Rebecca Redding
July 2026
Better Futures Cohort 2025/26
I spend a great deal of time working in support of communities in Ukraine. I have personally delivered humanitarian aid and established and nurtured networks of individuals and organisations who all share a belief that as humanitarians we need to support Ukraine as it defends itself and its right to exist as a sovereign country. I have witnessed the reality of living in a place where you are constantly at risk, where the shadow of death pervades your ordinary daily life and where peace and safety do not exist. The extraordinary resilience and will to survive at the core of Ukrainians has meant that they have had to innovate and create with limited resources. The work I have been doing there has had a profound effect on me. I hoped that the Better Futures Programme would give me the time and space to clarify how I want to carry this work forward, how best to use my experience and resources in support of Ukraine, what lessons could I learn from the time I spend in Ukraine and how might it have meaning beyond this current conflict and how could society benefit from the appalling horror and the incredible innovation.
When I started the Programme, my hope was that I would find answers to those questions. That by spending time away from Ukraine, by standing back, by debating and talking and listening I would form a clarity about what I wanted to devote time and effort to and crucially for me what would have the most impact. What can I, as an individual, contribute? What I learnt was that I am a practitioner, I do things. I realised that the opportunity the Programme presented was Cambridge itself. That I now had access to an incredible network of people who might be able to help establish a community for The Ukraine War Archive.
The Ukraine War Archive is a civil led independent digital archive that is bearing witness to the war. It provides a repository for material from journalists, researchers and individual contributors who record what they see and hear. The Archive is a long-term digital infrastructure designed to preserve evidence to support future accountability and justice and strengthen public understanding of the war. Not just in Ukraine but globally. The Archive exists to preserve these precious materials with integrity so that evidence is not erased by time, political change, technological failure or a malign narrative. To achieve this, it needs partners and supportive networks, it needs endorsement and the protection of trusted institutions globally and I realised I could help. My unique privilege on the Better Futures Programme was that I have been given access to an institution which could provide UWA with credibility and access to a community of academics who would value the opportunity the UWA presented.
I am delighted to say that the knocking on doors and talking about it has started to have effect. On May 13th and thanks to the faith and generosity of the Master of Emmanuel College and Professor Alex Jeffrey, we held an event at Emmanuel College to introduce the UWA to a varied audience of academics, Ukrainians, human rights lawyers and archivists. This event is the first of many and The Churchill Archive is actively involved in working on more events. As a result, other opportunities have arisen and UWA is engaging with conferences and workshops and research in various departments in Cambridge. Separately I have been able to engage with the National Archive at Kew for advice for which I am extremely grateful. This work is ongoing and I am excited about how in a few short months we are beginning to foster the key relationships that will help achieve what UWA needs. I believe the impact of this will be profound. None of this would have been possible or achieved so quickly without the Better Futures Programme. I will always be grateful for the opportunity to be part of it, the time spent in rooms with individuals at the very epicentre of academic excellence, the sessions spent with experts and practitioners who I would never have met. In some way, if I know I can advocate for UWA, then I feel I can be a custodian for the legacy of the people who have bravely born witness to what is happening right now in Ukraine. One day I hope justice will prevail.
With heartfelt thanks to The Better Futures Programme, The Master and Staff at Downing College, The Master and Staff at Emmanuel College, Professor Alex Jeffrey, The Churchill Archive and the many other individuals who spoke to us and encouraged and supported us. Finally, to my fellow cohort members, it has been a blast. See you in the pub or in Kyiv.
