Orysia Lutsevych OBE is head of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House. She is also deputy director of the institute’s Russia and Eurasia Programme. Orysia’s research focuses on social change, the role of civil society in democratic transition in Eastern Europe and, most recently, democratic resilience to foreign encroachment. She is the author of several Chatham House research publications, most recently including How a Russia–Ukraine ceasefire could imperil Ukrainian and European security (with Simon Smith, John Lough and Keir Giles, 2026). Her media work includes contributions for the BBC, CNN, the Guardian, The Times, the Financial Times and the New York Times.
Prior to joining Chatham House as the institute’s first Robert Bosch academy fellow, Orysia led the start-up of Europe House Georgia and was executive director of the Open Ukraine Foundation. She has master’s degrees in international relations from Lviv State University and in public administration from the University of Missouri.
Jaroslava Barbieri is a research fellow at the Ukraine Forum, supported by the Robert Bosch Stiftung. Her research interests include Ukrainian politics and society, Russian foreign policy, EU security and enlargement, disinformation and cognitive defence. Her media commentary has appeared in British and international media, including the BBC, CNN, France 24, Deutsche Welle, Sky News and The Telegraph. She is also a researcher for the Ukrainian History Global Initiative, co-authoring multiple research publications on Ukraine in collaboration with the Kyiv-based Public Interest Journalism Lab.
Between March 2022 and May 2025, Jaroslava was a project manager and strategist at Zinc Network, an international development and strategic communications agency. Previously, she was a researcher for the Arena programme, SNF Agora Institute, Johns Hopkins University, and a teaching associate at the University of Birmingham. Over the years, she has contributed to research projects on Ukraine supported by the UK government, USAID and the European Commission. She has a master’s degree in European Politics from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Russian and East European Studies from the University of Birmingham.
