The Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University (HURI) and the Ukrainian Institute, Kyiv (UI), affiliated with Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have embarked on a joint effort to produce a modern, intuitive database of Ukrainian sources in English translation.
Ukraïnica: The Primary Database of Ukrainian Studies will serve as an online portal to discover, bookmark, and access resources such as Ukrainian literature, historical documents, witness testimony, films, and other primary sources created originally in the Ukrainian language and currently available in high-quality English-language translations.
“Ukraïnica aims to increase the presence of Ukraine in academia, including in fields outside Slavic departments, such as history, women’s studies, anthropology, and political science,” said Serhii Plokhii, Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard. “The Ukrainian Institute will play a key role in bringing this vision to fruition.”
The collaboration between HURI and UI on this digital teaching and learning platform is part of a broader Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two institutions in November 2020, agreeing to jointly pursue a number of concrete goals.
“This collaboration reflects the Ukrainian Institute's ambition to advance Ukrainian studies and scholarly projects internationally,” said Volodymyr Sheiko, Director General of the Ukrainian Institute, Kyiv. “Increasing the availability of high-quality, multidisciplinary scholarly resources on Ukraine is an important step towards this goal. We are honored to work with the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University on this project.”
The Ukraïnica project was envisioned and initiated by Oleh Kotsyuba, HURI Manager of Publications, who serves as the Project Director. Sandra Joy Russell, Ukraïnica Project Editor and PhD Candidate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has already done significant preliminary work to lay the foundations for the resource. Currently under development, the database will be hosted on a website built by Ukrainian-American tech firm QuartSoft, which also developed HURI’s journal website and books website. Despite the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, the initial launch of the project is expected within the next year, an ambitious timeline made possible by this strong collaboration.
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Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University is an active academic center that supports scholarship on Ukraine as part of the University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Its activities aim to advance knowledge of Ukraine in the United States and abroad through research, teaching and publication, particularly in the fields of history, language, and literature. With Ukraine's independence, its mission has broadened to include contemporary political, social, and economic issues. |
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Ukrainian Institute is a public institution affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. Its mission is to strengthen Ukraine's international standing through the means of cultural diplomacy. The Institute facilitates international connections between people and institutions and creates opportunities for Ukraine to interact and cooperate with the world. |