Bringing a just peace to Ukraine—Shanahan co-leads new project with Ukrainian Catholic University

Bringing a just peace to Ukraine

Shanahan co-leads new project with Ukrainian Catholic University

July 23, 2025

Suzanne Shanahan and Rev. Yuriy Shchurko will head a project titled “Bringing a Just Peace to Ukraine.” Shanahan, Leo and Arlene Hawk Executive Director and professor of the practice at Notre Dame’s Institute for Social Concerns, will be joined by colleagues Daniel Philpott, a professor in the Department of Political Science, and Gerard Powers, director of Catholic Peacebuilding Studies at the Kroc Institute.

This project is one of seven faculty teams of collaborators from the University of Notre Dame and UCU who have received a 2025 ND–UCU Faculty Collaboration Grant from Notre Dame Global and Notre Dame Research to pursue research on pertinent issues in Ukraine. The grants provide support for projects related to ethical infrastructure and leadership for resilient democracies, data science for the common good, religious freedom, collective trauma and collective healing, the mental health of veterans, and the moral and religious dimension of security in the war-stricken country.

Rev. Yuriy Martynyuk, senior professor of Theology, and Dmytro Tsolin, professor in the Department of Biblical Studies, will work alongside Shchurko, dean of the Theology-Philosophy Faculty at Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU). The project aims to establish a Center for Just Peace at UCU. The founding of the Center will follow a first phase of preliminary scholarship examining the Catholic theological approaches to peace, reconciliation after war, and the ideologies that power totalitarian governance. At the Center, the researchers envision continued research on building just peace in Ukraine, platforms for dialogue, and the development of educational programs for people in positions of power.

Rev. Yuriy Shchurko, center, at the Institute for Social Concerns, with Felicia Johnson O'Brien and Ryan Juskus — *Rev. Yuriy Shchurko, center, at the Institute for Social Concerns*

“The research enabled by this initiative will help to advance the safety, security, and well-being of those most impacted by the war in Ukraine, and pave avenues for the physical and cultural recovery of the nation,” said Jeffrey F. Rhoads, John and Catherine Martin Family Vice President for Research and Professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. “Notre Dame Research is pleased to honor the University’s commitment to our Ukrainian colleagues through these important research collaborations.”

Read the full story on Notre Dame Research.