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Mykola PohoretskyiFirst Vice-Rector of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
Doctor of Law, Professor,
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Born on December 18, 1960, in the village of Nedilove, Savran District, Odesa Region, Ukraine. In 1985, he graduated with honors from the Judicial and Prosecutorial Faculty of the Kharkiv Law Institute (now Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University). He completed compulsory military service from 1979 to 1981.
From 1984 to 1986, he worked as a trainee prosecutor, Assistant Prosecutor of the Moskovskyi District Prosecutor’s Office in Kharkiv, Prosecutor of the Department for Supervision of Criminal Cases in Courts, and Prosecutor of the Department for Supervision of Inquiry and Investigation in Internal Affairs Bodies at the Investigation Directorate of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
From 1986 to 2001 and from 2008 to 2011, he served in the state security agencies of Ukraine, holding various investigative, operational, intelligence, counterintelligence, and senior management positions. He is a combat veteran.
In 1996, while still serving in the Security Service of Ukraine, he defended his Candidate of Sciences dissertation entitled “Legal Relations of the Investigator with the Inquiry Body, Head of the Investigation Department, and Prosecutor.” In 2002, he was awarded the academic title of Associate Professor.
In 2006, after completing doctoral studies at the National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine, he defended his doctoral dissertation entitled “Theoretical and Practical Problems of the Use of Operational-Search Activity Materials in Criminal Proceedings (Based on Materials of the Security Service of Ukraine).” In 2009, he was awarded the academic title of Professor. Since June 2025, he has been a Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine.
Since 1997, he has combined academic and teaching activities with his service, working at leading Ukrainian higher education and research institutions, including Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Luhansk State University of Internal Affairs named after E.O. Didorenko, Kyiv National University of Internal Affairs, National Academy of Internal Affairs, National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine, National School of Judges of Ukraine, and the V. V. Stashys Institute for the Study of Crime Problems of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine.
In 2007–2008, he was seconded to the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, where he served as Chief Research Fellow and First Deputy Head of the Interdepartmental Research Center on Combating Organized Crime and Corruption.
Since July 2011, he has worked at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. He held the positions of Professor and Acting Head of the Department of Justice at the Faculty of Law. From 2012 to 2021, he served as Head of the Department of Justice. From May 2021 to April 2026, he was Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs. Since April 30, 2026, he has served as First Vice-Rector of the University.
Professor Pohoretskyi is the author of more than 800 scholarly and educational publications, including monographs, textbooks, scientific and practical commentaries, and encyclopedic editions.
Since 2002, he has actively participated in drafting laws of Ukraine, other normative legal acts, and expert legal opinions in the fields of criminal justice, the judiciary, prosecution, advocacy, law enforcement, as well as scientific, scientific-technical, and innovation policy. He has served as an expert and Deputy Chair of the Expert Council of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine on National Security and Defense Issues, chaired state accreditation commissions, been a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Higher Specialized Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal Cases, acted as Scientific Advisor to the Kyiv Regional Center of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, and chaired the jury of the “Law Studies” section of the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. From 2012 to 2021, he headed the Specialized Academic Council of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv for dissertation defenses in legal specialties.
Since 2015, he has been Editor-in-Chief of the international professional scientific and practical journal Herald of Criminal Justice. He is also a member of the editorial boards of several Ukrainian and international legal journals, including Scientific Bulletin of the National Academy of Internal Affairs, Scientific Bulletin of the Security Service of Ukraine, and the Polish journal Ochrona prawna pokrzywdzonego.
Since 2022, he has chaired the Expert Council on Legal Sciences of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. He is a member of the Specialized Academic Council of the National Academy of Internal Affairs, the Working Group on Criminal Justice Reform under the Commission on Legal Reform of the President of Ukraine, and the Scientific Advisory Councils of the Supreme Court of Ukraine and the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. He also provides expert and advisory support to the OSCE Projects Coordinator in Ukraine and the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. Since 2026, he has been a member of the Working Group of the Ukrainian National Bar Association on improving legislation in the field of advocacy and legal practice, as well as a member of the Commission of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine on improving legislation in scientific, scientific-technical, and innovation spheres.
Professor Pohoretskyi is the founder of his own academic school. Under his supervision, 19 Doctors of Law, 44 Candidates of Legal Sciences, and 4 Doctors of Philosophy (PhD) in Law have been trained.
For his outstanding contribution to the development of legal science, higher education, legal practice, and the strengthening of Ukrainian state institutions, Professor Pohoretskyi has received numerous state, departmental, and public honors. Among the highest state awards are the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, Fifth Class; the Order of Merit, Third Class; the Medal “Defender of the Fatherland”; the Boris Paton National Prize of Ukraine; and the honorary title “Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine.” He has also been awarded distinctions from the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the Ukrainian National Bar Association, the Union of Lawyers of Ukraine, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the National Academy of Internal Affairs, and other state, academic, and public institutions.
