Diána Vonnák

I am social anthropologist with an interest in heritage and socio-political change. Since 2014 I have been working predominantly in Ukraine. I study how heritage institutions and professionals work in contexts of crisis, armed conflict, and rapid political change. I am interested in the afterlife of political projects and the public negotiation of state collapse, independence and the dissolution of empires. 

Originally from Hungary, I obtained my PhD at Durham University in 2020. Prior to joining MEMPOP, I held a teaching fellowship at UCL and postdoctoral positions at the University of St Andrews and the University of Stirling. I am an affiliate researcher at the Centre for the Urban History of East-Central Europe in Lviv, and a member of Invisible University of Ukraine, a transnational educational initiative led by Central European University in Vienna.

In addition to my academic work I am an award-winning literary author in my native Hungarian, and I translate poetry from the Ukrainian. I am an avid walker.