Taras Mazyar earned an M.A. degree in International Relations from Lviv Ivan Franko National University (2001). He interned at the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of the European Union in 2000 and worked from 2000 to 2002 as assistant to the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Foreign Affairs researching issues of human rights protection, migration, minority rights and WTO-related issues. In 2002-2003 he worked at the Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy, dealing with issues of democracy-building in Ukraine. In 2002 Taras interned in Germany's Bundestag, followed by a position in 2004 at Euro-Ukraina Consulting, where he helped implement World Bank and EC projects in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.