Oleg Yarosh

Oleg Yarosh is a permanent research fellow at the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv) where he heads the Department of History of Oriental Philosophy, and is concurrently listed as an "Associated Academic" of the Sussex Asia Centre, University of Sussex. Born in Lviv in 1970 and raised in Odesa, he holds an MA in History (Odesa State University, 1993) and a PhD in Philosophical Anthropology (Kyiv, 2002), complemented by study periods at Balliol College, Oxford and the Graduate School for Social Research in Warsaw.

Education & Academic Appointments

• MA History – Odesa State University, 1993
• PhD Philosophical Anthropology – Institute of Philosophy, Kyiv, 2002
• Oxford Theological Exchange Programme, Balliol College, 1997-98
• Graduate coursework, Graduate School for Social Research, Warsaw, 1999-2003
• Junior Research Fellow → Head, Department of History of Oriental Philosophy, Institute of Philosophy NASU, 2000-present

Research Interests
Yarosh’s work centres on Islam in Central and Eastern Europe, Western Sufism, anthropology of religion and comparative philosophy. He explores transnational Sufi networks, conversion processes, religious authority, and the public presence of Islam in Ukraine, frequently combining historical, ethnographic and philosophical perspectives.

Recent Publication Trends
His latest articles (2023-25) examine late-Soviet Sufi esotericism, post-tariqa spirituality in Western Europe, and the impact of Russia’s war on Ukrainian Muslim communities, signalling a sustained focus on contemporary transformations of Sufism and Islam in Eastern European contexts.

Scientific Awards & Fellowships

• DAAD Research Fellowship (2008)
• Fulbright Scholar Fellowship (2009)
• Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies Fellowship (2014)
• Swedish Institute Visby Senior Scholarship (2016-17)
• Core faculty, OSI-HESP ReSET Regional Seminar on Islamic Studies (2011-14)

Grants & Programmes
Yarosh has coordinated Ukrainian teams in international projects on political Islam and Sufism, and served as principal investigator for studies of Muslim institutions in Ukraine funded by Fulbright and other agencies.

Labs & Teams
He leads the Department of History of Oriental Philosophy (Institute of Philosophy NASU) and collaborates with the Sussex Asia Centre, Aarhus University’s Department of Religious Studies, and international scholarly networks on Sufism and Islam in Europe.