Marta Dyczok

- Associate Professor (Joint Appointment with Political Science)

image of Professor Marta Dyczok
DPhil, University of Oxford, 1995
Telephone: 519-661-2111 ext. 84982
Email: mdyczok@uwo.ca
Office: Lawson Hall 2246
Office Hours: Thursdays, 11:00 am - 1:00 pm or by appointment

Research Interests

Professor Dyczok specializes in Ukraine within the broader context of international politics and history. Her research interests encompass social, digital, and mass media; decolonization and historical politics; information warfare; migration; post-communist transitions; and World War II.

Check out the documentary series which features among others Prof. Dyczok: “Collapse. How Ukrainians Destroyed the Evil Empire.”

Current Research Projects

1. Social Media and the Russo-Ukrainian War: A Double-Edged Sword

This project investigates how modern armed conflict transforms digital information flows, with Ukraine serving as a central case study. As Ukraine defends its sovereignty, it simultaneously engages in a digitally mediated struggle. Internationally owned social media platforms are the vehicles that disseminate both credible information and widespread disinformation. In conditions of war this can be the difference between life and death. Social media, in this context, emerges as a complex and paradoxical tool: a double-edged sword. Ukraine offers a compelling case study for rethinking the dynamics of communication in the digital age.

2. How Has Media in Ukraine Changed Since Independence?

This project analyses media developments in Ukraine since it gained independence from the USSR. It aims to provide a broad overview by looking at the main issues and trends and is based on in-depth interviews with key actors as well as on documents, reports, and sociological data.

3. The Volunteer

This project is an authorized biography of a young man who joined a volunteer battalion in Ukraine in spring of 2014, whom I met during an oath taking ceremony and stayed in contact with. His story will illustrate the personal experience of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

4. Media and Memory: Representations of Ukrainians Displaced by World War II Then and Now

This research project examines how media representations of Ukrainians displaced during World War II shaped collective memory and how this story challenges dominant narratives. It draws on my two earlier studies: The Grand Alliance and Ukrainian Refugees (2000) and Media, Democracy and Freedom (2009). (This project was put on hold when Russia launched an undeclared, hybrid war against Ukraine and I turned my research focus to topics related to current events. It will be resumed during my next sabbatical.)

5. Infotainment of Steroids in Ukraine: How a Virtual Candidate Won a Landslide Presidential Victory

This study unpacks how actor-businessman Volodymyr Zelensky won a landslide presidential victory without campaigning in traditional ways. Instead, he became business partners with Ihor Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine’s richest men who also owned a media empire and turned an entertainment show into political advertising. The theoretical frames of infotainment and political economy are used to explain the complex relationship between politics, entertainment, media and money.

6. The Pandemic and Student Media Use

This study documented how students were using media in the early phase of the pandemic and compares it to their previous media usage to see what, if any, changes occurred, and the reasons for this. The findings will speak to the larger questions of the role and power of different forms of media: professional/traditional/social, and generational variations in this.

 

Selected Publication

Books:

Ukraine not 'the' UkraineDyczok, Marta. 2024. Ukraine not 'the' Ukraine. Cambridge University Press.  https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/abs/ukraine-not-the-ukraine/1A0CC1D8913162C5A65763614CCC39E1#element

 

 

 

 Ukraine CallingDyczok, Marta. 2021. Ukraine Calling. A Kaleidoscope from Hromadske Radio 2016-2019. Hanover: ibidem-Verlag, distributed by Columbia University Press https://cup.columbia.edu/book/ukraine-calling/9783838214726; Presentations: Columbia University: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0VsW6nRGXM; Harvard University: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dp_t3QtoZQ; New Books Network: https://newbooksnetwork.com/ukraine-callin

 

 

Ukraine Euromaidan

2016: Dyczok, Marta. Ukraine’s Euromaidan. Broadcasting through Information Wars with Hromadske Radio (Bristol: e-international.relations), http://www.e-ir.info/2016/03/22/open-access-book-ukraines-euromaidan-broadcasting-through-information-wars-with-hromadske-radio/  

 

 

  

 Ukraine -Twenty Years2015: Brogi, Giovanna, Marta Dyczok, Oxana Pachlovska and Giovanna Siedina (eds.) Ukraine Twenty Years After Independence: Assessments, Perspectives, Challenges (Rome: Aracne), http://www.aracneeditrice.it/aracneweb/index.php/pubblicazione.html?item=9788854877658Review: 2015. Minakov, Mykhailo. “Paradise Lost. Ukraine in 1991-2012 A Review of: G. Brogi, M. Dyczok, O. Pachlovska, G. Siedina (eds.), Ukraine Twenty Years After Independence,” Aracne, Roma 2015, Studi Slavistici xii:377-384

 

Dyczok- Media, Democracy and Freedom2009: Media, Democracy and Freedom. The Post Communist Experience, Interdisciplinary Studies on Central and Eastern Europe, Vol. 6, (Bern: Peter Lang). https://www.peterlang.com/abstract/title/34911?rskey=k263oN&result=1

 

 

 

  Dyczok- The Grand Alliance2000 The Grand Alliance and Ukrainian Refugees, (Basingstoke, Houndmills: Macmillan; New York: St. Martin's Press, in association with St. Antony's College, Oxford). https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780333714546

 

 

 

 

 

 Dyzcok - 2000 Ukraine Change2000: Ukraine: Change Without Movement, Movement Without Change, (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers). This book is featured as one of the best books on Ukraine: https://shepherd.com/best-books/ukraine-from-a-journalist-who-was-based-there

 

 

 

 

 Refereed Journal Publications: 

  • 2022. Dyczok, Marta and Yerin Chung. "Zelens'kyi uses his communication skills as a weapon of war." Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes. Published online: 06 September. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00085006.2022.2106699
  • 2022. Dyczok, Marta. "Ukraine's Information Warriors." Journal of Democracy. Pubilshed online 9 March. https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/ukraines-information-warriors/
  • 2015-16. Dyczok, Marta, “History, Memory, and Media,” Harvard Ukrainian Studies, Vol. 34, No. 1-4: 431-446.
  • 2014. Dyczok, Marta, “Ukraine’s Media in the Context of Global Cultural Convergence,” Demokratizatsiya, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Spring): 231-254
  • 2014. Dyczok, Marta, “Information wars: hegemony, counter-hegemony, propaganda, the use of force, and resistance,” Russian Journal of Communication, Vol. 6, Issue 2 (April): 173-176
  • 2006. Dyczok, Marta, “Was Kuchma’s Censorship Effective? Mass media in Ukraine before 2004.” Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 58, No. 2 (March): 215-238, NOMINATED for the AAUS Article Prize 2007
  • 2005. Dyczok, Marta, “Breaking Through the Information Blockade: Election and Revolution in Ukraine 2004,” Canadian Slavonic Papers/Revue canadienne des slavistes Vol. XLVII, Nos. 3-4 (September-December): 241-266

 News and Media (Select Appearances)

 Book Chapters:

  • 2026. Dyczok, Marta. Forthcoming, “Russia’s All-Out War is Changing Social Media Usage in Ukraine,” in Oleksandr Pankieiev (ed.) The Russo-Ukrainian War: Russia's Information Warfare Strategies in Comparative Perspective. Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies.
  • 2025. Dyczok, Marta. “More than a year into the escalated war finds Ukraine with a stronger voice in Western media.” in Narratives of the Russo-Ukrainian War. A Look Within and Without. Edited by Oleksandr Pankieiev. Foreword by Natalia Khanenko-Friesen. Chapter 27. Hanover: ibidem-Verlag, distributed by Columbia University Press. https://cup.columbia.edu/book/narratives-of-the-russo-ukrainian-war/9783838219646/
  • 2025. Dyczok, Marta, "More than a year into the escalated war finds Ukraine with a stronger voice in Western media," in Oleksandr Pankieiev (ed.) Narratives of the Russo-Ukrainian War: A Look Within and Without (Hannover, Germany: ibidem, distributed by Columbia University Press)
  • Dyczok, Marta. 2023. “What’s Changed? Media and Mobilization,” in Ihor Poshyvailo and Larysa Onyshko (eds.) The Revolution of Dignity: Towards History (Kyiv: National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity). https://www.maidanmuseum.org/uk/publications
  • 2021. Dyczok, Marta and Diana Dutsyk. “Ukraine’s Media: A Field Where Power is Contested,” in Matthew Rojansky, Georgiy Kasianov, and Mykhailo Minakov (eds.) From 'the Ukraine' to Ukraine: History of Contemporary Ukraine (1991-2020) (Hanover: ibidem-Verlag/Wilson Center, distributed by Columbia University Press), http://cup.columbia.edu/book/from-the-ukraine-to-ukraine/9783838215143   View video presentation here
  • 2018. Dyczok, Marta, “Ukraine’s Media in the Context of Global Cultural Convergence,” in Marlene Laruelle and Peter Rollberg (eds.) Mass Media in the Post-Soviet World: Market Forces, State Actors, and Political Manipulation in the Informational Environment after Communism (New York and Hanover: Columbia University Press and ibidem-Verlag) (nominated for book prize)
  • 2016. Dyczok, Marta, “History, Memory, and Media”, in Serhiy Plokhii (ed.) The Future of the Past: New Perspectives on Ukrainian History (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press)
  • 2015. Dyczok, Marta, “Mass Media Framing, Representations, and Impact on Public Opinion,” in David Marples and Frederick V. Mills (eds.) Euromaidan (ibidem-Verlag and Columbia University Press)
  • 2015. Dyczok, Marta, “Threats to Free Speech in Ukraine: The Bigger Picture,” in Giovanna Brogi, Marta Dyczok and Oxana Pachlovska (eds.) Ukraine Twenty Years After Independence: Assessments, Perspectives, Challenges (Bern: Peter Lang)
  • 2015. Dyczok, Marta, “The Ukraine Story in Western Media,” in Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska and Richard Sakwa (eds.) Ukraine and Russia: People, Politics, Propaganda, and Perspectives (London: e-international relations)
  • 2012. Dyczok, Marta, “Re-examining the World War II Ukrainian Refugee Experience,” in Vladyslav Hrynevych and Myron Stakhiv (eds.) Сучасні дискусії про Другу світову війну [Contemporary Debates about World War II] (L’viv, Nova Doba) http://www.novadoba.org.ua/contemporary-debates-book
  • 2011. Dyczok, Marta, “Media Power and Ukraine’s Revolutionary Moments,” in Yury Onuch and Olya Onuch (eds.) Revolutionary Moments (Kyiv)
  • 2009. Dyczok, Marta, “Introduction,” in Marta Dyczok and Oxana Gaman-Golutvina (eds.) Media, Freedom and Democracy: The Post-Communist Experience. (Bern: Peter Lang): 9-16
  • 2009. Dyczok, Marta, “Do the Media Matter? Focus on Ukraine,” in Marta Dyczok and Oxana Gaman-Golutvina (eds.) Media, Freedom and Democracy: The Post-Communist Experience. (Bern: Peter Lang): 17-42
  • 2009. Dyczok, Marta, “Ukraine’s Changing Communicative Space: Destination Europe or the Soviet Past?” in Larissa M. L. Zaleska Onyshkevych and Maria G. Rewakowicz (eds.) Contemporary Ukraine and Its European Cultural Identity (New York, M. E. Sharpe): 375-394

Other Publications

Professional Service

Recent Conference Presentations

  • May 2019. “Infotainment on Steroids: How and Actor Won a Presidential Landslide without 
    Campaigning.’ Invited lecture, University of Victoria, BC
  • May 2019. "What Does the Election of Volodymyr Zelensky Mean for Ukraine" Panel participant, Munk  School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, The Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine, University of Toronto
  • April 2019. “Ukraine’s media,” paper presented at Symposium Assessing the Euromaidan of 2014 Five Years Later: The State of the Ukrainian State, Pennsylvania State University
  • March 2019. “War and Memory,” Presentation at “Voices of War” Panel at the Tarragon Theatre, Toronto
  • Nov 2018. “Media in a Post-EuroMaidan Ukraine,” invited presentation at Symposium, The Future of Ukraine: Realities, Risks, and Opportunities.at George Washington University, Elliot School of International Affairs, Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES)
  • Nov 2018. “Media and the Maidan,” presentation at panel Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, The Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine, University of Toronto (panel co-organizer)
  • May 2018. Panel moderator featuring Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilyev commemorating Stalin's 1944 deportation of Crimean Tatars
  • Dec 2017. “War of Words. Journalism and War in Ukraine,” The War in the Donbas and Ukrainian Society Conference, University of Victoria, BC
  • May 2017. “What's Changed? The Evolution of Ukraine's Media Since Independence,” Canadian Association of Slavists, Annual Conference, Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Ryerson University, Toronto
  • Apr 2017. “Unrest on NATO’s Eastern Flank: Ukraine, Baltic States, Russia,” Crisis Response – Canada and the World, NATO Association of Canada Conference
  • Feb 2017. “Twenty-Five Years of Media in Ukraine,” 20th Annual Mohyla Lecture, University of Saskatchewan
  • Oct 2016. “The Evolution of Ukraine’s Media Since Independence,” Invited lecture, University of Cambridge, England

Awards and Distinctions

  • 2011: Fellow Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute

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    2011- present: Adjunct Professor National University of the Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Ukraine

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    2005-2006: Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC

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    1998-present: Fellow Center for European and Eurasian Studies, Munk Centre, University of Toronto

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    2001-present: Coordinating Committee Member Petro Jacyk Programme for the Study of Ukraine, University of Toronto