Vladyslav Kim, Kavli Scholar

After earning his bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of New York in Prague, Vladyslav Kim planned to return home to Ukraine, but Russia invaded days before his scheduled trip.

“One of the first things you lose when the war starts is the ability to project into the future. In this case, I had this dream to become a researcher,” said Kim. “It was such a dark and hopeless moment for my family. It makes you feel very helpless. This scholarship restores that agency that I lost. Suddenly I felt, ‘Oh, now I can plan something. I can plan my career.’”

Unable to return home to be with his family, Kim moved to England and earned a master’s degree in cognitive neuroscience at the University of York, with the aid of the Equal Access Ukraine Scholarship. When thinking about what he could do next to advance his career in neuroscience, he reached out to Vladyslav Vyazovskiy, a member of the Kavli Nanoscience Discovery Institute at the University of Oxford. Vyazovskiy, a leader in the field of sleep physiology, encouraged Kim to apply for the Kavli Scholarship.

“I am immensely grateful to The Kavli Foundation for supporting Vladyslav with the scholarship that enabled him to join my lab. I was very much impressed by his highly original and thoughtful project proposal and thought immediately that he is a great candidate. I have great expectations from Vladyslav and I am sure he will become a stellar scientist,” said Vyazovskiy.

Now as a member Vyazovskiy’s lab, Kim is interested in exploring the connection between time perception and sleep homeostasis, drawing on his background both in psychology and cognitive neuroscience.

“I want to say a big thank you to The Kavli Foundation to make this thing possible. It’s really hard to convey this, especially in a foreign language.... But I’m incredibly thankful, and my family is incredibly thankful,” said Kim.