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Inaugural Lecture by Professor Alex Krouglov
12 June 2025, 6:00 pm–8:00 pm
Professor (Teaching) in Russian and Ukrainian at UCL SSEES, Alex Krouglov, will give his Inaugural Lecture on 'Language Ideologies in the Shadow of War: Decolonisation of Ukraine'.
Event Information
Open to
- All
Availability
- Yes
Cost
- £0.00
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-
SSEES Events
The ideology of one nation and one language has been constructed and reinforced in many societies throughout history. This has been particularly true for nations liberated from imperialist or other oppressive regimes that imposed their language and worldviews. Countries freed from oppression often develop an ideology that supports the reinstatement and development of their national language as the primary medium of communication and education. Ukraine and other successor states of the USSR have not been exceptions in this process of formulating new language ideologies to undo and redo previous colonial language planning.
The lecture will focus on language policy and planning, briefly outlining the historical context of language ideologies in Ukraine and examining how they are shaped during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While providing examples from the war in Ukraine and illustrating how language ideology evolves in a war-torn country, the lecture will aim to identify the dominant language ideologies and discuss the role of English and other languages in the future development of the country.
About the Speaker
Professor Alex Krouglov
Professor (Teaching) in Russian and Ukrainian at UCL SSEES
Dr Alex Krouglov is Professor (Teaching) in Russian and Ukrainian at University College London. Alex completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Translation and Interpreting, as well as PhD in Sociolinguistics, at Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. His research primarily focuses on language planning issues in Ukraine, Russia, and Eastern Europe. Alex’s research interests also include Translation and Interpreting, and topics related to Higher Education. Before joining UCL, he worked as an Associate Dean and taught Simultaneous Interpreting at London Metropolitan University, following nearly ten years of overseeing diplomatic language training at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in London.
For several years, Alex served as an external expert in Higher Education for the World Bank, contributing to HE projects in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and an elected board member of the CIUTI (international association of leading universities with translation and interpreting programmes). He has also been an assessor of Erasmus+ projects and coordinator of Tempus and Erasmus+, and other EU and British Council projects. Currently, he serves as the Chief Moderator of Diploma in Translation at the Chartered Institute of Linguists, and provides expert advice, training, and consultancy to various organisations and universities in the UK and overseas, and is member of the Editorial Boards of several journals.
More about Professor Alex Krouglov