Victoria Donovan

Victoria Donovan is a Professor of Ukrainian and East European Studies and the Director of the Centre for Global Postsocialisms, Southeast, Central and East European Studies at the University of St Andrews. Her current research is on the industrial history and heritage of the Ukrainian East, also known as Donbas, questions of heritage management and manipulation and the role of the industrial past in forming community identities and politics.

Victoria has led several collaborative research projects with partners in Ukraine, including “De-industrialisation and Conflict in Donbas: Capacity building in Ukraine to make Donbas (mono)towns inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable,” (Global Challenges Research Fund, 2018-19) “Un/archiving Post/industry: Engaging Heritage and Developing Cultural Infrastructures,” (Global Challenges Research Fund and House of Europe, 2019-20), and “Donbas in Focus: Visions of Industry from the Ukrainian East” (Arts and Humanities Research Council, 2021-23).

Her research and knowledge transfer work has been recognised with prestigious national prizes and grants, including an Arts and Humanities Leadership Fellowship, British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award, and an AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinker award. In 2023, her work with partners in Ukraine on the “Un/archiving Post/industry” project was awarded a European Heritage Award/EuropaNostra Award for Citizens’ Engagement and Awareness Raising, the EU’s most prestigious award for heritage preservation in Europe.

Victoria's new book, Life in Spite of Everything: Tales from the Ukrainian East, is forthcoming in April 2025 and can be pre-ordered here: https://dauntbookspublishing.co.uk/book/life-in-spite-of-everything/.