Staff Profile

 Dr Ievgeniia Dragomirova is a Research Fellow in Adult Education from 2022-2024, funded through the British Academy as a Ukranian Researcher at Risk at the University of Glasgow. Her research in Glasgow extend her interests in third age learning through being based in CR&DALL with a particular focus on older migrants who have recently entered the UK from places in crisis. A focus on adult education and migration fits very closely to two of the core themes of the School of Education, one of the UK’s leading research universities in this field. Dr Dragomirova is also part of the PASCAL Observatory's Learning Cities Network within which the city of Mariupol is a member. Her research will be informed by the work of that network of which she will remain an active contributor, and will offer insights to other cities around the world.

Prior to exile she was an Associate Professor in Foreign Economics at the Donetsk State University of Management, Ukraine until 31 December 2021 when she went into exile, and subsequently was a specialist in the International Department of Donetsk State University of Internal Affairs, working part time at distance. She holds a Masters and PhD in Economics from the Donetsk State University of Management. Her PhD was focused on social capital formation and social policy.

She has 15 years of teaching experience in the field of economics and social policy with an increasing focus over time on education in later life. She was originally based in Donetsk itself and later in Mariupol when the university was re-located following the first Russian invasion. In the Management School she has taught courses in Operational management, Social Responsibility and Social policy, and Leadership and Education with a focus on Tourism.

For 6 years she was heading the Centre, “University for the Third Age”, at Donetsk State University of Management in Mariupol, where her teaching focus was Social Media and Media Literacy for adults.

She has developed a strong research profile in third age education, educational leadership, quality assurance in HE and education in places conflict through her involvement in a number of EU (EuropeAid, Tempus) and nationally funded programmes.

The University for the Third Age centre developed from one of these Tempus programmes within which she was the lead Ukranian researcher. It created lifelong learning provision for seniors (60+) through establishing a strong relationships with the local community, intergenerational exchange and strong governance structures. It was commended by the European Commission as both a ‘success story’ and an example of ‘good practice’. It was based on the development of a strong portfolio of teaching, training and most importantly research concerning the conditions (pedagogical and organizational) that lead to increased access for elderly people into the educational system with all the concomitant health, societal and economic benefits. It has included the development of novel self-organised adult education provision, with seniors themselves being trained as trainers. As a result of the expertise that she acquired in the field of education for adults, she became an adviser in the development of the national strategy for creating a barrier-free space in Ukraine for the period until 2030 in the field of education.

In recent years, her research and management focus has been the development of the higher education institutions according to the international standards of the Rome Ministerial Communique, which focuses on quality assurance in education and equal access to education. Her main interests in research and development are: social capital and the role of University in social and human capital development, leadership in higher education, education quality assurance, lifelong learning and intergenerational cooperation, and international development.

As a displaced person in Mariupol from the earlier conflict zone in the Donbass Region of Ukraine, she also established and headed the NGO “Ukrainian Institute of Crisis Management and Conflict Resolution” from 2015 until the present time. The primary purpose of this NGO was to help to displaced people to overcome the crisis, integrate into the new local community and develop new relationships and connections with society.

The NGO has not only been active in practical ways, but has sought its work through research-informed studies to exploring ways to resolve conflict situations. As of now, the Ukrainian Institute of Crisis Management and Conflict Resolution has been a partner in Jean Monnet Programme projects, including one ongoing project “Until Every Barrier Falls”, which has provided a series of training progammes for English language teachers of secondary schools in Mariupol. As a result, under her leadership, new interactive methods have helped ensure an inclusive environment in the classroom and inspire several social initiatives aimed at students with special needs.

Selected Publications: 

Publications in English (selected)

Leadership of the “University of the Third Age” in Greening Education, Economy and Environment A. Stoyka, I. Dragomirova // URL://ul-journal.org/index.php/journal/article/view/21 Social Integration of Ukrainian Ageing People  by Anna Chechel, Ievgeniia Dragomirova // Active Ageing From Wisdom to Lifelong Learning // Monography est Guido Amoretti, Diana Spulber and Nicoletta Varani. 2017. - p.192 Universities as a qualified provisor of non-formal education of ageing people / A. Stoyka, I. Dragomirova // Стратегічний потенціал державного та територіального розвитку: матеріали II Міжнародної науково-практичної конференції, м. Маріуполь, 4–5 жовтня 2018 рp. 358-359 The Establishment of Quality Culture in Higher Education / A. Stoyka, I. Dragomirova // Proceeding of VI International scientific and practical conference "Promoting effective quality culture practices in higher education: benchmarking and resource search", November 12-13, 2019, Almati. – pp.. 143-146 Center of Leadership as a Ground for Professional and personal Development of Public Servants // Irina Noga, Ievgeniia Dragomirova, Andrey Stoyka // International Scientific Journal of Universities and Leadership #4, 2017 URL: ul-journal.org/index.php/journal/article/view/59 Assessing environmental security of differentiated territories / Marova S,  Solokha D, Moreva V., Dragomirova I., Chernyshov O.// Ournal of security and sustainability issues. Vol. 8. №4 (June). 2019 Entrepreneurship model of cybernetic security professionals /Portna, O., Melikhov. A., Dragomirova, I., Noha, I., & Soichuk, R. //  Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, Vol. 22(5). 2019 Efficiency estimation of innovation projects eco-economic development / Chechel Anna, Dragomirova Ievgeniia / Managing Economic Growth: Marketing, Management, and Innovations / eds.: S.M. Illiashenko, W. Strielkowski. – Prague : Prague Institute for Qualification Enhancement, 2016. – Р. Pp. 418-428.    Other publications can be found at https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Ievgeniia+Dragom...