Dr. Yuri Lyashenko is a Ukrainian-born public service professional and policy researcher whose career spans media leadership, civic inclusion, and immigrant integration. Now based in New York City, he a 2026 Fellow on Immigrant Integration at the Institute on Immigrant Integration Research and Policy at the Rockefeller Institute of Government, SUNY. He is pursuing a Master of Public Administration at Baruch College’s Marxe School of Public & International Affairs.
He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Before moving to the United States in 2023, Yuri directed Kyiv’s public television network, transforming it into a top-five national news outlet and leading its wartime operations during Russia’s invasion. He also managed the city’s COVID-19 Remote Learning Initiative, which provided online education for 290,000 students.
A 2024 Washington Semester Fellow at the National Democratic Institute, he researched participatory democracy and inclusion in fragile political contexts. His lived immigrant experience now fuels his work on policies that promote belonging, opportunity, and civic participation for newcomers. Yuri is fluent in English, Ukrainian, and Russian, with proficiency in Polish and Hungarian.