The University of East Anglia (UEA) twinned with Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University (PNU) in summer 2022 through a Universities UK International (UUKi) initiative, to offer support in response to the conflict in Ukraine.
To develop stronger research links, last week, more than 220 academics from the two universities joined together online to discuss key research topics, share ideas and generate new ideas for future collaboration.
Professor Matthias Neumann, from UEA’s School of History and a leading member of the symposium working group, said: “The research symposium with PNU was the culmination of an idea we’ve been working towards for much of 2022. It was fantastic to see so many colleagues from across UEA and PNU coming together to share ideas and discuss ways in which our twinned universities can collaborate on some of the most interesting and essential research topics of our time.”
A summary of each thematic cluster can be found below. All recordings, presentations used and meeting chat histories from the symposium can be found here.
Culture, Creativity and Belief
UEA Co-chair of this session, Eylem Atakav, said the session has been “eye-opening… [PNU colleagues’] resilience is something I really appreciate, respect and value”. There is a “clear connection between our institutions about how student centred our research is, whatever we do we do is either for the benefit of society and culture and change and impact, and also for the benefit of our students. They come first, that’s what excited me most”.
Within the group’s session a conversation around journalism lead to the suggestion of “a brilliant idea about PNU and UEA working together and having a newsroom bay…[and] using creative writing as a tool for dealing with trauma… how powerful it can be to use this in journalism”.
With so many areas for collaboration manifesting, “it feels like the beginnings of a genuinely authentic connection that has come out of conversations today, it has been super inspiring”.
Rethinking Society
Professor John McDonagh, from the UEA’s School of International Development, was “impressed with the energy and enthusiasm from both sides… for me what stood out were the connections around psychology, particularly the impact of trauma on child psychology and psychiatry and the impact this then has on education”.
We heard from “PNU colleagues interested in developing engagement with digital technologies that are of use in the classroom and also techniques that allow them to better adjust their teaching to cope with childhood trauma”.
Valentyna Yakubiv, PNU Vice-Rector and Co-Chair of this session explained how the theme of rethinking society “is extremely important for discussion…especially for Ukraine as there are a lot of people who have undergone radical resistance of their values, views and priorities for life… our discussion on rethinking society in different fields: pedagogical, psychological and economical management helps us to understand the main priorities of our society according to sustainable development goals… our meeting was the first step in this cooperation”.
Human Health and Natural Environments
UEA Pro-Vice Chancellor Mark Searcey co-chaired this session featuring “several themes of material [science], nanotechnologies and biology around healthy ageing… [there is] clearly a lot of overlap between the two universities and a lot of things that we can work together on. One suggestion for projects that UEA scientists could contribute to was around effects of PTSD and around how we can rebuild the environments in Ukraine following the war…this was humbling in reminding us of what are colleagues in Ukraine are actually living through at the moment”.
Professor Yaroslav Khimyak from UEA added “we have only scratched the surface…this demonstrates that there is a huge amount of work that we can do together, we have joint expertise, we have a unique strength that we can build on and a lot of synergies…Hopefully in the new year we’ll do some extensive, more thematic based research around the topics we already have”.