Hokkaido-Melbourne Joint Workshop
War, Migration, and Identity: Exploring New Agendas for Ukrainian Studies in the Asia-Pacific Region
Organized by the Research Initiative on Post-Soviet Space (University of Melbourne) and
Research Unit for Ukraine and Neighboring Areas (Slavic-Eurasian Research Center, Hokkaido University)
University of Melbourne
8-9 December 2025
Research Lounge, Level 5, Arts West building, Parkville campus
| Panel/time | Name | Topic |
| Day 1. Monday 8 December | ||
| Opening Session 9:00-9:15am | Greetings and opening remarks. Prof. Yoko Aoshima (Hokkaido University), Prof. Mark Edele (University of Melbourne) | |
| Panel 1 9:15-10:15am | Diaspora and Transnational Activism in the Asia-Pacific Region Chair: Prof. Motoki Nomachi (Hokkaido University) Discussant: Dr Andonis Piperoglou (SHAPS, University of Melbourne) | |
| Dr Olga Khomenko (University of Oxford) (via Zoom) | A Wilsonian Moment on the Periphery: Ukrainian Diaspora and Transnational Activism in North-East Asia (1918–1919) | |
| Jesse Seeberg-Gordon (PhD candidate, SHAPS, University of Melbourne) | Hawke and the Balts: The Baltic Independence Movement in Australia, 1985-1991 | |
| Dr Iryna Skubii, Deanna Ramsey (SHAPS, University of Melbourne) | Ukrainian Community in Australia and Defence of Human Rights in Ukraine | |
| 10:15-10:30am | Morning tea | |
| Panel 2 10:30-11:45am | Language and Memory Beyond Space and Time: A Historical and Linguistic Focus Chair: Dr Iryna Skubii (SHAPS, University of Melbourne) Discussant: Dr Olga Maxwell (SOLL, University of Melbourne) | |
| Dr Kasia Williams (Australian National University) | Language as Archive: Trauma and Memory in Sybirak Narratives in Australia | |
| Massayuki Uemura (PhD candidate, Hokkaido University) | Criticism of Contemporary Ukrainian-Language Writers of Nikolai Gogol’s Era in Russian Journals | |
| Dr Jennifer R. Cash (Nanyang Technological University) | Risks in the Region: Memories of War, Starvation, and Migration on the Banks of the Nistru | |
| Prof. Motoki Nomachi (Hokkaido University) | The West Polessian Movement after 30 Years | |
| 11:45am-1:00pm 12:00pm | Break Lunch (boxed lunches will be delivered to Research Lounge) | |
| Panel 3 1:00-2:15pm | Fates of Eastern European Ethnic Communities after the Second World War in Australia and Beyond Chair: Prof. Motoki Nomachi (Hokkaido University) Discussant: Prof. Sheila Fitzpatrick (Australian Catholic University) | |
| Winter Greet (MA student, University of Melbourne) | The Role of Women in Melbourne’s Ukrainian Diaspora as Protectors of Culture and Memory, from Post-World War II to the Present | |
| Lucyna Artymiuk (PhD candidate, SHAPS, University of Melbourne) (via Zoom) | The Polish Soldier Migrant Scheme 1947-1948 | |
| Dr Oleg Beyda (SHAPS, University of Melbourne) | “The Future of Russia Is Ours”: Russian Liberation Army (ROA) Veterans in Australia | |
| 2:15-2:30pm | Break | |
| 2:30-3:15pm | Chair: Assoc. Prof. Julie Fedor (SHAPS, University of Melbourne) Dr Grazyna Zajdow (MA candidate, SHAPS, University of Melbourne) (Zoom option is available for this session) | Master’s Thesis Completion presentation Szymon Zajdow International Brigader: Understanding Transnational Anti-Fascist Experiences in the Interwar Period |
| 3:15-3:30pm | Afternoon tea | |
| Panel 4 3:30-5:00pm | Language, Trauma, and Memory in Eastern European Diasporas in Australia Chair: Prof. Yoko Aoshima (Hokkaido University) Discussant: Prof. Marko Pavlyshyn (Monash University) | |
| Dr Ihor Datsenko (Hokkaido University) | Standards of the Ukrainian Language in the Diaspora following World War II | |
| Dr Olha Shmihelska-Kozuliak, Dr Iryna Skubii, Prof. Marko Pavlyshyn, Dr Yana Ostapenko (University of Melbourne) | Oral History of the Ukrainian Community in Australia through the Memory of the Descendants: From the Idea to the Methods | |
| Kateryna Kasianenko (PhD candidate, Queensland University of Technology) | Fleeting and Persistent Cosmopolitanism towards Ukrainian Refugees in the Japanese-language Twitter Publics | |
| Dr Olga Maxwell (SOLL, University of Melbourne) & Dr Daria Orobchuk (University of Hildesheim) | Language, Trauma and Identity in Exile: A Study of War-Displaced Ukrainians in Australia | |
| 6:00-8:00pm | Dinner University House 53 Professors Rd, Parkville | |
| Day 2. Tuesday 9 December | ||
| 9:00-11:00am | Workshop at the AUV Archive: Archiving the Ukrainian Community in Practice Dr Yana Ostapenko (AUV Archive, La Trobe University), Prof. Marko Pavlyshyn (Monash University), and Dr Iryna Skubii (University of Melbourne) 3-11 Russell Street, Essendon 3040 Link to the address on a Google Map Participants should make their own way to the archive, via Uber or public transport. Uber is probably easier, unless you have already purchased a Myki card for Melbourne public transport, in which case you can take a Craigieburn line train from Melbourne Central station, to Essendon station. The AUV Archive is located at Ukrainian House which is close to Essendon station. | |
| 12:00-1:00pm | Lunch (boxed lunches will be delivered to Research Lounge) | |
| 1:00–2:00 pm | Chair: Prof. Kate McGregor (SHAPS, University of Melbourne) Aleksandra Riabichenko (PhD candidate, SHAPS, University of Melbourne) | PhD completion presentation Tracing the Post-War Fates of Soviet Collaborators in Australia |
| Panel 5 2:15-3:15pm | Russia’s War Against Ukraine and Ukrainian Refugees Chair: Prof. Mark Edele (University of Melbourne) Discussant: Assoc. Prof. Julie Fedor (University of Melbourne) | |
| Prof. Yoko Aoshima (Hokkaido University) | Russia’s Nationality Policy Strategy and the Ukrainians and the Occupied Territories of Ukraine | |
| Olga Velyka (PhD candidate, SOLL, University of Melbourne) | Ukrainian Migrants in Australia Post-2022: Language Practices and Identity | |
| Honorary Principal Research Fellow, Assoc. Prof. Galyna Piskorska (University of Melbourne), Assoc. Prof. Olha Hutsol, and PhD student Raisa Hutsol (both at Borys Grinchenko Kyiv Metropolitan University) | Internal Migration in Ukraine during the War: The Role of Journalists and Local Media in Preserving Identity and Supporting Communities | |
| Closing of Workshop Prof. Motoki Nomachi (Hokkaido University), Assoc. Prof. Julie Fedor (University of Melbourne), Dr Iryna Skubii (University of Melbourne) | ||
| 3:15-3:30pm | Afternoon tea | |
| 3:30-4:30pm | Meeting between RIPSS and SRC (future plans and cooperation) | |
If you would like to attend the workshop, email Julie Fedor: julie.fedor@unimelb.edu.au
To request the Zoom link for the hybrid sessions, email Sasha Riabichenko: riabichenkoa@gmail.com
Image: Alex Jesaulenko’s International Refugee Organisation resettlement documents. NAA: A11959, 1294-1297.