Maria Montague

Independent Scholar
Maria Montague
mariamontague@fas.harvard.edu

Research Fellow at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute

August 2024 - October 2026

Research Project

Studying Abroad During Wartime: Engagement and Outlook of Ukrainian University Students in the U.S.

Maria Montague is conducting qualitative research into the experiences of Ukrainian students studying at U.S. universities following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Her work explores how these students stay connected to Ukraine while studying abroad, and how they are navigating their plans for the future.

Biography

Maria Montague is a cultural relations expert and social researcher with a focus on contemporary Ukraine. She is the former Deputy Director of the Ukrainian Institute London, where she led a variety of Ukrainian cultural and educational initiatives for the British public, including staging the world premiere of Lesia Ukrainka’s pioneering feminist drama Cassandra, translated by Nina Murray and published by HURI. In response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Maria Montague launched support programs for displaced Ukrainians in London, including an English school which provided lessons for over 1,000 displaced Ukrainians over two years. Between 2019-2024, Maria Montague worked as a researcher with the Public Interest Journalism Lab in Ukraine and the Arena Program of Johns Hopkins University, carrying out sociological research into what unites and divides Ukrainian society after 30 years of independence. She has also previously worked with the Chatham House Ukraine Forum and the London School of Economics Institute of Global Affairs.

As an artist, Maria Montague is the co-author of the documentary play The Summer Before Everything (2016), which shares testimonies of soldiers, activists and internally displaced people following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and aggression in Donbas. She is the translator of Maklena Grasa by Mykola Kulish, which she directed and produced for a UK tour in 2018 and Ukraine tour in 2019, where she also co-produced the theater festival 1919-2019: Kulish, Kurbas, Shakespeare in Kharkiv.