Iuliia Osmolovska

A career diplomat with 20 years of working in and for the governmental structures in Ukraine, Iuliia has spent most of her professional time dealing with issues of security and defense at European level and contributed with a range of strategic initiatives of Ukraine’s cooperation with the EU as a whole and the UK in particular.

From 1999 to 2011 she worked on security and defense dialogue between Ukraine and the EU at the EU Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, where she held positions from a diplomatic attaché to a councilor. Iuliia chaired the work of the strategy planning unit of the EU Department and was a team leader on Ukraine-EU strategic initiatives. She was a member of the Secretariat of the Delegation of Ukraine for negotiations with the EU on Association Agreement and coordinated the work of the Ukrainian part of the WG1 (political dialogue, defense and security) on drafting the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement.

Her diplomatic experience also includes two diplomatic postings at the Embassy of Ukraine in the UK, taking positions of second secretary, councilor, head of the political section and acting deputy head of mission in 2001-2004 and 2009-2011.

In 2011-2014 Iuliia served as coordinator on International Integration and Cooperation at the Economic Reforms Coordination Center. In 2014 she co-chaired the Reforms’ Support Center for the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (a communicative platform for a dialogue between the Government of Ukraine and expert community and civil society) and in 2015 obtained an experience as Executive Director at the Ukrainian Investment and Trade Facilitation Center.

From 2014 to 2018 Iuliia was a Managing Partner at the Institute for Negotiation Skills (Ukraine) and worked as an advisor on cooperation with NATO member-states to the Director General of SC “Ukrspecexport” in 2016-2019.

In May 2018 she founded and still acts as Executive Director of the Art of Business and Diplomacy Group, which focuses on consultancy and training in negotiations.

Iuliia holds Master of Philosophy in European Studies from the University of Cambridge (the United Kingdom), Master of Foreign Policy from the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine/the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, and Master of International Business Management from Kyiv National Economic University (diploma with honor). She completed the Management and Leadership Program at the JFKennedy School of Administration (Harvard University, USA) in 2011 and was trained at administrative structures of the EU (EU VIP-exchange Program) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany. In 2013 she took a course on Psychology and Mediation of Negotiations at St-Petersburg State University (Russian Federation), but had to disrupt her studies because of the annexation of Crimea and events in Eastern Ukraine.

A member of the Munich Young Leaders network since 2009 (a joint initiative of the Munich Security Conference and the Koerber Stiftung (Germany)). A guest speaker at events on geopolitical shifts in Eastern Europe at the University of Cambridge (in 2016 and 2018).

Was awarded with the Honorary Decoration of the Chief of General Staff-Chief Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine “For Merit to the Armed Forces of Ukraine” and a commemorative medal for the Royal Air Squadron visit to Ukraine (2013).
As an expert in international relations and negotiation she appears regularly on TV and radio channels in Ukraine: UA TV, Ukraine 24, ECO-TV, Suspilne TV, 4 Channel, NewsOne, ZIK TV, OBOZ TV, Espresso TV, 112, First National TV Channel of Ukraine, Pryamyi Channel, Eighth Channel, Golos Stolytsy among others.