KNU-FAU Summer School 2023 successfully finished

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8. August 2023

Two weeks of intensive study, research, and exchange of experiences at the KNU-FAU Summer School “Democracy Building in Times of War” have come to an end. 16 spirited and highly motivated students from Ukraine, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Brazil had a great opportunity to deepen their knowledge of conflict prevention, conflict studies, democratization processes, good governance, human rights, the rule of law, and civil society development. This was achieved through the participants’ active engagement in a series of lectures, interactive sessions and workshops facilitated by esteemed German and Ukrainian professors, researchers, politicians, and civil society representatives.

The concept of the KNU-FAU Summer School was based on two main structural components – an educational part and a research block. Students learned a lot from the brilliant contribution from FAU scientists, who represent the FAU CHREN, Institute of Political Science, Institute of Economics, Department of Law, and Department of History, as well as from KNU scientists. During the second week of the KNU-FAU Summer School (31 July – 4 August) students attended the following lectures by FAU and KNU professors, as well as civil society representatives:

  • Future Negotiations on Ukraine’s Accession to European Union: Perspective and Possible Challenges by Dr. Bohdan Veselovsky (Ministry of Justice of Ukraine)
  • Universal Jurisdiction and International Crimes in German Courts by Dr. Gurgen Petrossian (FAU, Chair for Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, International Criminal Law and Public International Law)
  • Accountability During the Armed Conflict (War) by Onysiia Syniuk (Human Rights Centre ZMINA, Ukraine)
  • Human Rights Protection of Displaced Persons Fleeing Armed Conflicts: the consequences of Russian war in Ukraine by Dr. Alla Fedorova (European Committee of Social Rights (Council of Europe); KNU, Chair of Comparative and European Law)
  • Interactive lecture on the potential of human rights-based democracies with Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Heiner Bielefeldt (FAU, Chair of Human Rights and Human Rights Policy, FAU CHREN)
  • Corporate Responsibility and Human Rights in Times of War by Prof. Dr. Markus Krajewski (FAU, Chair of Public Law and Public International Law; Member of the Board at CHREN) and Dr. Kateryna Buriakovska (FAU, Chair for Public Law and Public International Law)
  • The Protection of Cultural Property under International Criminal Law by Dr. Pablo Gavira Diaz (International Nuremberg Principles Academy)
  • Democracy and foreign policy in Ukraine: in search of interconnections by Dr. Roman Petyur (KNU, Chair of International Organizations and Diplomatic Service)
  • Citizenship and Political Participation During and After a War: the Case of Ukraine by Dr. Olha Poyedynok (KNU, Chair of International Law; Ukrainian National Bar Association).

Our special thanks go to Maria Mezentseva, member of the Ukrainian parliament, who gave valuable insights into life as an MP during this difficult time to our students.

Speakers and topics of the first week can be found here. We acknowledge the outstanding contributions of our esteemed speakers.

The idea for the research block was based on the intention to give students a space to network, to share their opinions and expertise, to communicate with experts in small groups, and to have a visible result of their work over the two weeks. It should be noted that students were granted autonomy in choosing topics for their research. In addition, each group was formed by representatives from different backgrounds, thus allowing for interdisciplinary research. This resulted in the following projects that were presented on 4 August 2023:

Students get feedback on their presentations from Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kähler, Senior Professor of Economics, Institute
of Economics, FAU
  • Mass migration in the democracy-building processes: a burden or an opportunity?
  • The financial dimensions of post-war reconstruction in Ukraine: Exploring legal and economic strategies
  • Freedom of expression in Ukraine after Russian full-scale invasion in 2022
  • Sexual Violence as a Tool of Forced Replacement During Armed Conflicts

Among the feedback from the participants, it is worth noting that for some of the students, the school was a good socialisation point, including the fact that Ukrainian students have their education in an online format, as well as some of them find topics for further research, communicate with experts on issues in the field of their research interests.

Summer School Organisational Team wants to express its sincere gratitude to honored speakers from FAU, FAU CHREN, International Nuremberg Principles Academy, and KNU, as well as politicians and representatives of civil society for their huge support. We would like to thank the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for giving us the opportunity to organize the Summer School. Our team hopes that the students will use the knowledge gained in their research, which will be a good contribution to the scientific heritage of their countries.

Further information:
Kateryna Futorianska, Coordinator of the DAAD project “Science Diplomacy in Active Conflicts”
kateryna.futorianska@fau.de 



Project funded by DAAD.

Category: Allgemein