Student Feature: Iana Shatilova

There is a joke in Ukraine: “What is your superpower? I’m Ukrainian”.

I’ve been through the so-called perestroika period after the Soviet Union collapsed. I’ve been through two evacuations. Like many Ukrainians, there is almost nothing that I did not experience in my life. My way to York was long and full of challenges. Life is a challenge today…And yet I made it happen. But this is not a story about me, and this is a story of cooperation, support, friendship, hard, sometimes titanic effort, and faith.

The armed conflict in Ukraine started in 2014 in my hometown Sieverodonetsk, Luhansk region. My daughter Bohdana was 4, and that day we became internally displaced for the first time. As Sieverodonetsk was liberated, we came back home. The Line of Contact was just 27 kilometers from us. I remember Bohdana said, “Mummy, look, there are fireworks!.” I never told her what she actually saw from the balcony were artillery flashes.

I decided to be a part of Emergency Management within the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, which has become an integral part of our small community. After six years at the Line of Contact, I joined United Nations and, at the same time, started my postgraduate education at the European Academy of Diplomacy. I was following my dreams - to make my contribution to emergency response, peace, and security.

Two weeks before 24 February 2022, I took my 11 y old daughter to Kyiv. But our dreams did not come true. Kyiv never became our home as at 5 o’clock in the morning, we woke up from explosions – the capital was attacked, and we evacuated for the second time.

I realized that I had to make a choice (one of the hardest): to end my career for my daughter’s safety. Torn apart by choice between a lifetime’s work and the future of my daughter, I went to Poland with no plan.

But I didn’t want to give up my dreams and the work, which I served almost all my life. I started looking for opportunities to continue addressing the needs of people like me. In one of my Facebook groups, I found an excel sheet with scholarships from all over the world. And there, I found MDEM. I went to the website of York University and understood immediately – this is it, this is my lifetime endeavor, this is what I love, and this is what I want to continue doing! I wrote an email to Prof. Agrawal and her answer became a turning point in this story.

Every step was full of support and understanding and I was following this light. My former colleagues have immediately supported me in the application process. A paper that I wrote at the Academy of Diplomacy served as an example of my work. No effort I made was for nothing; all hard work eventually led me to York. Today I am a part of the York community, building a better tomorrow. York is where I belong.

Iana Shatilova

Current Student, Master of Disaster & Emergency Management

York University

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