Benjamin Cohen, the Harriman Institute’s PepsiCo Junior Fellow in his second year of study, focuses on Ukraine in his academic and professional work. His MA thesis research looks into how transnational networks, including the Ukrainian diaspora, shape historical memory in Ukraine. From June-August 2021, with the support of a Harriman Institute Civil Society Graduate Fellowship, Benjamin interned with the Europe and Eurasia team at Freedom House, assisting with implementation of programs addressing several issues including LGBT+ rights advocacy and responding to extremist violence against marginalized communities.

During the 2020-2021 academic year, Benjamin was a Research Assistant at The Critical Mass, LLC where he contributed to a report for the State Department’s Global Engagement Center on COVID-19 disinformation in Ukrainian, Georgian, and Kazakh media. Before coming to Columbia, Benjamin worked in public diplomacy, human rights advocacy, and international education in Washington, DC. From 2016-2017, he served as a Fulbright U.S. Student research grantee at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Kyiv, Ukraine, where he researched the intersection of historical memory and regional politics as well as Jewish heritage preservation. He also has professional experience in the region working in Russia, Lithuania, Poland, and Kazakhstan. Benjamin is fluent in Russian and is learning Ukrainian as part of his graduate studies.