Janush Panchenko

Janush Panchenko is a Ukrainian ethnographer and translator of Romani origin and an affiliate researcher at the Czech Academy of Sciences' Institute of Ethnology. He studies the culture, history, and living language of Roma communities in Ukraine — their nomadic traditions, folklore, and the transformation of identity in times of war. A central focus of his work is documenting how Russia's full-scale invasion has reshaped the lives of Ukrainian Roma. He is the founder of "Romano Than" and co-head of the Ukrainian Center for Romani Studies. In 2023, he received the Ronald Lee Award in Montreal for his contribution to the preservation of the Romani language, including the translation of educational and cultural texts into Romani.