Anastasiia Mykolenko | Electronic Immigration Network

Anastasiia Mykolenko is a Ukrainian anthropologist and legal professional specializing in forced displacement, refugee reception, and protection in Eastern Europe. Based in Montréal, she is completing a PhD in Anthropology at the Université de Montréal and holds advanced degrees in European and international law. Her research and consulting work focus on how people navigate war, borders, and bureaucratic systems, with extensive fieldwork along the Polish–Ukrainian border and engagement in Poland, Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine. She has worked as a Senior Analyst & Fieldwork Coordinator on multi-country projects related to displacement and gender-based violence, and as a Protection Assistant with an international NGO at the Polish–Ukrainian border.

Anastasiia combines country-of-origin knowledge with strong analytical and writing skills, producing clear, evidence-based reports for NGOs, donors, and institutional partners. She has hands-on experience with refugee and asylum issues, including community-based legal support in Montréal, and in-depth expertise on vulnerable and marginalized groups such as Roma/Romani communities, women at risk, LGBTQI+ persons, and human rights defenders. She works in English, French, Ukrainian, Russian, Polish (and reads Spanish), and is particularly interested in cases that require nuanced understanding of local context, discrimination, and the everyday realities of people on the move.

Name

Anastasiia Mykolenko

Occupation

PhD candidate at the University of Montreal

Webpage

https://cerium.umontreal.ca/english/community/scholars/visiting-phd-students/mykolenko-anastasiia/

Expertise

Document Authentication

Ethnic Discrimination Or Persecution

Ex-Combatant Reintegration

Forced Conscription

Gender-Based Violence/Domestic Violence /GBV

Citizenship, Statelessness & Lack of Nationality Documentation

LGBTQ

Witchcraft Accusations & Ritual Violence

Sexual Abuse/Assault

Land Tenure Disputes

Likelihood Of Destitution Or Homelessness

Child Protection/Child Abuse

Nationality Assessment

Linguistic Analysis

Religious Discrimination Or Persecution

Government/State Actor Persecution

Risk of Return

Political Persecution

Torture

Sufficiency Of Protection

Corruption & Impunity

Safe Internal Relocation

Experience

I have worked on refugee and asylum issues in research, humanitarian protection, and community-based legal support. As Senior Analyst & Fieldwork Coordinator with ITAR Consultants, I led multi-country projects on forced displacement in Poland, Romania and Moldova, producing multiple analytical and evaluation reports used by NGOs and donors. As a Protection Assistant with Première Urgence Internationale on the Polish–Ukrainian border, I conducted protection interviews and contributed to situation reports on emerging risks and gaps in services. In Montréal, I volunteered with The Refugee Centre supporting refugees and asylum seekers, and I am completing a PhD on displacement and reception of refugees along the Polish–Ukrainian border. Overall, I have authored or co-authored numerous reports and briefings directly related to forced displacement, reception conditions and protection needs.

Publications

Mykolenko, A. (submitted). "Homeless, tourists, refugees: negotiated identities of temporarily displaced Ukrainians", Journal of Refugee Studies

Mykolenko, A. (in press). Przemyśl train station as a place of uncertainty negotiation and life trajectories recreation of temporarily displaced Ukrainians. In Kaźmierska, K., Waniek K. (Ed.), War in Ukraine: Between lived experience and public discourse. Brill.

Luczaj, K., Krakowska, K., Mykolenko, A. (2025). Gratitude, Gratefulness, and Indebtedness: The Case of Ukrainian Refugees Hosted in Polish Households (2022–2023). In: Dziekońska, M., Luczaj, K. (eds) Assistance to Ukrainian War Refugees in Central Europe (2022-2024). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-86181-9_8.

Mykolenko, A. (2024). Methodological Reflections on the Displacement Narratives from the Polish-Ukrainian Border. Conducting qualitative research in crisis settings. Vol. 1 No. 1 (2024): Malmö and Superdiversity, https://doi.org/10.24834/cimr.2024.1.1823

Anastasiia Mykolenko and Kevin Tuite, « Evdokia (Dina) Kojevnikova, disciple de Nikolaï Marr et ethnographe de la Svanétie soviétique », Slavica Occitania, 59 | 2024, 229-243.

Drudi, G., Mykolenko, A. et al. (submitted) Retombées de la pandémie de la COVID-19 sur les relations socioculturelles des minorités ethnoracisées : Un bilan des recherches au Canada, Alterstices

Mykolenko, A. (2023). Words and wounds: narratives of exile, by Sean Akerman, AnthropoCité journal, no. 3

Mykolenko, A. (2022). Mirrorlands: Russia, China, and Journeys in Between, by Ed Pulford. Anthropologica, 64(1). https://doi.org/10.18357/anthropologica64120221589

Tuite, Kevin and Mykolenko, Anastasiia. 2023. Dina Kozhevnikova, an ethnographer, and poet in Soviet Svaneti 1928-1931. Dina Kozhevnikova - Ethnographical records, Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi, ISBN 978-9941-9822-1-7, p. 92-103

Languages

English, French, Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian, Polish

Ethnic groups expertise

I have in-depth expertise on Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced persons, as well as on Roma/Romani communities from Ukraine and neighbouring countries (Poland, Moldova, Romania), including their specific experiences of discrimination, barriers to protection, and access to services. My fieldwork along the Polish–Ukrainian border has also involved work with Belarusian and other Eastern European minorities, with a focus on how ethnicity, language, and socio-economic status shape reception conditions, vulnerability, and integration prospects.

Political groups expertise

I have expertise on political opposition and civic movements in Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and Moldova, with a focus on how affiliation (or perceived affiliation) to such groups affects risk and protection needs. This includes knowledge of pro-democracy and anti-corruption activists, human rights defenders, independent journalists, anti-war and anti-regime protesters, as well as people targeted for participation in protests or online expression. My work on displacement and reception in the region has given me detailed insight into patterns of state repression, surveillance, criminalization of dissent, and politically motivated violence or harassment affecting these groups and those associated with them.

Religious groups expertise

I have regional expertise on religious dynamics in Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, Romania and Belarus, with a focus on how religious affiliation interacts with displacement, protection needs and access to services. My fieldwork and research have engaged with Orthodox, Greek-Catholic, Roman Catholic and Protestant communities, as well as Jewish and Muslim minorities, including cases where religious identity, conversion or perceived (non-)belief contribute to stigma, discrimination or differential treatment in reception, asylum and integration processes.

Other social groups expertise

I have particular expertise on women and girls, LGBTQI+ persons, survivors of gender-based violence, human rights defenders, journalists, students and young people, and low-income/working-class communities affected by displacement from Ukraine and neighbouring countries (Poland, Moldova, Romania, Belarus). My research and humanitarian work have focused on how gender, sexuality, age, disability, class and caregiving responsibilities shape people’s exposure to violence, access to protection, and ability to navigate asylum and reception systems, including specific barriers for single mothers, older persons, and people with chronic illness or disability.

I am also an expert on discrimination of non-Ukrainian displaced persons in Ukraine and abroad; Risk-based assessment of the conditions in the asylum countries; Country-of-origin analysis: Ukraine–Poland–Moldova–Romania border region (post-2022); Roma / Romani minorities from Ukraine and neighbouring states: discrimination, access to protection and services; Risk of social stigma, destitution and secondary displacement for refugees from Ukraine and Belarus

Contact email

amykolenko@communitology.co

Address

LJ2 LLC (DBA Communitology)
35 Muddy Dog Run
Essex Junction, VT 05452 USA

Countries of expertise:

Belarus
Canada
Poland
Romania
Ukraine