For the second time, the National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) together with the University of Gdansk is organising a conference on supporting Ukraine in the context of the Russian Federation’s war aggression. The ‘Focus on Ukraine’ conference will take place on 3 and 4 April in the Theatre Hall of the Neophilology Building of the Faculty of Philology at the University of Gdańsk.
This is the second such event. Last year’s conference ‘Solidarity with Ukraine. Students, academics, institutions proved a success – both in terms of attendance and content. Discussants from the academic community in Gdańsk presented not only the activities that had been implemented, but also ideas and projections for the future.
At the end of last year, NAWA announced the second conference ‘Solidarity with Ukraine – European Universities programme’, as part of which Polish universities belonging to alliances of European Universities received a total of almost PLN 16 million to support cooperation with Ukrainian universities at the supranational level.
Participants at this year’s conference will reflect on the efforts made so far for the Ukrainian academic community and then, during discussions, try to develop a common vision for rebuilding Ukraine from the conflagration of war, a strategy for the reconstruction of academic centres and prospects for further development.
Participation in the conference has been announced by the Minister of Education and Science Przemyslaw Czarnek and the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Serhiy Shkarlet, as well as representatives of agencies responsible for the development of higher education in Estonia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Lithuania.
Also, Gdańsk will host the representatives of the European Commission and the Council of Europe, the World Bank, the US, UK and Ukrainian embassies, the National Science Centre, the National Centre for Research and Development and the Polish Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
Arkadiusz Słomczyński