Hanna Shelest

Hanna Shelest, PhD, is Head of Security Programmes at the Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism” and Editor-in-chief at UA: Ukraine Analytica. Prior to this, she had served for more than 10 years as a Senior Researcher at the National Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Ukraine, Odessa Branch. In 2014, Dr. Shelest was a Visiting Research Fellow at the NATO Defense College in Rome. Previously she had experience in PR and lobbying for government and business, as well as teaching at Odessa National University.

Dr. Shelest was an adviser of the Working Group preparing Ukrainian Navy Strategy 2035. She is currently involved in working groups developing Foreign Policy Concept of Ukraine, Asian Strategy for MFA, and Ukraine’s NATO Public Communication Strategy.

Dr Shelest received her MA in International Relations with Deep Knowledge of English and Arabic Languages at Odessa National University, and a PhD in International Relations from the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, as well as professional Certificate in Peace and Conflict Resolution from Rotary Peace Center at Chulalongkorn University (Thailand).

Dr Shelest led different policy related projects, among others: Scorecards of the Ukrainian Foreign Policy (2016-2020); The Hybrid War Decade: Lessons Learned to Move Forward Successfully (2019), Foreign Policy Recommendations for the Parliament of Ukraine (2017-2020); Ukrainian Naval Forces Strategic Appraisal (2018); Ukrainian Peacebuilding School (2014-2017); Elaborating recommendations on the Ukraine OSCE Chairmanship (2012-2013).

Her main research interests are foreign policy of Ukraine, conflicts resolution, hybrid warfare and malign foreign influence, security and cooperation, especially in the Wider Black Sea Region and the Middle East. She has more than 50 academic and more than 200 articles in media published worldwide. She is regular presenter at the international conferences and commenter for the media.

Dr. Shelest is a Rotary Peace Fellow 2010, Black Sea Young Reformer 2011, John Smith Fellow 2012, NDC PfP Research Fellow 2014, Marshall Memorial Fellow 2016, TUBITAK Research fellow 2018, Think Visegrad Fellow 2019.