Julie Arnfred Bojesen

Julie Arnfred Bojesen is the Director of the Ukrainian-Danish Youth House, a democratization project in Ukraine based in Kyiv and with regional representation in Mykolaiv. The Ukrainian-Danish Youth House is a platform supporting youth participation in civil society and cultural life. This is done by providing a free space for youth involvement and youth-led initiatives, by providing capacity building and cultural exchange, and by offering grant possibilities.

Julie has led the project since 2021, originally from Kyiv until she was forced to leave Ukraine in February 2022, just before the Russian invasion of the country. The work has continued through the full-scale invasion, and she now travels between Copenhagen, Kyiv and Mykolaiv. Prior to leaving for Ukraine, Julie was the head of Secretariat at The Danish Foreign Policy Society. She holds a bachelor degree in Political Science from Aarhus University and an MA in Communication for Development from Malmö University and is engaged in issues about power and communication, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe. She has been president of the youth organisation SILBA – Initiative for Dialogue and Democracy and volunteer editor-in-chief at Magasinet rØST, and received the Ole Lippmann Award 2023 for being a young voice in the international debate in Denmark, bringing the focus onto Ukrainian culture and youth-life. Julie is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow from Sarajevo (2019) and member of the Board of Directors of the Danish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights and Board of Representatives of Humanity in Action Denmark.