Helen Pidgorna is a social scientist with a background in education, policymaking, and law. She is a Swedish Institute and Chevening scholarship alumna and holds Master’s degrees in Sociology of Education from Uppsala University (2023) and in School Improvement and Educational Leadership from the University of Birmingham (2019).

Prior to joining ZOiS, Helen Pidgorna studied wartime migration and education experiences of Ukrainian refugee families with school-aged children in Sweden. Her project in the Ukraine Research Network@ZOiS focuses on the education strategies and experiences of Ukrainian refugee (Temporary Protection Status) families with secondary-school-aged children in Germany.

• Transnational educational migration

• Population migration and societal transformations

• Geographical and social mobility

• Social integration of highly skilled migrants

• Wartime cross-border migration of Ukrainian children and youth

• Quality and equity in education

• Ukraine Research Network@ZOiS