Yulia stands for the idea that youth participation is vital for an inclusive society. She is experienced in local participatory research, and non-formal education of youth work and culture.

As Educational Designer in the Ukrainian youth organization STAN, Yulia aims for the meaningful inclusion of young people and vulnerable groups of different ages. Her first project on intercultural dialogue, Ukrainian Bunch of People, was a participatory research on diversity and good-neighborliness practices in 4 Ukrainian cities (3 of them were attacked by Russians in 2022, 2 are still occupied).

Since 2019 Yulia has enrolled as a trainer at the Cultural Leadership Academy (now Cultural Transformation Lab), a joint program of the Geothe-Institut and the Ministry of Culture and Informational Policy aimed to support local cultural managers in transition to decentralization and to increase the role of the cultural sphere in the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war. In 2021 she was in an expert at the team invited to Kyrgyzstan to implement a cultural mapping project there.

Yulia worked as a trainer in intercultural dialogue for youth workers in the Council of Europe’s program in Ukraine. Last year she developed a methodology for peace dialogue which was applied during the International Peace Day all around Ukraine before the war escalation on February 24, 2022, and in 5 European countries in 2022. An exhibition about peace dialogue practices using her methodology is currently open in Switzerland.

Yulia holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Pedagogy from the Ukrainian Catholic University, studied Culture at the Performing Arts College Snoghøj (Denmark), and Drama Education at Masaryk University (Czech Republic).

“Especially during wartime, it’s important to ensure that young people have their say in designing peaceful future.” – Yuliya LYUBYCH