Rory Finnin is Professor of Ukrainian Studies and Global Affairs and Director of the Ukrainian Studies Hub at the University of Notre Dame, where he holds the Collegiate Mission Chair in Ukrainian Studies and Global Affairs. 

He joined Notre Dame in 2026 from the University of Cambridge, where he served as Professor of Ukrainian Studies and launched the Cambridge Ukrainian Studies programme in 2008. 

While at Cambridge, Finnin curated and organised over 40 exhibitions and cultural events, from the Cambridge Festival of Contemporary Ukrainian Film to the Cambridge Vsesvit Literary Evening, which enriched public understanding of Ukraine's language, history, and society in Great Britain and beyond. He also convened Cambridge's Disinformation and Media Literacy Special Interest Group, part of the university’s Trust and Technology Strategic Research Initiative.

Finnin's primary research interest is the interplay of culture and identity in Ukraine. He also focuses on the history of colonialism in Crimea and studies Crimean Tatar literature and culture. His broader research interests include nationalism studies, solidarity studies, and cultural memory in the region of the Black Sea. 

His 2022 book, Blood of Others: Stalin's Crimean Atrocity and the Poetics of Solidarity, won eight international book awards, earning distinctions in the fields of Ukrainian Studies, European Studies, Slavic Studies, nationalism studies, and genocide studies.

Finnin also won a Teaching Award for Outstanding Lecturer from the Cambridge University Students' Union (CUSU), the representative body for all students at the university.

In 2026, Finnin received the inaugural Ukrainian Studies Distinguished Award for Personal Contribution to the Development of Ukrainian Studies, presented by the Global Coalition for Ukrainian Studies at the L’viv National Opera.

Finnin has appeared on such media outlets as BBC, CNN, NBC, Sky News, and Al Jazeera. His commentary has been quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Le Monde, The Guardian, The Times, The New Yorker, and Newsweek, among other periodicals.

Finnin is a native of Cleveland, Ohio and a graduate of St. Ignatius High School, Georgetown University (BA) and Columbia University (PhD). In 1995-97 he served as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine. He lives with his family in the United States.