Outcomes of the workshop “Joint European Projects: lessons and perspectives”

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Photo: PACT4Ukraine

On 4 December, the PACT4Ukraine project successfully held a hybrid workshop on the application and implementation of European projects in HEIs, with a special focus on Ukraine. It is a logical continuation of the previous Project’s activities in this direction. In particular, in May 2023 the PACT4Ukraine project and the FAU EELISA office held an online seminar for Ukrainian higher education institutions entitled “European Joint Projects – Finding Partners and Funding Sources” by Dr.-Ing. Tobias Klima, who shared his experience with Ukrainian colleagues and gave useful recommendations and tips. This time, the workshop was designed to take into account the expertise of different partners and to share practical experience.

The workshop took place in a hybrid mode – at the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and via Zoom. The format allowed a large number of stakeholders to participate in the information sessions and discussions. Participants and speakers included representatives from German, Swedish, and Ukrainian universities. We are therefore grateful to our partners from the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), Dr. Nataliya Berbyuk Lindström and Natalia Kononova, for supporting the workshop at FAU and sharing their lessons learned on implementation Projects and activities with Ukrainian HEIs, including external and internal peculiarities.

The agenda included a presentation by Dr. Ellana Molchanova, Head of the Grant Projects Department at the State University of Trade and Economics (Ukraine) and guest researcher at FAU. Dr. Molchanova presented an extensive personal background on the topic, the current experience of the State University of Trade and Economics in projects participation, and briefly shared the clear outcomes of such engagement. In addition, the speaker outlined the present possibilities within the framework of the 2024 Erasmus+ Call for Proposals.

Ralf Mitschke, Project Manager of the FAU Chair for Science, Technology and Gender Studies, made a valuable and essential contribution to the discussion by presenting the activities carried out under the auspices of the Chair’s Head, Prof. Dr. Maria Rentetzi. During the presentation, Ralf Mitschke emphasised the interdisciplinary nature of the Chair’s activities, which particularly impressed the participants and shifted the negotiations towards concrete ideas. Special attention was paid to science and technology diplomacy and the importance of disseminating knowledge about science diplomacy in Ukrainian HEIs. The project hopes for further cooperation in this direction in order to make the higher education system in Ukraine even more relevant to current developments in world science.

The project always tries to involve representatives of different institutions dealing with higher education cooperation in its activities. Thus, Dr. Pablo Gavira Diaz from the International Nuremberg Principles Academy gave a general overview of the Academy’s activities and explained the main areas of activity and opportunities for cooperation. The PACT4Ukraine Project is very grateful to Dr. Pablo Gavira Diaz and the International Nuremberg Principles Academy for their continued voluntary support of the Project’s activities.

Taking this opportunity, we would also like to thank Dr. Kateryna Buriakovska, a Ukrainian researcher at FAU, for her active participation in the discussions and engagement in the brainstorming session, including by sharing personal experiences and peculiarities of Ukrainian higher education institutions.

The workshop became a real brainstorming platform, an opportunity for international networking, and a good start for the following two-day international conference “State-building in the face of crisis: challenges and lessons learned” in Erlangen-Nuremberg. We hope that this has been another step towards building an academic corridor in teaching and learning for Ukraine, which is the main goal of the Project.

The workshop was supported by Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre and the DAAD project “Science Diplomacy in Active Conflicts”.

Further information:
Dr. Anastasiia Panchuk, FAU PACT4Ukraine Project
anastasiia.panchuk@fau.de

Kateryna Futorianska, FAU PACT4Ukraine Project
kateryna.futorianska@fau.de