15.11.2025
In 2025/2026, Wikimedia Ukraine implemented a project to bring together Ukrainian researchers who study Wikipedia. This culminated in the First International Scientific and Practical Conference “Wikipedia and Wiki Projects in the Spotlight of Research”.
The conference was organised in partnership with two Ukrainian universities – the National University “Kyiv Aviation Institute” and Kharkiv National University of Radio Electronics. Wikipedia, among other things, is a fascinating subject of research. Ukrainian academics are studying it from many angles. Still, before this project, there was no organised space for them to meet, share their work or engage with the Wikimedia movement. Creating this space was the project’s main aim, made possible by a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation through the Wikimedia Research Fund. The conference brought together 43 participants in person and around 40 online. The programme included 30 research presentations on Wikipedia and related topics.
The topics of the presentations ranged from the gender gap on the Ukrainian Wikipedia to the use of artificial intelligence to combat vandalism, and from research on the Crimean Tatar Wikipedia to an analysis of information narratives about Wikipedia on social media. The participants were also very diverse: from leading researchers heading departments at Ukraine’s largest universities to postgraduate students and volunteer Wikipedians.
Ukraine continues to fight russia’s full-scale invasion, and the war has affected every aspect of the conference: from the topics explored by the speakers to the organisers having to equip the in-person venue with reliable power generators, as the energy infrastructure is suffering from regular Russian attacks.
Natalia Lastovets, Associate Professor, Ukrainian Studies Department and PhD in History, presented a report “The Scientific Image Competition as a Platform for Popularising Science (based on data from 2015–2024)”.
Video recording of the conference https://www.
