Dietrich und Elke Möller-Stiftung offers mentoring and scholarships for Ukrainian students
Yaroslava Larionova is currently in the fourth semester of a Master’s degree in Human Rights at FAU and has been receiving the Möllers’ scholarship since October 2024. Since 2022, Dietrich and Elke Möller have been supporting Ukrainian students and doctoral candidates at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) with scholarships lasting one year. This scholarship program is part of the KNU-FAU alliance, an alliance between Kijew National University and FAU. In our interview, Yaroslava Larionova shares her experiences with the scholarship.
Ms. Larionova, you have been receiving the Möller scholarship since October 2024. How has the scholarship affected your life as a student?
The scholarship has allowed me to concentrate more on my studies and my final thesis without worrying about finances. My academic performance has improved and I feel more appreciated and supported. That is particularly important for me as a Ukrainian student in a completely new setting with complex emotions. The feeling of solidarity the foundation gives me helps me feel less alone. Thanks to my scholarship, I have also had the opportunity to complete an internship in the Center for Civil Liberties, a Ukrainian human rights organization that was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022.
What motivated you to apply for a scholarship from the Möller family?
I applied because I was deeply moved by the foundation’s engagement not only for Ukrainian students but also for Ukraine as a whole. Its support for an orphanage in Ukraine, for example, demonstrates a degree of care going far beyond academia. In addition, equal opportunities, fairness and participation in education are topics that have always been close to my heart. The Möller Stiftung stands for and supports these ideals. My decision to apply for a scholarship helped me to forge closer connections to the FAU community, the Ukrainian student network and people who are committed to our country, both now and in the future.
Equal opportunities, fairness and participation in education are topics that have always been close to my heart. The Möller Stiftung stands for and supports these ideals.
Yaroslava Larionova
What are your plans for the future after your Master’s degree at FAU?
I would like to return to Ukraine and settle in Kyiv, that has been a personal goal for quite some time now. At the same time I am extremely worried about the deteriorating security situation there, making it extremely difficult to make any plans for the near future. From a career point of view, I hope that I will be able to continue to work to promote human rights. I am also interested in working with young people and in social education, in particular relating to the discourse on human rights.
In March 2025, you went on an excursion to Geneva and gained an insight into the work of the UN. What did you gain from this trip?
The trip to Geneva was an amazing experience. We visited important institutions like the UN Human Rights Council, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Attending sessions of the Human Rights Council and having the opportunity to talk directly with experts, from the former Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief to legal experts from the Red Cross, made the content we cover in our degree program really come to life. The most inspiring thing for me was the mixture of politics, law and the work on the ground that unites all these organizations.
From a career point of view, I hope that I will be able to continue to work to promote human rights.
Yaroslava Larionova
Your Master’s degree at FAU is not the first time that you have come into contact with human rights. While you were still living in Ukraine, you stood up for human rights by becoming involved in the “KIEC European Club”. What did you do there?
From 2015 to 2021 I worked as a volunteer in the information and cultural center “KIEC European Club” in my hometown Krementschuk. There, I was involved in projects on human rights education, citizen participation and integration of displaced people affected by the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine that started in 2014. I also helped organize the mobile human rights film festival at my school and participated in the Ukrainian Human Rights School for Young Activists. Later, I worked with children from disadvantaged backgrounds in Poland and Lithuania.
Feedback from two other scholarship holders
Ihor Horishnyi is studying medicine, currently in the 7th semester: “I am extremely grateful to Dr. Dietrich and Dr. Elke Möller and all the supporters of the Möller-Stiftung. This scholarship is key to my continued education, as thanks to the generous support I am now able to continue my degree in medicine that was interrupted by the brutal Russian aggression. I hope I will one day be able to graduate with my dream degree.”
Yaroslav Fedorchuk is studying a Master’s degree in International Business Studies at FAU: “I really appreciate the support from the Möller-Stiftung – both from a financial point of view and as an expression of trust and solidarity. The scholarship allows me to focus entirely on my degree, to complete internships and to continue to volunteer for Ukraine. Supporting Ukrainian students in these difficult times motivates me to keep working on my personal development and to contribute in future to strengthening the partnership between Ukraine and Germany.
About the Möller-Stiftung
The married couple Dietrich and Elke Möller met in the 1980s at university in Kyiv. He was studying electrical engineering in the capital city of Ukraine and she international law. After a long active professional life in Moscow, they returned to Germany in 2019 and looked for a way to offer students and doctoral candidates from the city of their former host university financial independence and give them the opportunity to benefit from an inspiring stay abroad in Germany. That year, they established a foundation and named it Dietrich und Elke Möller Stiftung. Alongside other charity measures, for example regarding accommodation, since 2022 the foundation has awarded four scholarships each year to Ukrainian students and doctoral candidates at FAU. Scholarship holders receive 625 euros every month over the course of a year. This scholarship program is part of the KNU-FAU alliance. The alliance aims to strengthen the Ukrainian university system that has been severely affected by the ongoing war.
More information:
Dr. David Schkade
Strategic Projects – EELISA European University Alliance
Phone: + 49 9131 85-26326
david.schkade@fau.de