[2] Pritsak began his academic career at the University of Lviv in interwar Poland where he studied Middle Eastern languages under local orientalists and became associated with the Shevchenko Scientific Society and attended its seminar on Ukrainian history led by Ivan Krypiakevych.

After the Soviet annexation of Galicia, he moved to Kyiv where he briefly studied with the premier Ukrainian orientalist, Ahatanhel Krymsky.

In 1988 he cofounded the International Association of Ukrainianists, established in Naples and became its Executive Board member and Head of Archeographic Commission.

[1][4] Pritsak was a medievalist who specialized in the use of oriental,[1] especially Turkic, sources for the history of Kievan Rus', early modern Ukraine, and the European Steppe region.

[2][5] In addition to the early Rus', Pritsak's works focused on Eurasian nomads and steppe empires such as those created by the Bulgars, Khazars, Pechenegs, and Kipchaks.

It is based on an extensive library and archive collection of Omeljan Pritsak, which he made a pledge to transfer to Kyiv-Mohyla Academy after his death.

[citation needed] Pritsak often was invited to brief Pope John Paul II on developments in Central and Eastern Europe.