Speechby Tetyana Morozova, President of the UAPE,
at the panel discussion “Current experience in the use of polygraphs in the field of
national security and defense of Ukraine in conditions of military threats”
at the 9th Kharkiv International Legal Forum
We have already reported on the participation of the All-Ukrainian Association of Polygraph Examiners (UAPE) in the IX Kharkiv International Legal Forum, where this year, for the first time, there was a panel discussion devoted exclusively to polygraphology. LINK
The photo shows members of the UAPE: Candidate of Legal Sciences, Associate Professor Inna KOLESNIKOVA; moderator of the panel discussion, Chairman of the Scientific and Methodological Council of the UAPE, Doctor of Legal Sciences, Professor, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine Viktor SHEVCHUK; President of the UAPE, Doctor of Psychological Sciences Tetiana MOROZOVA; Candidate of Legal Sciences, Associate Professor Yaroslav MYSHKOV
An important event for the entire Ukrainian polygraphological community was the signing of a five-year Memorandum of Partnership and Cooperation between the UAPE and the Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University. LINK
Today we present to your attention reports from the panel discussion by Tetiana MOROZOVA, President of the UAPE, Doctor of Psychological Sciences, author of 100 scientific works in the field of legal psychology and polygraphology, certified forensic expert, polygraphologist with over 22 years of experience.
Abstract of Tetiana Morozova’s speech at the panel discussion “Current experience of using polygraphs in the field of national security and defense of Ukraine in conditions of military threats,” which took place within the framework of the IX Kharkiv International Legal Forum.
REGARDING THE PROFESSIONAL STANDARD FOR “POLYGRAPH EXAMINER”
Morozova T. R.,
Doctor of Psychological Sciences, Senior Research Fellow, Certified Forensic Expert, President of the All-Ukrainian Association of Polygraphologists, Kyiv
Morozov O. M.,
Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine, Honorary Academician of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv
As of 2025, polygraphology in Ukraine is a fairly well-developed field. Compared to other European countries, we have the largest number of polygraphologists, which is easy to verify thanks to the open registers of professional associations. For example, the All-Ukrainian Association of Polygraphologists (UAPE-VAP) currently has 360 members, and this figure is confirmed by paid annual membership fees and the active participation of polygraphologists in the organization’s activities [1]. Even in the context of full-scale war, 170 members attended the UAPE (VAP) congress held in Kyiv in April 2025. A comparison of the number of polygraph examiners to the population even before the full-scale invasion showed that Ukraine was not far behind the most developed country in the world in terms of polygraphology – the United States.
Ukraine is one of less than ten countries in the world that produce their own polygraphs.
The regulatory framework for Ukrainian polygraphology, which traditionally no lawyer would consider sufficient under any circumstances, already includes seven laws as of September 2025. In addition, there are approved instructions and procedures for the use of polygraphs in various agencies and departments. The first approved Instruction on the use of computer polygraphs was approved by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine No. 842 on July 28, 2004.
In Ukraine, as in Japan and the United States, we have our own standards for polygraphs – DSTU 8692:2016 “Polygraphs. Technical Conditions” and for conducting forensic examinations – DSTU 9266:2023 “Forensic Psychological Examination. Use of a Polygraph.”
Two world-renowned polygraph schools have developed at a high level in Ukraine: methods for detecting hidden information, which is prevalent in Japan, and comparison questioning methods, which are prevalent in the US. Thanks to this, we have not only gained healthy competition, an incentive for self-improvement and development, and a high level of responsibility for results, but we have also become more unpredictable for our opponents: it is obvious that it is much more difficult to prepare qualitatively to counteract polygraph examiners from two schools than from one.
Polygraph examiners are trained in a number of higher education institutions. The National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine was the first to start training in 2009 under a license from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. The profession can also be mastered through private courses offered in cooperation with higher education institutions. For example, since 2016, VAP polygraph examiner training courses have been held on a regular basis at the I.I. Mechnikov Odessa National University. It was for these courses that the first Ukrainian textbook on the profession of “Polygraphology” was published in 2019 [2]. One of the unique features of these courses is that they are not tied to any particular polygraph manufacturer: future polygraph examiners are taught to work with both Rubicon (Ukraine) and Axciton (USA) polygraphs.
Since 1998, which marked the beginning of the active development of Ukrainian polygraphology, a significant number of scientific events have been held: conferences, seminars, and round tables. In its 11 years of activity, the VAP alone has held eight All-Ukrainian scientific and practical conferences of polygraph examiners, with breaks taken only due to the pandemic and full-scale invasion.
In general, today, the scale of the development of Ukrainian polygraphology can only be “unseen” due to elementary ignorance, mercantile interest or inferiority, an openly negative attitude towards everything Ukrainian, and the denial of our right to professional subjectivity, based on colonial thinking.
Along with rapid development and growing popularity, negative trends inevitably began to emerge in polygraphology. In particular, the vulgarization of the field through television shows in which a polygraph is used to “find out” who loves whom, what material benefits they are willing to trade for infidelity in a relationship, and so on. The issue is not even the loss of reputation for a method that did not need to be popularized through simplification. The problem is much deeper: these shows have created a false impression of the ease of conducting polygraph testing and the possibility of learning to work with a “lie detector” for almost anyone who wants to. A little advertising from enterprising dealers such as “study with us to become a polygraph examiner, polygraph examiners earn a lot of money!”, “we will teach you the profession of ‘polygraph examiner’ without leaving your home or main place of work!” – and people became interested. The issuance of documents after training by dealers is provided by those universities that do not neglect the opportunity to earn money by essentially selling a “franchise” to provide educational services to people who do not have the right to provide them.
In the current situation, hopes that the market will put everything in its place are futile. On the contrary, it is more likely that the market, due to its focus on quick profits, will bury polygraphology, because society may maximalistically transfer the negativity generated by dealers to the entire field and raise the question of banning or restricting the use of polygraphs. History knows such cases.
In order to prevent the development of these negative trends, it seems logical to develop a national professional standard for polygraph examiners. Let us note right away that we realize that no standard can stop dishonest, immoral teachers and their students who initially want to master the profession in the evening, after work, using video clips, and later, being simply unable to realize the possible consequences of their actions, are ready to test everyone and everything. However, the professional standard will be another step towards separating those who entered the profession solely for the purpose of making easy money from healthy polygraphology, and their deserved marginalization.
The profession of “polygraph expert” was first included in the National Classifier of Professions of Ukraine DK 003:2010 in 2010. This event was the result of the issuance of a license to train polygraph examiners to the National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine in 2009. The training program prepared by the Academy was designed for “polygraph experts,” hence the name of the profession. After the presidential elections and the change in political course, views on the advisability of the thorough development of Ukrainian polygraphology also changed. By the time the question arose as to which section of the National Classifier to include the profession in, there were no longer any people left at the Academy who could give a professional answer to this question and actively defend the interests of the professional community. As a result, the profession was included in the professional group “Engineers in the field of electronics and telecommunications”…
By Order of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine No. 810-21 of October 25, 2021, the name of the profession “polygraph expert” was abolished (code 2144.2, subclass “Electronics and Telecommunications Professionals,” professional group “Electronics and Telecommunications Engineers” of Section 2. “Professionals”) and a new job title was introduced – “Polygraph examiner” (code 2490, subclass 2490 “Polygraph examiner”, professional group “Professionals not included in other classification groups” of Section 2. “Professionals”).
Due to the fact that the new profession of “Polygraph Examiner” was assigned to professional group 2490, it could not be applied in central government bodies. However, this did not prevent some people from trying to present October 25, 2021, to the professional community as Ukrainian Polygraph Examiner Day and thereby, solely to satisfy their own desires, publicly reduce the age of Ukrainian polygraphology by at least 17 years. If a professional holiday is to be linked to the date of issue of a document, it would be more logical to designate Ukrainian Polygraph Examiner Day not when the Ministry of Economy issued an order to transfer the profession from one section of the classifier to another, but on July 28, 2004, when Order No. 842 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine approved the first Instruction on the use of computer polygraphs in working with internal affairs personnel. And the status of the document is more significant — the instruction was notarized, and the profession was not artificially rejuvenated.
In August 2024, the Scientific and Methodological Center for Personnel Policy of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine approached the National Agency for Qualifications with an initiative to develop a draft professional standard for polygraph examiners. The working group, which has been working on the standard for a year, includes representatives of virtually all agencies and departments that use polygraphs, two public organizations of polygraph examiners—the All-Ukrainian Association of Polygraph Examiners and the Board of Polygraph Examiners of Ukraine—as well as two educational institutions with experience in training polygraph examiners.
In the course of analyzing existing practices, current problems, and challenges facing the profession and inextricably linked including the Russian-Ukrainian war, the working group concluded that there can be no question of informal or non-formal education for polygraph examiners: education for polygraph examiners should be provided exclusively on the basis of higher education institutions, continuously and in full-time form. It is also inappropriate to award the qualification of “Polygraph Examiner” as an extension to bachelor’s and master’s degrees: teaching that is spread out over time, with teaching hours scattered across different semesters and years, does not contribute to the development of readiness for independent work; it is unclear which of the teachers in this case will methodically accompany the young specialist in practice (and without this, polygraphology is impossible); modern professional knowledge of methods of counteracting and counter-counteracting polygraphological research will become known to too wide a circle of people, some of whom will receive it as an option to study their main profession, without plans to become a polygraphologist.
Conclusion: at this stage of the development of Ukrainian polygraphology, it is necessary to actively counteract the simplification and vulgarization of the field, to direct the development of the profession within the existing classical framework, including through the development of a national standard for the profession of “polygraph examiner.”
References:
- Home. (n.d.). All-Ukrainian Association of Polygraphologists. https://vap.ua/
- Morozova, T. R. Polygraphology: textbook: edited by O. M. Morozova. Kharkiv: Estet Print, 2019. 478 p.
