Ruslan Shalamov 2025

Location: Kharkiv
Institution: Kharkiv Scientific Lyceum Obdarovanist
Subjects: Biology, Ecology

Ruslan Shalamov once dreamed of becoming a biochemist-researcher and never seriously considered teaching. In 1994, a friend who was a school principal asked him to teach just one lesson — within two months, he realized: this was his true calling.

His students win and grow: in 2002, one of them earned a silver medal at the International Biology Olympiad, while dozens of his graduates now work at leading universities around the world. Ruslan himself is not only a teacher but also a reformer: co-author of the State Standards, author of textbooks and curricula, creative director of the Soniashnyk Creative Association, head of science assessment for Ukrainian students in PISA, and trainer of hundreds of educators across the country.

In his classroom, biology means research and responsibility: the subject is taught through ecology, evolution, and real-life decisions. Lab work begins with a question, and knowledge becomes a tool — from nutrition to attitudes toward vaccines and GMOs.

The war forced Kharkiv students into online learning and bomb shelters. To preserve the “living” science, Ruslan, together with the community, created safe digital spaces, invited university professors to shelters, and organized lab practices in Chernivtsi, Lviv, and Kyiv.

Mr. Ruslan’s educational dream is to spark a wave of change in biology education across Ukraine. He seeks to update his own competency-based program, focused on research, critical thinking, and practical skills, and to train teachers to use it.

Ruslan envisions it as a chain reaction: bringing together the most dedicated educators from different regions into a safe space, running intensive trainings for them, and then sending each one back home — to spread the experience and launch change in their own communities.