Oleksiy Haran is a Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Kyiv‑Mohyla Academy, where he served as Dean and was the founding organizer of the Faculty of Social Sciences from 1991 to 1993. He is also a Research Advisor at the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation. The Foundation’s 2004 exit poll revealed electoral falsifications and helped spark the Orange Revolution. Haran’s latest book is From Brezhnev to Zelensky: Dilemmas of a Ukrainian Political Scientist (2021).

In winter 2013-2014, Haran was a member of the Council of ‘Maidan’. In 2014-2017, as a political scientist, he spent two months at the frontline near Mariupol, Luhansk, and Donetsk airport. For fifteen years, he was a member of the Public Council under the Ukrainian MFA.

In 2021, US-Ukraine Foundation awarded Prof. Haran as one of “30 Stars of Ukraine”, representing the country on the world stage. In 2023, he was awarded British Empire Medal by King Charles III for contribution to the UK – Ukraine strategic partnership.

Yuliya Yurchuk is Associate Professor of History of Ideas at Södertörn University, Sweden. She specializes in memory studies, transnational intellectual history, history of religion, and the study of nationalism in East European countries. She is the author of the book Reordering of Meaningful Worlds: Memory of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in Post-Soviet Ukraine (Acta 2014) and one of the editors of “Memory and Religion from a Postsecular Perspective” (Routledge, 2022, co-edited with Zuzanna Bogumil). Her articles have appeared in Memory Studies, Nationalities Papers, e-flux, Topos, Nordisk Østforum, Baltic Worlds, Ukraina Moderna, Dwotygodnik, ReVisions, Korydor. She also translates Swedish literature into Ukrainian and is an author of the book “Sweden: a model kit” (Vihola, 2023, in Ukrainian).

Jørn Holm-Hansen (PhD) is a political scientist and senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research at Oslo Metropolitan University. His main academic field of work is politics and reforms in East and Central European states, notably Russia, Ukraine and Poland. Holm-Hansen is currently leading a project on working life and trade union organisation in Ukraine. Recently, he conducted a study of Ukrainian policies for refugee return. He has previously participated in a research project on regional tensions and cohesion in Ukraine. At times, Holm-Hansen also do applied research, mainly evaluations of development aid and democracy support. As part of this area of work, he has evaluated the Norwegian support to democratization through schools in Ukraine.

Karen-Anna Eggen is a Senior Research Fellow at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, where she heads the Programme on Ukraine and Full-Spectrum Threats. She recently submitted her PhD at the University of Oslo on Russian strategy, information confrontation, and the use of other unconventional instruments. Her research interests also include European and transatlantic security, the Nordic region and the High North, as well as hybrid threats.

She has previously worked as an advisor at the Norwegian Atlantic Committee and held various positions at the Norwegian Consulate General in St. Petersburg, Russia. She is one of the founders of Stratagem, an online platform for expert-based discussion on defence and security policy. She currently serves on the boards of both the Gunnar Sønsteby Memorial Fund and the Human Rights House Foundation.