Lecture by Victoria Lyalina-Boyko, Director of the Department of Public Diplomacy and Communications of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
On 31 March 2025, with the assistance of the Department of International Organisations and Diplomatic Service, a great opportunity to get acquainted with the world of public diplomacy of Ukraine took place. The Director of the Department of Public Diplomacy and Communications of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Victoria Lyalina-Boyko visited the Educational and Research Institute of International Relations to meet with the 1st year students of the Master's degree programme ‘Diplomacy and International Cooperation’ and gave an extremely interesting and practical lecture on ‘Public Diplomacy: Role and Importance in Ukraine's Foreign Policy’ within the discipline ‘Diplomatic Protocol and Professional Ethics’.
In an extremely engaging style and using a wide range of factual material, the diplomat revealed a number of ‘hot’ issues of modern Ukrainian public diplomacy, in particular:
- how the Public Diplomacy Strategy for 2021-2025 works in times of war;
- how public diplomacy activities are targeted depending on the specifics of the country and region;
- What is ‘data-driven digital campaigns’ and how modern tools such as toolkit, message box, storytelling, etc. are used in the work of the Department;
- what is unique about public diplomacy projects under the First Lady's patronage;
- how important it is to use non-standard and creative steps in the work of a diplomat and much more!
The lecture was made possible thanks to the long-standing practice of cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the Educational and Research Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, where diplomats-practitioners are involved in teaching academic disciplines. In this way, students gain invaluable knowledge and practical skills in the field of practical diplomacy to be better prepared for their future profession.