Panel guests at the third Viadrina Debate
Panellists at the third Viadrina Debate
With the Viadrina Debate, the European University Viadrina presents itself as a forum for discussing socially relevant issues that will shape the future – both regionally and beyond.
Referring to the topic “Can Society Grow Through Crisis? What Eastern Europe Teaches Us About Resilience – and Why Ukrainians Can’t Stand the Word Anymore”, you are invited to join the panellists in conversation and take part in the discussion. The following guests will contribute to the Viadrina Debate on 14 October 2026:
Dr Susann Worschech
Susann Worschech is the scientific co-ordinator of the KIU Competence Network Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies Frankfurt (Oder) – Berlin at the European University Viadrina. As a social scientist, she has been working on Ukraine for about 20 years – once starting with her fascination for the Orange Revolution in November 2004. Since then, she has worked on civil society, democratisation, culture diplomacy, resilience and Europeanisation of Ukraine and Central and Eastern Europe. She is a board member of the German Association for East European Studies and of the section on Sociology of Europe of the German Sociolgical Association. She is a member of the advisory board of Ukraine Analyses and co-editor of the book series ‘Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies’ published by Nomos.
Heide Fest / Viadrina
Vassili Golod
Vassili Golod studied Politics and History at the Universities of Göttingen and the University of Aberystwyth (Wales). He has reported for, among others, the NDR and the Rheinische Post. During his traineeship at WDR, he co-founded the podcast Machiavelli – A Podcast about Rap and Politics with Jan Kawelke, which he has hosted since 2018. As an ARD correspondent in London, Golod reported on Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Royal Family. He later joined the WDR newsroom, where he worked as a reporter, editor and duty editor for programmes including Tagesschau and Tagesthemen. Since 2022, Vassili Golod has been reporting from Ukraine as a correspondent. Since 2023, he has headed the newly established bureau.
Superbass, CC BY-SA 4.0
Mattia Nelles
Mattia Nelles holds a master’s degree in Political Science, specialising in Eastern Europe, from Freie Universität Berlin. He has lived and worked in Ukraine for several years. He is a member of the Supervisory Board of the International Center for Ukrainian Victory (ICUV) and one of the co-founders and board members of the German-Ukrainian Association (DUG). Before founding the German-Ukrainian Bureau, he worked as a research associate for Bundestag member Robin Wagener (Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen), focusing on Ukraine and Russia. Previously, he worked as a consultant for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and on local development projects in eastern Ukraine. Until the end of 2020, he was Programme Director of the Ukraine Programme at the Centre for Liberal Modernity (LibMod).
Pavel Sepi