21.06.2024: Colloquium on Technology and Science Research

While environmental warfare is a long-standing phenomenon, it is far from being exclusively relegated to history. Since the onset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, not only urban areas, but also forests, rivers, and agricultural lands have become critical targets on the battlefield, causing significant environmental devastation especially in the central, eastern, and southern parts of the country. Given the magnitude of the war, not seen in Europe since WWII, these numerous environmental impacts cannot be postponed until its end to be addressed. This urgency has made Ukraine a pioneer in tackling environmental issues during wartime almost in real time. Today, Ukraine is fighting on several fronts, including, metaphorically, the environmental one as well. The latest front involves monitoring the harms of toxic legacies left in many battlefields, gathering environmental evidence to support ecocide accusations, and initiating urgent interventions to sustain a variety of multispecies entanglements across different locations in the country.

In this colloquium, the consequences of war for humans and non-humans alike will be discussed from various academic perspectives.
First, Dr. Maryna Ladyka will present her work on monitoring the aftermath of flooding in Irpin Valley as a consequence of dam breaking during the Russian offensive in the suburbs north of Kyiv. She will expose the consequences for humans and non-humans of living in flooded areas and the challenges associated with monitoring the environment during war. 

Second, Dr. Darya Tsymbalyuk will present an environmental humanities perspective on the issues of the war, addressing the “loss of the shared worlds” caused by the Russian full-scale invasion. Her work connects this war of aggression to a larger trajectory of Russian colonial legacy in Ukraine and its effects on the environment.

Presentation 1:
Title: Destroying of Dams Due to War in Ukraine: Environmental Consequences (Case Study: Irpin Valley Flooding).
Presenter: Dr. Maryna Ladyka is Associate Professor in the Department of Agrosphere Ecology and Environmental Control at the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine. Maryna has published extensively on ecological matters, particularly focusing on water. Her body of work includes also several studies on the ecological consequences of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine. Currently, she is involved in monitoring the war's effects on the Irpin River Valley, among other ongoing projects.

Presentation 2:
Title: Loss of the Shared Worlds: Environmental Destruction and Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Presenter: Dr. Darya Tsymbalyuk is a Visiting Fellow at the New Europe College, Bucharest. She received her PhD from the University of St Andrews, Scotland, in 2021 and since then held academic fellowships at IWM (Institute for Human Sciences), Vienna, St Anthony’s College, University of Oxford, and School of Advanced Study, University of London. She is currently finishing a book about the environmental impacts of Russia’s war on Ukraine, forthcoming with Polity press in Spring 2025. Her environmental writing appeared in BBC Future Planet, openDemocracy, Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture, and Rachel Carson Center Review, among other platforms. 

Moderator: Dr. Francesc G. Rodríguez (Brandenburg University of Technology)
Colloquium Time: Friday, 21st of June, 11:30 – 13:00 (CEST).