Professor Natalia Chaban of the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, is a Director of the UC research centre Public Diplomacy and Political Communication Forum, President of the Ukrainian Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand, and a founding co-editor of Australian and New Zealand Journal of European Studies (with Scopus). Professor Chaban focuses her interdisciplinary research on cognitive and semiotic aspects of political and media discourses, image and perceptions studies within the EU and IR contexts, and public diplomacy and political communication. Natalia widely publishes including articles in high impact journals (e.g. Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of European Integration, Cooperation and Conflict, European Security, and others), She is a leader of a number of transnational research projects supported by the European Commission, EU member states and NATO.  In 2023-2026, she leads Work Package 5 “Strategic Communication” within a Jean Monnet Policy Network "Challenges and opportunities of EU heritage diplomacy in Ukraine". In 2024, Professor Chaban was awarded the Mason Durie Medal by the New Zealand Royal Social (this medal is awarded to the nation’s preeminent social scientists).