Natalia Chaban

Natalia Chaban (born 1971) is a Ukrainian–New Zealand media and communications academic, and is a full professor at the University of Canterbury, specialising in political and media discourse. She is the director of Canterbury's Public Diplomacy and Political Communication Forum and has twice been awarded a Jean Monnet Chair. In 2024, Chaban was awarded the Mason Durie Medal by the Royal Society Te Apārangi.

Academic career

Chaban completed a Bachelor of Arts in Germanic languages and literature at Cherkasy National University in Ukraine, followed by a Master of Arts degree in media studies and higher education administration at New York University. She is the director of the Public Diplomacy and Political Communication Forum at Canterbury. Chaban has twice been awarded a Jean Monnet Chair, an Erasmus programme designed to deepen access to European Union studies throughout universities. Chaban is interested in political and public communication and leads research on public diplomacy in the EU, academic knowledge production relating to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and communication pedagogy.

Chaban is president of the Ukrainian Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand. Chaban was a founding co-editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of European Studies.

In November 2024, Chaban was awarded the Mason Durie Medal by the Royal Society Te Apārangi, for "her innovative research into perceptions in international relations and public diplomacy, most recently about the war against Ukraine". In 2026 Chaban was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi.

Selected books