Dr. Oleksandra Keudel is an Associate Professor and Vice-Dean for Science, Social Sciences Department, and a Founding Director of the Center for Democratic Resilience at Kyiv School of Economics (KSE). Her overall research and outreach work aim to support societal resilience in a democracy in the face of contemporary authoritarian challenges and hybrid ​threats. Oleksandra co-leads the Horizon Europe-funded project Building Resilient Innovations in Democracy, Governance, and Excellence (BRIDGE), coordinated by KSE in partnership with the University of Tartu, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and the Technical University of Berlin. She holds a PhD in Political Science from Freie Universität Berlin. She is also an Associate at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute and the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the author of How Patronal Networks Shape Opportunities for Local Citizen Participation in a Hybrid Regime: A Comparative Analysis of Five Cities in Ukraine, published by ibidem/Columbia University Press in 2022, and a co-editor of the Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies Series at Nomos Publishing House (Germany). She combines academic research with consulting for international organisations and projects, including for the Council of Europe and the European Union.

Keudel has been a fellow in the Ukraine Research Network@ZOiS since September 2025. Her research project, conducted in partnership with Tetiana Lukeria and the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh, focuses on governing diversity in polycentric political systems, with a particular focus on Ukraine before and during Russia’s full-scale invasion. She studies how local communities address social diversity and foster social cohesion, particularly in the context of external aggression-induced shocks.