The national Global Teacher Prize Ukraine, together with KSE Foundation, recognized three STEM teachers as part of Talents for Ukraine.
This year, for the third time, Global Teacher Prize Ukraine presented special awards from Talents for Ukraine to three educators. Talents for Ukraine is KSE Foundation’s grant program supporting talented Ukrainians. Each year, KSE Foundation recognizes outstanding people across different fields to support a new generation of leaders who contribute to Ukraine’s development. To date, 470 Ukrainians have received the award.
“A teacher is someone who invests in the future every single day — and does so with even greater determination when that future is under threat. Teachers continue educating children in frontline cities, in shelters during air raids, and despite all the challenges of war. At KSE Foundation, it is important for us to support exactly these people — those who do not wait for ideal conditions but create opportunities for others here and now. Yuliia, Roman, and Daniil demonstrate three different ways of influencing the next generation: through strong education, curiosity about science, and belief in every child’s potential. We are glad to give them resources for their own development and, even more importantly, to recognize their talent and show them that their contribution is seen and valued,” said Svitlana Denysenko, Executive Director of KSE Foundation.
The winners of the KSE Foundation award for STEM teachers are:
Yuliia Zubareva, an algebra and geometry teacher at the Zaporizhzhia Regional Academic Lyceum “Kozatskyi.” At seventeen, she dreamed of studying theatre but instead enrolled at the Faculty of Mathematics at Zaporizhzhia National University. The stage never disappeared from her life — it simply moved into the classroom, where Yuliia is simultaneously a director, performer, and mentor. For more than 18 years, she has been teaching in frontline Zaporizhzhia, where lessons often continue to the sound of air-raid sirens and sometimes take place in shelters. During blackouts, her tenth-grade students calculated how effective generators and solar panels would be for their families. As part of the topic “Mathematics in Military Affairs,” students solved applied geometry problems and spoke with military personnel about logistics and cartography. Some of her graduates have achieved the maximum score of 200 on the mathematics section of Ukraine’s National Multi-Subject Test. This academic year, one of her students also took second place at the national stage of the Junior Academy of Sciences competition in the Applied Mathematics category.
Roman Chernov, a mathematics teacher at the Kharkiv Scientific Lyceum “Obdarovanist.” He was once part of the lyceum’s very first student cohort himself. After graduating from the School of Mathematics and Mechanics at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Roman studied in Germany and later earned a PhD in theoretical mathematics in France. At the beginning of 2022, he returned to Ukraine and only a few weeks later found himself facing the full-scale invasion. He could have stayed in Europe, but instead returned to his native Kharkiv and began teaching at his former lyceum. Four years later, Roman remains certain that this was the right decision. In class, he deliberately makes arithmetic mistakes and asks students to find them. When children see that a teacher’s mistake is not a disaster, they become more comfortable with their own mistakes, and mathematical anxiety gives way to curiosity. Outside school, Roman runs mathematics clubs and, as a methodologist at the savED Foundation, helps teachers address students’ learning losses.
Daniil Doroshenko, a mathematics, computer science, and physics teacher at Gymnasium No. 12 in Kamianske, Dnipropetrovsk region. Daniil is 22 and combines teaching with academic research in approximation theory and functional analysis. In 2025, he became an ICMU Awards laureate for research published in the Ukrainian Mathematical Journal. At school, Daniil shows students that mathematics is the language of modern technology. His STEM project on the effectiveness of neural networks in recognizing images of military equipment won the GRAND PRIX at the international TEACHER’S WORLD PRIZE competition for teaching excellence. His students regularly become prize-winners in programming olympiads and Junior Academy of Sciences competitions. Daniil wants children from smaller Ukrainian cities to know that they have the same opportunities as their peers anywhere else in the world.
Each of the three winners will receive $5,000 from KSE Foundation for their personal and professional development.
KSE Foundation is the charitable foundation of the Kyiv School of Economics. It works to strengthen Ukraine by supporting advanced education and investing in talented people. Talents for Ukraine is a grant program launched by the Foundation to support a new generation of leaders. The program has an annual budget of $1,000,000. Learn more about the winners and apply to the program here.
Global Teacher Prize Ukraine is an annual national award recognizing teachers as agents of educational change. It has been held in Ukraine since 2017 and celebrates teachers’ achievements not only in their work with students but also in their contribution to society. On October 3, the tenth anniversary awards ceremony took place, recognizing winners across various categories as well as the overall winner.
Global Teacher Prize Ukraine is organized by Osvitoria with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the national edutainment platform for relevant knowledge and skills Diia.Education, UNICEF, the European Union Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine (EUACI), IT company SoftServe, pharmaceutical company Biopharma, the KredoBank Foundation, KSE Foundation and Talents for Ukraine, Uklon, the Educational Initiatives Foundation, and EdPro. 1+1 media serves as the general media partner. Kyivstar TV, Suspilne Ukraine, Ukrainska Pravda, hromadske, the “Window of Recovery” media network, the positive news and storytelling platform SHOTAM, “Lachen Pyshe,” ProKyiv, ProDnipro, Cultural Forces of Ukraine — an association of cultural figures supporting Ukraine’s Defence Forces — Jetsetter, Ukrainian Fashion Publishing, and information partners Sensy Buro and Teenergizer provide media support. PwC in Ukraine acts as the independent consultant responsible for verifying the transparency and integrity of the Global Teacher Prize Ukraine selection process.
