraine’s future.

Uday Chandra

Uday Chandra is a political scientist, anthropologist, and public intellectual based at Ashoka University in New Delhi. His work focuses on democracy, state formation, ethnicity, and political life in contemporary India. He studied at Yale under James Scott and now writes widely for Indian and international public audiences on politics, nationalism, and democracy from the ground up. A co-investigator on Anastasia Piliavsky’s current ERC project "India’s Politics in its Vernaculars," he will speak about India’s linguistic federalism: its tensions, compromises, and role in holding together an extraordinarily diverse nation.

Oleksandr Kovalenko

Oleksandr Kovalenko is a Ukrainian political and military analyst specialising in Russian information warfare. He has closely tracked how Russian narratives shape perceptions of the war both inside Ukraine and internationally. At the forum, he will examine how these narratives influence public understanding of the war and what their long-term consequences may be.