Iryna Erykivna Bekeshkina (Ukrainian: Ірина Ериківна Бекешкінa; 4 February 1952 – 20 March 2020^[1]) was a Ukrainian sociologist. She was the head of the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation from 2010 until 2020. She specialized in the study of Ukrainian society and politics. She was also a frequent media commentator and policy advocate.^[2]

In 1974, Bekeshkina graduated from the Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv with a degree in philosophy.^[3] She then completed her graduate studies at the Institute of Philosophy within the Soviet Academy of Sciences.^[3]

Bekeshkina was a scientific editor of Філософська думка (Philosophical Thought, uk), one of the leading philosophy journals of Ukraine.^[3] In 1977, she became a researcher at the Soviet Academy of Sciences, and beginning in 1990 she worked as a researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.^[3]

Bekeshkina began to work at the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation in 1996.^[3] There she conducted research, publishing papers largely on the sociology of politics and elections.^[2] She particularly focused on the politics of Ukraine.^[4]

Bekeshkina became the head of the Democratic Initiatives Foundation in 2010, and remained the head of that organization until her death.^[5] She was also a member of the board of the Ukrainian Think Tanks Liaison Office,^[6] and was affiliated with the Media Director NGO, a Ukrainian media watchdog organization.^[7]

Bekeshkina was named the 38th most influential woman in Ukraine by Focus Magazine in 2007,^[8] and in 2008 she was named 51st most influential woman in Ukraine.^[9] In explaining these rankings, the magazine cited her public-facing work in the study of political information and Ukrainian foreign policy.^[8][9] In 2018 and 2020, she was included in lists of the 100 most successful women in Ukraine compiled by the magazine HB (uk).^[10][11][12]

In 2020, Bekeshkina died in Kyiv from stomach cancer.

In November 2022, as part of a derussification campaign, Kyiv's Dmitry Karbyshev Street was renamed to Iryna Bekeshkina Street.^[13]

• Senior Fellow, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine^[14]