Online Event: The Chernobyl/Chornobyl Disaster: Presenting the New MAPA Project. Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University Seminar in Ukrainian Studies | MAPA LaunchApril 28, 2021, 18:00 CET/19:00 MSK/12:00 EST

Speakers:

Kostyantyn Bondarenko, IT Professional and MAPA Project Manager, Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University

Nataliia Levchuk, Chief Researcher, Ptoukha Institute of Demography and Social Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Serhii Plokhii, Mykhailo Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History, Department of History, and Director, Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University

Abstract

Following the successful completion of numerous modules on contemporary Ukraine, based on polling data, the HURI MAPA program is moving into a new area, the mapping and spatial analysis of the impact of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster on the human life and society. The new module is envisioned as an integrated geography project at the crossroads of human and ecological geography. It has been undertaken with a number of partners in Ukraine, including the National Research Center for Radiation Medicine at the National Academy of Medical Sciences and National Cancer Registry of Ukraine.

This panel is organized in conjunction with the official launch for the new project. Its participants will discuss the future direction of research and mapping, and will share the first results of their work, including the organization of the website, the resettlement of the population from the Chornobyl exclusion zone, and the impact of the disaster on the migration patterns and other demographic processes in Ukraine.

Register for the Zoom webinar (https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4NE1e8kiTfG03g_H9U4DZQ) or watch live on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_LAJNH60EM).

About the Speakers

Kostyantyn Bondarenko is an IT Professional at the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University and the Project Manager for the MAPA: Digital Atlas of Ukraine program. During his time at the Institute, he has improved and expanded its IT services by designing and developing websites, databases, and GIS maps and web applications. As the Project Manager for the MAPA: Digital Atlas of Ukraine program, Bondarenko manages all technical and organizational aspects of the program. He has worked on all modules of the MAPA program, has presented MAPA projects at several conferences, and is currently working on joint GIS projects between the Ukrainian Research Institute and its partners in the US and abroad.

Nataliia Levchuk is a Chief Researcher at the Ptoukha Institute of Demography and Social Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. She is a demographer whose research interests include a wide range of public health issues, mortality by causes of deaths, and changes in life expectancy, as well as the impact of the 1932-33 Holodomor on Ukraine’s population. In 2013 and 2018, she stayed as a GIS Research Fellow at HURI, working on the MAPA Great Famine project. Her recent publications include Levchuk N. et al. (2020). “Regional variations of the 1932-33 Famine losses: a comparative analysis of Ukraine and Russia,” in Nationalities Papers, 48 (3): 492–512; Levchuk N., and L. Luschik (2019). "Interregional differences in life expectancy within Ukraine: main trends and changes," Demography and Social Economy, 2019, 1(35): 26-40.

Serhii Plokhii is the Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History and the Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University. A leading authority on Ukraine and Eastern Europe, he has published extensively on the international history of the Cold War. He is the author of numerous books, including Chernobyl: History of the Nuclear Catastrophe, and most recently, Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis.