Iryna Skubii

I am the inaugural Mykola Zerov Fellow in Ukrainian Studies, generously funded by the Ukrainian Studies Support Fund of the Association of Ukrainians in Victoria, and the Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne. I am also a researcher with the Ukrainian Global History Initiative, where my work focuses on the social history of the 1932–1933 famine, the Holodomor. I am a historian of Ukraine and the Soviet Union specialiazing in environmental history, material culture, and history of famine.

I obtained my PhD in History from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario (Canada) and a Candidate of Science Degree in History from V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (Ukraine). I have taught and held research positions in Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Austria, and Canada. Recognized by the American Association for Ukrainian Studies for the best article in Ukrainian studies, I am currently working on two books: one based on my dissertation, Survival Under Extremes: Human, Environmental, and Material Relationships Amidst the Soviet Famines in Ukraine, and another focused on the history of consumption and material culture in early Soviet Ukraine. My first monograph, Trade in Kharkiv in the Years of NEP: Economy and Everyday Life” [Torhivlia v Kharkovi v roky NEPu (1921–1929): ekonomika ta povsiakdennist’] (2017), examined the economy, trade relationships, and everyday life in early Soviet Ukraine. My research explores how people, landscapes, and objects shaped everyday life under Soviet rule, especially during extreme events such as famines.

I also write and speak widely for both scholarly and public audiences, contributing to international debates on decolonisation, famine, food security, and environment, Russia’s war against Ukraine, including its impact on Ukraine and its global political and environmental contexts.

In 2025, I received the American Association of Ukrainian Studies award for the Best Article, ‘Food Waste and Survival in Times of the Soviet Famines in Ukraine,’ published in the Journal of Contemporary History in 2024.

The Prize Committee described the article as:

“[…] an extraordinary piece of interdisciplinary research linking famine studies, waste studies, environmental history, and survival strategies in scrutinizing the complex and rapidly changing relationship(s) to food waste during the three consecutive Soviet famines in Ukraine. The meticulous and empirically rich study of the relationship(s) between humans and food, humans and waste, humans and nature – and between the state and food waste – in times of extreme (state-instigated) famine works as a metaphorical “slap on the face” for the reader. By approaching the Soviet famines through the original prism of food waste, this article sheds new light on the scale of violence, pain and damage incurred upon the people of Ukraine at the time – and the lasting legacies of the survival strategies developed in response (as acknowledged by members of the selection committee when reflecting on the relationship to food waste cultivated in their own families decades later).”

What I work on?

Extremes of Famine Survival in Soviet Ukraine

My recent doctoral project, Survival Under Extremes: Human, Environmental, and Material Relationships Amidst the Soviet Famines in Ukraine (Queen’s University in Kingston, 2024), explored how Ukrainians coped with the devastating Soviet famines of the twentieth century — using survival practices, material valuables, and the environment to survive under extreme conditions. The thesis has been shortlisted for The Philippa Hetherington Prize by the Australian Historical Association (2025) as the best postgraduate thesis in general history (excluding Australian history). I am currently preparing a manuscript based on this research for publication with an academic press.

Early Soviet Ukrainian Consumption and Material Culture

Drawing on nearly a decade of research and numerous publications, this project explores the early decades of Ukrainian Soviet consumption and material culture. I am currently finalising the manuscript for publication with a Ukrainian academic press.

For publications on this project, see my Google Scholar or Academia.edu profiles.

The Environmental History of the Sunflower and Monocultures

My most recent project traces the sunflower’s journey from an unfamiliar plant on Ukrainian soil to a dominant monoculture and a powerful postcolonial symbol. It is a story of land, agriculture, food, and meaning — deeply rooted in Ukraine, yet resonating globally.

In October 2024, I gave the inaugural Mykola Zerov lecture at the University of Melbourne titled “The Tale of the Sunflower and Its Travels in Ukraine.”

In September 2025, I will give a public lecture “From an Exotic Plant to a Symbol of Modern Culture: A Brief History of the Sunflower in Ukraine” at the Centre of Urban History of Eastern Europe (Lviv, Ukraine).

Oral History of the Ukrainian Community in Australia Through the Memory of the Descendants