Iryna Solonenko at IEP
The Ukrainian SPES fellow Iryna Solonenko stayed at IEP from 28 September to 25 October 2009. She used her research stay to meet experts, inter alia from the Federal Foreign Ministry, the Chancellery and Berlin based think tanks. She held a guest lecture at the research colloquium of the PhD programme “Zivilgesellschaft und externe Demokratisierung im postsozialistischen Europa” at Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder). Moreover, her SPES research project was discussed at an expert workshop at IEP as well as the jour fixe at Kolleg-Forschergruppe “Transformative Power of Europe“ at the Freie Universität Berlin. Iryna’s research stay was complemented by a research trip to Brussels (from 2 to 8 November) where she met scholars and political actors working on EU-Ukraine relations. Moreover, she spoke at the IEP/TEPSA conference “How to improve ENP?” on Ukraine’s perception of European Neighbourhood Policy.
Iryna Solonenko has worked as the Director of the European Programme at the International Renaissance Foundation (Soros Foundation in Ukraine) since May 2004. The goal of the Programme is to increase the quality and effectiveness of Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration policy and shape public demand for Ukraine’s Europeanization via initiating and providing financial, expert and organizational support to relevant civil society initiatives in Ukraine. During 2000 and 2004 Iryna worked for the EastWest Institute, Kyiv Centre and dealt with implications of EU enlargement for Ukraine’s relations with its Central-European neighbours and regional development in Ukraine. Before that Iryna was involved into the work of USAID and CIDA funded projects in Ukraine. Iryna is a PhD candidate at the Department of European Integration, National Academy of Public Administration in Ukraine. She works on the topic of EU’s policy towards eastern neighbours and EU’s impact on political transformation of Ukraine. During 2006 and 2007 Iryna undertook research at the European Research Institute of the University of Birmingham (UK) on this topic. Iryna holds an MA in International Relations and European Studies from Central European University in Budapest and a BA in history from National University “Kiev-Mohyla Academy” in Kyiv. Iryna has been a speaker and participant at many conferences on EU-Ukraine relations, Ukraine’s European integration, and EU policy towards Eastern neighbours and has a number of relevant publications in English and Ukrainian.