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Ilona Jurkonytė

Ilona Jurkonytė

Dr

  • School of Modern Languages, Buchanan Building, Union Street, St Andrews, KY16 9PH, UK

Personal profile

Research overview

Ilona Jurkonytė is a film and moving image researcher and curator, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions / UKRI Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Modern Languages at the University of St Andrews, and a member of the St Andrews Centre for Exoplanet Science. Previously, she was an Arts & Science Postdoctoral Fellow at the Cinema Studies Institute at the University of Toronto (Canada), a Vilnius University Foundation Fellow (Lithuania), and a Vanier Scholar at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, Concordia University (Canada).

Ilona’s research interests span film and media studies and science and technology studies. She examines tensions between notions of the national and transnational in moving image production and circulation, as well as their geo- and hydro- political implications. Ilona specializes in environmental media studies. She is particularly invested in analysis of how film and media production and technology engage with the questions of social and environmental justice. Her projects focus on relationship between nuclear media archives, outer space research, and the environment.

At the University of St Andrews, Ilona's research intersects environmental media studies, the history of science, and film studies. The project examines the development of space botany, the academic discipline and scientific practice of cultivating plants in outer space, as it emerged in the early 1980s. By focusing on the topic across academic and art institutional contexts, the project explores imaginaries of extension of the ecosystem to outer space. The environmental media is approached as a field of inquiry that examines how media represents, shapes, and materially participates in environmental processes, revealing how ecological realities are sensed, obscured, and negotiated through technological, cultural, and political systems.

Prior to her academic work, Ilona held an active film curatorial practice which continues to inform her research. She is interested in the potentials of artists’ moving image and its participation in audiovisual cultures. Ilona was the co-founder (2007), managing director (2007–2012), and artistic director (2007–2019) of the Kaunas International Film Festival (Lithuania), which was instrumental in rescuing Romuva Cinema (Lithuania). In 2012, she was invited to enhance the presence of moving image at the Contemporary Art Centre (Lithuania), where from 2012 to 2014 she oversaw the establishment of the CAC Cinema space and curated the film program in it.

Areas of expertise

Film and moving image studies

Science and media technology studies

Film industry analysis

Environmental film and media research

Media and social justice research

Nuclear cultures research

Outer space cultures and media research

Film and moving image curation

Education/Academic qualification

Doctor of Philosophy, Concordia University

Sept 2015 → Aug 2022

Award Date: 14 Oct 2022

Master of Arts, Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts

Oct 2005 → Jun 2009

Award Date: 20 Jun 2009

Master of Social Science, Vytautas Magnus University

Aug 2002 → Jun 2004

Award Date: 20 Jun 2004

Bachelor of Philosophy, Vytautas Magnus University

Aug 1999 → Jun 2002

Award Date: 20 Jun 2002

External positions

New Media Expert, Lithuanian Council for Culture

4 Feb 2026 → …

Expert evaluating film exhibition projects, Lithuanian Film Centre

Mar 2024 → …

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  1. SDG 1 - No Poverty
    SDG 1 No Poverty
  2. SDG 2 - Zero Hunger
    SDG 2 Zero Hunger
  3. SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
    SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being
  4. SDG 4 - Quality Education
    SDG 4 Quality Education
  5. SDG 5 - Gender Equality
    SDG 5 Gender Equality
  6. SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation
    SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation
  7. SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
    SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
  8. SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
    SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
  9. SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
    SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities
  10. SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
    SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
  11. SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
    SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production
  12. SDG 13 - Climate Action
    SDG 13 Climate Action
  13. SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
    SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

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