At Oxford, Anya examined how Ukraine’s environmental recovery can be integrated into its broader strategy for surviving and adapting to Russia’s ongoing invasion and destruction. She applied the emerging military strategy of strategic neutralization, an approach centered on reducing threats before they can cause further harm, to questions of ecological restoration, remediation, and resource use, asking how environmental resilience can become part of wartime and post-war sustainable redevelopment and landscape renewal.
My research could only have taken its final form at Oxford. Paired with a mentor through Oxford’s rigorous tutorial system, I had the freedom to develop an independent project connecting ideas across diverse fields, grounded in the UK’s leadership in climate policy and environmental scholarship. Beyond mentorship, having access to the Bodleian Libraries immersed me in centuries of scholarship. That sheer depth of resources continually pushed me to look past my initial questions, test new ideas with scholars, and cultivate a creative momentum I could not have replicated anywhere else.
Anya Shram