Since 2016, Olena Boriak has been the head of the priority activity devoted to the development of theoretical and methodological foundations for the preservation and reconstruction of the spiritual culture of the Polissia region affected by Chornobyl disaster, which is carried out by the State Scientific Center for the Protection of Cultural Heritage from Technogenic Disasters of the State Agency of Ukraine for the Management of the Exclusion Zone. Boriak is the author of more than 120 publications, including monographs: “Weaving in the rituals and beliefs of Ukrainians (mid – XIX-early XX centuries)” (1997); “Institute of midwifery and the figure of a midwife in the traditional culture of Ukrainians (history, ritual, mythology)” (2009); scientific reference publication “The history of folk studies in Ukraine: catalog of ethnographic programs (second half of the XVIII-XX centuries)” (1994) and large-scale of popular science publication “Ukraine: ethno-cultural mosaic” (2006).
Boriak is a co-author of a number of collective monographs and compiler of scientific collections: “Ukrainians: folk beliefs, demonology” (1991); “Ethnography of sexual life and physicality” (2013), “Body in cultural texts” (2003 co-authored). The works of Olena Boriak have repeatedly received awards at competitions, and she has published numerous publications in leading scientific periodicals in Ukraine, Russia, and the United States. The folkloristic aspect of Boiak's research is particularly expressive in the works “Textological bases of recording and publishing of dumas of P. Martynovych” (1997); “Porfyriy Martynovych on textological bases of recording and publishing of Ukrainian dumas (based on the materials of the epistolary heritage of the folklorist)” (1998); “Mariinka: an ethno-cultural portrait of a Ukrainian village in the Donetsk Region of the late 1920s” (2017); “Cryptadias of Fedir Vovk: the invention of shameful. Ethnography of sexuality at the turn of the XIX–XX centuries” (2018, co-authored). Olena Boriak combines scientific studies with intensive expedition gathering activities (more than 30 expeditions), teaching folk science subjects in higher educational institutions of Ukraine and the USA, participation in conferences (Ukraine, Romania, Lithuania, USA) and educational activities (“We are the Ukrainian people: a cultural and historical mosaic” program series on Svoboda Radio (Kiev, 2000-2003). Boriak's research is characterized by the productive introduction of modern methodological proposals, the expansion and deepening of the problem field of science, and contributes to improving its status in the modern public life of Ukraine.
Works: “Weaving in the rituals and beliefs of Ukrainians (mid – XIX-early XX centuries)”. Kyiv, 1997, 192 P.; “Midwife in the cultural and historical tradition of Ukrainians: between the profane and the sacred.” Kyiv, 2009. 400 P.; “Textological bases of recording and publishing of dumas of P. Martynovych (based on the materials of the epistolary heritage)”. Oral epic: ethnocultural traditions and performance: materials of the International Scientific Conference dedicated to the memory of F. Kolessa and A. Lord, Kyiv, September 8-14, 1997. Kyiv, 1997. Part I. P. 23-30; Mariinka: ethno-cultural portrait of a Ukrainian village in the Donetsk Region of the late 1920s / introduction. art., comp., comment. Olena Boriak. Kyiv, 2017. 157 [2] p. Lit: Khmelovska O. ethnologist Olena Boriak: “Tradition cannot disappear. It only takes other forms.” URL: https://science.platfor.ma/olena-boryak/; Boriak Olena Oleksandrivna. URL: http://irbis-nbuv.gov.ua/ASUA/0005048 Grymich M. translation from the language of culture to the language of science: an anthropological study in postmodern discourse. Anthropology of transformations: Ukrainian society in the context of globalization and cross-cultural interaction.