Grant Recipients Announced for Ukraine Genocide Research

GAC-funded Holodomor Legacy Initiative stimulating next generation of international research into Holodomor famine-genocide

OTTAWA, ON, June 17, 2026 /CNW/ - The Holodomor Legacy Initiative today announced thirteen grants to international scholars advancing new research into the Holodomor – the Soviet Union's manmade famine perpetrated against Ukraine in 1932-33, recognized internationally as one of history's largest acts of genocide.

The grant awards follow the first Holodomor Legacy Symposium, held in Ottawa-Gatineau May 5-7, 2026, featuring presentations from all shortlisted scholars whose work examines the Holodomor, its historical context, and its enduring social and geopolitical impacts. The final grant determination was made by an expert panel of four, including Hanna Sokyrina, Deputy Director General of the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide in Kyiv; Dr. Oleh Wolowyna with the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; Dr. Florian Glassner with the University of British Columbia; and Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, Professor Emeritus with Royal Military College in Kingston.

"The Holodomor Legacy Initiative is strengthening global understanding of one of the twentieth century's gravest crimes against humanity. Through research, scholarly collaboration, historical preservation, and public education, it will ensure that the millions who perished are never forgotten and that what was done to them is recognized as genocide." - Professor Lubomyr Luciuk

Grant recipients and research titles:

• Eduard Baidus (Canada) – Bordering Famine: Romania's response to the Holodomor
• Olena Burul (Ukraine) – What German society knew
• Derek Congram (Canada/Costa Rica) - Forensic-Archaeological Investigation of Holodomor
• Kristina Hook (USA) – Perpetrator Escalation, Bureaucracy, and Obscured Intent
• Andriy Kohut (Ukraine) – Famine and Jewish colonies in southern Ukraine
• Peter Melnycky (Canada) – Angels of Ambridge: Protesting the Holodomor on the streets of industrial America
• Olha Nikolaienko (Ukraine) – Famine and Jewish colonies in southern Ukraine
• Svitlana Pavlenko (Ukraine) – The Holodomor in the Long-Term Observations of the Japanese Consulate in Odesa
• Henry Prown (Canada) – Orwell and the Holodomor
• Natalia Romanets (Ukraine) – Women's protests and the Holodomor
• Olga Ryabchenko (Ukraine) – Urban enforcers of Soviet policy in rural Ukraine
• Annaliese Schenk (USA) – Genocide denial in Russian discourse on the Holodomor
• Ruslan Siromskyi (Ukraine) – Soviet disinformation and Ukrainian Canadian commemorative efforts
• Jonathon Vsetecka (USA) – Famine commissions in the late Cold War

The grants totalled $155,860.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The Holodomor Legacy Symposium and grant award is a cornerstone event of the Holodomor Legacy Initiative and part of the broader project, Support for Exhibits at the National Museum of the Holodomor Genocide in Kyiv, funded by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada and implemented by Cowater International in partnership with the Canada-Ukraine Foundation. The project partners with the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide in Kyiv, Ukraine, through research, institutional capacity building, and global public awareness of the Holodomor, the deliberate starvation of millions of Ukrainians by the Soviet regime in 1932–33.

More information:
https://www.cowater.com/hlisymposium?utm_source=press+release&utm_medium=wire&utm_campaign=HLI

This project is undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through Global Affairs Canada.

SOURCE Cowater International in partnership with the Canada Ukraine Foundation

MEDIA CONTACT - interview requests and media accreditation: Yaroslav Baran, Founding Partner, Pendulum Group, (613)-301-8802, [email protected]; Heather Bakken, Founding Partner, Pendulum Group, (613)-406-5432, [email protected]