4 Dec 2025
Accolade for LMU political scientist: Alongside her studies at LMU, Polina Pienkina is dedicated to improving relations between the EU and Ukraine.
Like many of her Ukrainian compatriots, Polina Pienkina came to Germany in 2022 when Russia launched its war of aggression. In her case, however, a study visit was already planned: As part of her bachelor’s degree course in international relations, she initially spent a year as an exchange student at Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen. For her master’s degree, she then moved to LMU.
Alongside her university studies, the budding political scientist was also a Young European Ambassador who actively stood up for the integration of Ukraine in Europe. Her excellent academic performance and extracurricular commitment have now been rewarded with the DAAD prize, which will be presented to her on December 4.
Since 2023 at LMU Munich: Polina Pienkina | © LMU/Johanna Weber
Polina Pienkina was born in Kyiv in 2001, grew up in a house in the countryside and went to school in the city. She recalls a pleasant, calm and peaceful childhood. Her studies began a new chapter in her life – a chapter in which she discovered her passion for politics. She joined a debating society that was organized by the university in Kyiv. At what were termed “tournaments”, two people at a time would slip into the role of “government” (for) and “opposition” (against). This experience taught her to represent different positions that were often not her own. “As a cognitive process, it helps you understand the other side: How do people arrive at this opinion?” That said, she adds that it is important to argue on the basis of facts – especially as so many opinions appeal instead to our emotions.
The debating contests sharpened Pienkina’s rhetorical skills but also enabled her to travel throughout Ukraine – until first the pandemic and then the war arrived.
Once in Germany, Pienkina immersed herself in her studies to take her mind off things as her friends and acquaintances remained at home in Kyiv, some of them isolated from each other with no electricity and no Internet access. Although her father was in the same predicament, she constantly strove to see the good in things: “When I moved, I felt that I liked it here. I have a nice apartment, I have good friends, I have put down roots here. But you never feel like you are at home.”
Being able to talk to other international students in general and Ukrainian students in particular provides a measure of comfort. And she often takes the initiative in signing up for non-university events (such as the Young Security Conference 2024 and the Future European Leaders Forum 2023), where she also makes public appearances: “Ukrainians love things like that, because they love telling others about their country.”
Pienkina learned German while still at school. Later, at university, she attended further German language courses. Yet it is still different suddenly to be literally surrounded by the language, she says: “I was permanently stressed out at the start. Even when a professor simply asked me to switch the lights on and I didn’t understand him.” After a few months, though, she got used to the situation and finally felt “free”.
Aside from her studies, assorted conferences and internships, Pienkina’s “biggest flex”, as she puts it, is organizing the Think2Change ideathon – a competition in which rival project designs are submitted. The concept has to be detailed down to the level of financial planning, but development and implementation are not required. The topic? How can Ukraine be integrated in the EU as quickly as possible?
The event – including a conference, lectures and courses – lasted for about a week and a half and was held online. It took Pienkina several months to prepare it, with funding being the initial obstacle. She therefore turned to EU Neighbours East, a program that seeks to improve the EU’s communication with its eastern neighbors, counter disinformation and explain the benefits and policies of the EU. She found the support she needed, was made a Young European Ambassador, and was at last able to go ahead with the project.
Pienkina’s move to LMU came in 2023 because the university was offering a course on quantitative methods in political science. She is ambitious and always eager to learn; and one of her academic hobby horses is the debate surrounding the supply of arms to Ukraine. In her master’s thesis, she addressed issues such as which factors favor the endorsement of arms shipments and how a paradigm shift in this regard has taken place in the NATO countries.
After working last year as a student assistant at Acatech, the German Academy of Science and Engineering, which concerns itself with political advice relating to energy systems, Pienkina now wants to take a break from academia when she has finished her master’s degree. And a doctorate? Maybe sometime, yes. But first she wants to take a job that enables her to advocate inclusion of the eastern [European] states in the context of ostpolitik.
Having originally wanted to be a diplomat, Polina abandoned this idea as soon as she started studying: “Up to now, I have always had to discover new topics and engage in research to further myself. But in politics, things tend to be more static: You adopt a position that you then have to sell. And there are incentives not to change your opinion too radically, because you might otherwise lose your voters. For me, that is too boring.”
Professor Paul Thurner, Chair of Empirical Political Research at LMU, nominated Pienkina for the DAAD prize. His reasoning? Pienkina, he insists, has staked her claim through exceptional academic performance and her outstanding analytical and methodological skills. The professor has become a kind of mentor to the Ukrainian national. He has supported her – and tangibly inspired her thinking – ever since she began studying at LMU, not only in her academic projects, but also through collaboration in the form of a job as academic assistant and tutor.
The prize was completely unexpected, and Pienkina is very grateful for it. It will enable her to continue investing in her education. And it gives her the feeling that her work is being noticed. Additionally, it gives her a chance to tell something about herself – regardless of what her passion is and what she wants to share with the world. She herself wants to continue doing something for international relations: on the one hand because it is “factually correct that European integration is important to Ukraine”, but also because it is in all of our interests. Polina Pienkina has no doubts: “If Ukraine is safe from Russia, then Europe is too.”