Olena Syrbu is a researcher, facilitator, and cultural manager. She is a senior analyst and project coordinator at the Cedos think tank and the co-curator of the Kinography open archive. Her research interests include cultural labor, cultural infrastructure, public participation, and grassroots activism.

Since the full-scale Russian invasion, she has conducted and coordinated the study of the impact of the full-scale war on Ukrainian society and taken part in the study of the impact of the full-scale war on secondary education in Ukraine. She has worked with hromadas as a facilitator and mentor.

As a researcher and analyst, Olena has worked on such projects as the study of the film theater network in Ukraine, the study of cultural and community centers in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, the study of leisure time and cultural needs of urban youth in Ukraine. She hosted the ‘Cultural Work’ podcast.

Olena curated the experimental, feminist, and queer film sections at the Kyiv International Short Film Festival in 2017-2021.

Olena holds a bachelor degree in philosophy from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and master degree in philosophy from the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”.