Event Report: 2024 Ukrainian History Global Initiative (UHGI) Annual Academic Conference (Kyiv, 10-12 September, 2024)

The first Annual Conference of the Ukrainian History Global Initiative took place in Kyiv. 56 scholars, participants of the project from Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Poland, Italy, and other countries gathered to present their research, engage in discussions, and establish professional connections.

The conference consisted of three breakout sessions. During each six workshops with 5-12 participants were held in parallel. Sometimes participants were asked to present their topic to colleagues who work on very distant subjects and even from other fields. The workshops were moderated by respected scholars and members of the Academic Council: Timothy Snyder, Borys Gudziak, Tetiana Hoshko, Eckart Frahm, Andrea Graziosi, David Blackbourn, Yaroslav Hrytsak, Anton Drobovych, Rory Finnin and Timothy Garton Ash.

The 2024 conference marks the beginning of research work, to be followed by two major conferences in 2025 and 2026, alongside numerous workshops in between. Collaboration itself will generate approaches and findings that cannot be anticipated at the outset, nor achieved by scholars working in isolation.

The Ukrainian History Global Initiative is an international academic project founded by Viсtor Pinchuk in 2023, and registered as a charitable foundation in the UK. Its Board of Trustees is chaired by Carl Bildt, and Timothy Snyder is the head of the Academic Council. The UHGI will work towards an experiential, creative, deep and broad version of Ukrainian history, starting in prehistory, going to the present.