Dr. Natalia Shchukina is a member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU) and a senior scientist at the Department of Solar Physics of the NASU Main Astronomical Observatory.

Her research interests cover several areas of astrophysics, such as multilevel radiative transfer, solar and stellar spectropolarimetry, solar magnetism, helioseismology and quantitative stellar spectroscopy. Dr. Shchukina has been the principal investigator of several NASU research projects and has participated in some space experiments, such as the CORONAS-I and CORONAS-F missions to study solar irradiance fluctuations. She has also been involved in several international organisations, including her activity during 2012-2015 as vice-chair of the "Radiation and Solar Structure" commission of the International Astronomical Union.

Natalia Shchukina has received several grants to visit European research centres, including the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), where she has worked with Prof. Javier Trujillo Bueno in the fields of multilevel radiative transfer and solar and stellar spectropolarimetry. In 2014 she spent a sabbatical year at the IAC working as a Severo Ochoa Professor. In 2019 she took up a three-month visiting professorship at the IAC funded by the Jesús Serra Foundation.

In 2005, Dr. Shchukina was awarded the M. P. Barabashov Prize of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine for her outstanding studies in stellar physics.

In 2018, she was awarded the Order of Princess Olga by the President of Ukraine for her many years of fruitful scientific activity.

Dr. Shchukina is a member of the POLMAG research group, contributing to the development of several of its work packages.