INDEX 2025 Overview
Throughout the year, INDEX continued to support research and documentation of wartime experiences, creative practice and international exchange, while expanding our programmes and partnerships. This overview highlights the people, initiatives, and collaborations that shaped our work in 2025.
This year, INDEX hosted 15 international and Ukrainian Fellows, Scholars in Residence, and Associate Fellows.
“I truly cannot overstate how much I appreciated the atmosphere at INDEX. From the thoughtful exhibits to the positive nature of everyone working there and the genuine team spirit, it was an important reminder that creative spaces can be collaborative and supportive instead of being competitive… My experiences in academia so far have shown that such collaborative spaces are much rarer than they should be, and I hope you all know how special what you have created is.”
Emily Channell-Justice, October Scholar in Residence
“I was a participant in INDEX’s first Veterans Programme, and I am deeply grateful to the wonderful team at the institution for ensuring that the first programme was not the last. More fellows with combat experience and compelling creative projects will follow soon. I spent three months in Lviv, and during that time I fully came to appreciate the team’s skill and talent in creating an environment for creative work: supportive without being intrusive, friendly while respecting personal boundaries, rich in public activities, yet allowing participants to choose their own rhythm and pace. It was a valuable opportunity to reflect calmly and to make many important decisions.”
Yevhen Shybalov, Veteran Fellow 2025
“My residency at INDEX has involved my work growing from a blank page into a four-chapter manuscript of 30,000 words. The most fundamental benefit of being part of INDEX has been its community. I have been especially anxious about the ethical complexities of writing about Ukraine as a relative newcomer. It seemed crucial to me that I should write at least a portion of the book in Ukraine, surrounded by those with whom I could share ideas, check hunches, talk to, and be corrected by.”
Charlotte Higgins, Scholar in Residence from April to June
Learn more about our Residents and Fellows and their projects on the INDEX website in the Fellowships/Residences section.
We also welcomed two new colleagues to the team:
- Olesya Yaremchuk is a documentary storyteller and researcher. At INDEX, Olesya is a Programme Curator.
- Tetyana Bots is an editor, journalist and communications specialist. At INDEX, Tetyana is Communications Manager.
In 2025, we hosted or co-organised:
- 61 internal and public events, including 10 internal seminars for our Fellows and Scholars in Residence, as well as training sessions for the team, study visits, online workshops, public readings and conversations, сurated events and panel discussions at cultural festivals both in Ukraine and abroad;
- 17 institutional visits for our programme’s participants and wider community to better introduce and promote Lviv’s cultural and research initiatives and projects;
- 5 exhibitions of Ukrainian artists: illustrator Stanislav Turina, service members and artists Ivan Hubenko and Mykola Leonovych, as well as fallen soldiers and photographers Alla “Ruta” Pushkarchuk and Roman Chornomaz. For details on our upcoming exhibitions, keep an eye on the updates in the Events section.
- Dr Maria Tumarkin’s in-person delivery of Creative Nonfiction Writing School has turned into a highlight of INDEX’s programming, and we look forward to its new iteration in 2026.
- In 2025, we also held our first annual summary event in memory of the Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina and dedicated to the Fellowship Programme named after her. On Victoria Day in September, we brought together 70 people at the Lviv Skansen to reflect on the many initiatives launched by Victoria and on how her work continues.
In 2025, INDEX was proud to launch or develop a number of key initiatives that have shed light on Ukrainian culture during the war and supported the work of documentarians, expanding both its depth and international reach.
— We established the Victoria Amelina Fellowship for Ukrainian and international creative nonfiction writers documenting Russia’s war against Ukraine. The programme emerged as a way to continue the fight for justice that drove Victoria Amelina, who was killed in 2023 as a result of a Russian missile strike. In the inaugural year, Eva Peek and Kateryna Iakovlenko became the first Victoria Amelina Fellows. The 2026 Fellows will be selected by the jury and announced by 20 January.
— We also launched INDEX’s Veteran Programme as a pioneering initiative for reintegration and creative reflection on the experiences of those who have defended Ukraine’s right to exist within the Armed Forces. The project is supported by Razom. Journalist Yevhen Shybalov became the programme’s participant in its pilot year. In 2026, playwright Alina Sarnatska and photographer Mykola Hlibovych, as well as two veterans whose names will be announced in the summer, will participate in the Veteran Programme. Read more about the programme’s new members on our website.
— INDEX worked on a commemorative cross-institutional initiative, Ukrainian Culture Makers Killed by Russia, together with our partners: PEN Ukraine, ZMINA Human Rights Center, The Memorial Platform, Ukrainian Heritage Monitoring Lab (HeMo), Lemkin Society, and Ukrainian Institute of National Memory. The project records the stories of Ukrainian cultural practitioners killed by Russia during the full-scale war and publicises these cases internationally, advocating for justice.
— In March, we launched two newsletters: a monthly newsletter covering our programmes, key news, and announcements, and an online magazine Narysy, which features reflections from the broader INDEX community on the Ukrainian experiences of the war.
You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter or to the online magazine Narysy for updates and insights. After Narysy are shared with subscribers via newsletter format, the pieces are uploaded in full onto the INDEX website.
— We have redesigned our website to help you explore INDEX’s work and stay updated on our news. You can now learn more about the work of our Fellows and Scholars in Residence on a new dedicated page. Explore the new website at index-ukraine.org.
We contributed to the editorship and production of print and online publications:
— London Ukrainian Review (Issue 4 “Wartime Childhood” and Issue 5 “Culture as Security”). This open-access magazine tackles global challenges through the prism of Ukraine while adopting a distinctly internationalist perspective on Ukraine's past and present. Next year, we are excited to collaborate with the Ukrainian Institute London and Academic Studies Press on two new issues;
— Documenting the War: Between Ukraine and the World. This collection of essays and interviews (edited by Sasha Dovzhyk, Taras Nazaruk and Natalia Otrishchenko) explores the theme of the second annual symposium
"The Most Documented War," which focused on international collaborations in 2024. The book is available for purchase at the Center for Urban History, and will soon be freely accessible online.
Our gratitude goes to the IWM (Vienna) for its support during our first year of work. We are also grateful to Scan Systems Ltd and Ukrainian Credit Union, whose contributions helped us launch our Veteran Programme.
We are delighted to have secured Ukrainian and international partnerships for the next year. We are grateful to the Robert Bosch Stiftung for its vital institutional support, which enabled us to plan and develop our work with confidence, conviction, and hope. We thank our new partners for funding INDEX’s key programmes: ERSTE Stiftung (Scholars in Residence scheme and a new programme to be announced in February), International Renaissance Foundation (Victoria Amelina Fellowship), and Razom Foundation (Veteran Programme).
INDEX is grateful to our partners, friends, volunteers and the Armed Forces of Ukraine for making it possible to bring our institutional mission to life.