On April 25, 2024, as part of the project implementation Supporting Ukraine through citizen engagement at Baltic Universities - Baltics4UA, the seminar "Interaction of higher education with local and international partners in support of humanitarian crisis participants: experience of cooperation, prospects for development" was held in the Scientific and Technical Library, Lviv Polytechnic National University.
The purpose of the event was to exchange the experience, ideas and best practices in the field of supporting participants in humanitarian crises between universities from all over the world.
37 participants registered to participate in the event, including 16 non-academic workers. Since before the event an air raid alert was announced in Ukraine, not all registered participants were able to attend it. But, despite everything, 32 participants took part in the seminar, 15 of whom were representatives of the non-academic staff of Lviv Polytechnic National University.
The workshop was held in a friendly atmosphere and consisted of two parts.
During the theoretical panel, experts Oleksandr Berezko (Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor at the Department of Social Communication and Information Activities, Lviv Polytechnic, ex-president of the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc)) and Olha Romanenko (Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor at the State University of Trade and Economics) shared their experience how to involve international partners in cooperation to overcome humanitarian crises.
In particular, Oleksandr Berezko emphasized the importance of scientific advocacy of Ukrainian researchers in the international arena. According to the expert, this can provide the scientific community with the necessary support from political leaders and authorities to develop the scientific base, fund research and create a favorable environment for scientific efforts. Science diplomacy helps the scientific community communicate with the general public, understand the importance of scientific achievements and their impact on society, especially during humanitarian crises.
Olha Romanenko noted the importance of supporting common values during humanitarian crises. The expert made a special emphasis on the formation of such values during the Russian-Ukrainian war. In such situations, the formation and support of common values can play a key role in strengthening solidarity and mutual understanding between people, particularly in the international arena.
