Seminar series “Rethinking Ukraine’s Environment: War, Ecocide, and Beyond”
Coming this fall from CIUS and partners—a new international seminar series on the environmental history of Ukraine.
Russia’s ongoing military aggression against Ukraine has brought unprecedented attention to the environmental consequences of armed conflict. While discussions on ecocide and the destruction of ecosystems have gained traction in media and academic circles, historical perspectives on human–environment interactions in Ukraine remain underexplored. Understanding these historical relationships is vital for comprehending the deeper roots of current environmental challenges and envisioning sustainable futures.
The “Rethinking Ukrainian Environment: War, Ecocide, and Beyond” series aims to address this gap by fostering an interdisciplinary dialogue on the past, present, and future of Ukraine’s environment. This initiative will bring together scholars from various disciplines—including environmental history, environmental humanities, ecology, biology, geography, anthropology, political science, cultural studies, linguistics, folklore, geography, economics, and hydrology—in order to explore the epistemological, theoretical, empirical, and practical dimensions of research on Ukraine’s environment. Rather than focusing solely on war and destruction, the series will emphasize broader historical and contemporary human–environment interactions across different ecosystems and geopolitical contexts.
In addition to research-focused presentations on a range of topics, the seminars will include methodological discussions aimed at helping scholars to refine their approaches to studying Ukraine’s environmental history and current conditions.
By bridging the past and present, integrating diverse academic disciplines—including the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences—and bringing together researchers worldwide while highlighting various ecosystems and human–environment interactions, the seminar series is expected to foster rich discussions and knowledge exchange. In turn, this will encourage new research and innovative perspectives on identifying solutions to Ukraine’s environmental challenges.
Starting this fall - join our mailing list to be notified of upcoming seminars.
Hosted by CIUS, this international seminar series is a joint initiative of the and the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (91ĸƵ), with further support from the , , and the .
Image credits:
Inset: “Dnipro Rapids 1920”; public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Background: “Rapids in the 18th c.”; public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.