Oxford Professor Visits Lviv University

News

Oxford Professor Concludes First Visit to Ukraine under the UK–UA Visiting Professors Programme Launched by the Fund of the President of Ukraine

Ivan Franko National University of Lviv has become the first institution to host an international scholar under the new UK–UA Visiting Professors Programme launched by the Fund of the President of Ukraine for Education, Science, and Sports. Over a ten-day period, the University welcomed Sandra Kiefer, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford.

The visit featured a comprehensive academic programme. Professor Kiefer delivered an open lecture on “Decomposition and Reconstruction of Graphs,” led an interdisciplinary research seminar, taught master’s-level classes in “Machine Learning on Graphs,” held mentoring sessions with early-career researchers, participated in a panel discussion on “Women in Science,” delivered a lecture for students of the Lviv Physics and Mathematics Lyceum, and met with the competitive programming community AlgoTester. Several sessions concluded with agreements to continue collaboration through online consultations and ongoing professional engagement.

For Ukrainian students, faculty, PhD candidates, and early-career researchers, the visit provided a valuable opportunity to engage directly with a world-class scholar.

“Academic exchange is a priority for our University, both in research and in education. We believe that shared knowledge, experience, and values create the kind of synergy that drives progress,”

said Khrystyna Miliianchuk, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs and International Cooperation at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv.

Professor Kiefer is a faculty member at the University of Oxford and a tutor at Exeter College. Her research spans graph theory, descriptive complexity theory, verification, automata theory, machine learning on graphs, and interdisciplinary work at the intersection of machine learning and biomedicine. For her doctoral dissertation, she received the Ackermann Award 2021 and the EACSL Outstanding Dissertation Award in Logic in Computer Science.

“We are creating conditions for Ukrainian students to access world-class knowledge without leaving the country. Sandra Kiefer’s visit marks the beginning of sustained cooperation between Ukrainian and British universities. In wartime, this is also about retaining talent, developing human capital, and creating strong reasons to build the future in Ukraine,”

said Olga Budnyk, Advisor – Commissioner of the President of Ukraine on the Fund.

The UK–UA Visiting Professors Programme enables Ukrainian universities to host academics from leading UK institutions ranked in the global top 250 by QS, THE, or ARWU. The initiative is designed to strengthen Ukraine’s integration into the international academic community, enhance the quality of STEM education, advance research, and foster long-term institutional partnerships. A core requirement of the programme is an in-person visit, ensuring that collaboration goes beyond remote engagement.

“For the Fund, it is essential that each visit delivers tangible academic outcomes: lectures, seminars, mentoring, new professional connections, and continued engagement beyond the programme. This is how lasting collaboration is built – strengthening Ukrainian universities, STEM education, and the research ecosystem during wartime and recovery,”

emphasized Yuriy Petrushenko, Director of the Fund of the President of Ukraine for Education, Science, and Sports.

The UK–UA Visiting Professors Programme is implemented by the Fund of the President of Ukraine for Education, Science, and Sports in partnership with the UK–Ukraine Academic Diaspora Network, Ukrgasbank (UGB), and the MHP-Hromadi Charitable Foundation. The Fund extends its gratitude to Professor Sandra Kiefer, the team of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, and all students, researchers, faculty members, and participants for their meaningful collaboration.