Ukraine’s history as part of world history: What 200 researchers led by Timothy Snyder are creating

What does it take to tell the history of Ukraine to the world? For three days in Kyiv, 80 scholars, researchers, and other contributors gathered to work on that question, and to bring three years of collaborative research closer to publication.

The third annual conference of the Ukrainian History Global Initiative (UHGI), held from 14 to 16 September 2026, marked an important transition for the project. With its research programme moving towards completion, the Initiative is now preparing to transform years of academic work into books and an ambitious digital platform designed to make Ukraine's history accessible to audiences around the world.

Founded by businessman and philanthropist Victor Pinchuk in 2023 and led academically by world renown historian Timothy Snyder, UHGI brings together an international community of about 200 researchers to develop a comprehensive history of Ukraine, from prehistory to the present, placing the lands and peoples of Ukraine within the broader history of the world.

As Snyder explained in his opening remarks, the ambition is to produce a comprehensive history of Ukraine through the history of the world, and a comprehensive history of the world through the history of Ukraine.

A different kind of academic conference

Unlike conventional academic conferences, the Kyiv gathering was organised around collaborative work without formal presentations.

Over three days, participants discussed 58 research papers in 58 dedicated workshops. Each session brought together authors and fellow scholars to examine drafts, challenge interpretations, explore connections between different periods of history, and consider how complex academic research could be communicated to readers beyond academia.

There were no slideshow presentations and no hybrid online participation. The emphasis was on being together in the same room, reading one another's work, exchanging ideas, and building the intellectual relationships that make a project of this scale possible.

For many participants, the conference was also an opportunity to reconnect with colleagues who have been working together since the Initiative began, while welcoming new contributors who joined the project this year.

The discussions reflected one of UHGI's central ambitions: to produce history that meets rigorous scholarly standards while remaining engaging and accessible to a broad public.

That requires more than simplifying academic language. It means developing narratives that help readers understand why historical events matter, how different periods and places are connected, and how Ukraine's past forms part of a much larger human story.

Building a scholarly community in wartime

The decision to gather in Kyiv carried particular significance as Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine continues.

For international participants, travelling to the conference meant experiencing some of the realities of wartime Ukraine firsthand. For Ukrainian researchers, it meant continuing their academic work amid the challenges and uncertainty of war.

Susan Bonner, a Canadian journalist and Senior Fellow at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, joined UHGI's Academic Council this year, bringing four decades of experience in journalism and public communication.

Her journey to Kyiv was disrupted by a Russian drone attack on railway infrastructure near the Ukrainian-Polish border. Travelling alongside other UHGI participants, she experienced lengthy delays and an evacuation to a railway station shelter before reaching the capital.

In an article published in Policy Magazine following the conference, Bonner reflected on the experience of travelling through a country at war to join an international project devoted to making Ukraine's past accessible to a global audience.

Her account illustrates a central idea behind the Initiative: understanding Ukraine's present requires a deeper understanding of its past and of the country's place in world history.

https://www.policymagazine.ca/letter-from-kyiv-riding-the-rails-in-putins-war/

For Timothy Snyder, the gathering also demonstrated the importance of scholarly collaboration at a time when isolation and intimidation threaten intellectual life.

In his closing remarks, he reflected on what participants had achieved together:

"We're certainly working against isolation. We're working against over-specialization. We're working against intimidation. We're working against demoralization and nihilism."

But the purpose of the gathering, he emphasised, was not simply to resist these pressures. It was also to build something together: a community founded on intellectual exchange, mutual support, and a shared commitment to historical truth.

"We're working towards community," he said, "but also affirmation of the principle that we can pursue scholarly truth and that you can do it together."

From academic research to books and a digital experience

The conference also marked the beginning of a new phase in UHGI's development.

Over the past three years, researchers have been investigating subjects spanning thousands of years of history. Their work encompasses archaeology, the movement of peoples, cultural and religious exchange, political developments, and the many connections between Ukraine and the wider world.

The discussions in Kyiv demonstrated the progress made in developing these individual studies into a coherent historical narrative.

Authors are now moving towards the next stage of their work: completing their research, responding to academic feedback, and preparing their texts for publication.

During the conference, researchers also met members of UHGI's editorial team led by Clive Priddle, which has begun working with authors to develop texts that combine academic rigour with clarity and accessibility.

The editorial process will be accompanied by the development of maps, illustrations, and other visual materials to help bring the research to life.

As Snyder explained in his closing remarks, the ambition extends beyond producing a conventional collection of academic publications.

"We're doing both scholarly and popular history," he said. "We're meant to be doing both written history and experienced history."

The Initiative plans to publish its research through books in English and Ukrainian, alongside an ambitious digital platform designed to bring Ukraine's history to a global audience.

The platform is intended to offer more than a digital library of academic texts. By combining historical narratives with visual materials and interactive ways of exploring the past, UHGI aims to create an experience that allows readers to discover Ukraine's history, understand its connections to world history, and explore subjects in greater depth according to their interests.

Snyder described the ambition as bringing scientific research to a very large audience in a way that respects readers' different backgrounds and empowers them to deepen their knowledge.

The next chapter: 2027 and 2028

Although the third annual conference has concluded, the work of the Initiative continues.

Further workshops are planned from October 2026 into 2027, allowing researchers to continue reviewing one another's work, strengthen connections between related subjects, and develop their manuscripts.

The coming year will focus on completing the remaining research and writing, alongside the continuing editorial process. Where necessary, additional focused studies will help address gaps in the research and strengthen connections across the broader historical narrative.

In parallel, UHGI will continue developing its publishing arrangements, visual materials, and digital platform.

The Initiative currently anticipates preparing its principal research outputs for public release in 2028, with the ambition of reaching audiences across Ukraine and internationally.

For Snyder, the opportunity offered to the researchers is an unusual one: to see their academic work become part of a much larger collective project, supported by extensive scholarly collaboration, professional editing, and new ways of reaching the public.

He encouraged participants to embrace that opportunity and to continue working together towards the project's completion.

The conference ended with a shared understanding that the work ahead extends beyond finishing individual manuscripts. It is about bringing together years of research into a history of Ukraine that can be read, explored, and experienced by people around the world.

And, as the gathering in Kyiv demonstrated, that work begins with the people willing to come together to make it possible.

Ruslan Kavatsiuk, Managing Director Ukrainian History Global Initiative