Olena Yermakova, MA
Ukraine Fellow

Olena Yermakova, MA
Ukraine Fellow

Olena Yermakova is a qualitative interdisciplinary researcher interested in the topic of migration and with a geographical focus on Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). She holds degrees from the College of Europe and the Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, and is currently a PhD candidate in political science at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Yermakova has been a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow in Horizon 2020 project on populism and illiberalism in CEE called "Fatigue" led by University College London. She was then awarded a junior visiting fellowship in the "Ukraine in European Dialogue" program at the Institute of Human Sciences (IWM Vienna). Olena also has experience beyond academia: in inclusive peacemaking in Donbas with HD Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, in communications for a Ukrainian post-Maidan government, and event management for European Youth Parliament — Ukraine. At RECET, Olena continues her research into Ukrainian labour migrants in Poland, analysing it in the context of forced displacement from Ukraine in 2022. She actualises her work with findings from recent fieldwork research, looking into the relationships between different categories of migrants from Ukraine, analysing the layers of precariousness and vulnerability, and comparing the evolution of pull and push factors and different migration regimes over time.

Research interests:

  • migration
  • Russo-Ukrainian war
  • Ukraine
  • Poland
  • Ukraine-European Union encounters
  • populism and illiberal discourses
  • inclusive peace and democratic processes

Publications: