Since September 2020, the two partner universities - Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development and Ukrainian National Forestry University in Lviv - were jointly implementing a project funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The main goal of the project was the integration and professionalisation of digital methods into learning and teaching of both universities. A Blended learning workshop was conducted. A pilot application of a module called “Green Project Development” was successfully carried out as well as the acquision of technical devices for the Ukrainian partner university. Due to the start of the Russian invasion on Ukraine the planned project activities had to be temporarily stopped, and the focus was shifted to supporting colleagues in Ukraine and on the flight, as well as on organising humanitarian aid. However the activities where resumed and the project was successfully completed.

This year's project "Joint teaching and learning for empowerment and resilience of Ukrainian academia" builds on the previous project, takes into account the new developments and responds with an expanded catalogue of measures. The module "Green Project Development“ will be further improved and offered on both universities. Through the experience gained from the previous project, the need arose for technical and methodological training in the creation of interactive materials and presentations. For this purpose, a regular training course will be developed and conducted. The long-standing module "Ecosystem / Natural Resource Management in Transformation Countries" will become part of the project and will be carried out with the participation of Ukrainian students, who will now also be able to receive credits for their participation in the module.

As a reaction to the Russian war of aggression, the desire and the necessity grew to broaden the view beyond our partner university. From our experiences and contacts and the resulting needs in Ukraine, the idea arose to facilitate and promote an exchange on the reconstruction and further strategic development of academic teaching and research, especially with a focus on socio-ecological reconstruction and transformation topics. For this purpose, a kind of think tank consisting of several working groups will be formed, which will meet regularly to exchange, collect and discuss ideas. As a result, they will develop project ideas, identify possible sponsors and finally prepare corresponding project applications.

Main aims

• The integration of high-quality methods and standards in
  digitally supported learning and teaching

• The joint training of students and university staff in project
  planning, management and third-party funding acquisition
  as well as in science communication

• Strengthening and extending the international cooperation
  and network between both universities and beyond

(Base Map: Esri Topo World)

Activities

Information and registration for the course can be found here.

This is a joint module that was developed and piloted in the prvious Joint Digital Future project. It is open for all Master and PhD students as well as university staff of both universities. The goal is to enable the participants to develop a project idea towards a project application in an international and interdisciplinary team. The teaching format is hybrid with an extended online phase over several months and an intensive block week, in which all participants come together full-time in Eberswalde to further advance the team building and project creation.

Video

presentation of module

https://youtu.be/8-R22PjqS_E

Presentation

GPDM 2023 presentation

The two teaching modules Ecosystem / Natural Resource Management in Transformation Countries are offered at the HNEE in the study programmes International Forest Ecosystem Management and Global Change Management as elective modules and are carried out within the framework of approx. 10-day excursions, usually in western Ukraine. After the participation of students and teachers from UNFU and other partners was made possible in previous years within the framework of other DAAD funded projects (e.g. here), the module could now also be integrated as an elective module at UNFU with the help of this project, thus enabling a larger group of participants to attend and receive credits for their study achievements.

Link to website showing the student's results

The idea for this initiative arose through the events that unfolded after the full-scale russian invasion on Ukraine on 24 Feb 2022. A room for an open-ended but focused exchange on opportunities and challenges for research and academic training in Ukraine related to social-ecological ecosystem management in the broadest sense (e.g. from forestry and nature conservation to renewable energy production and ecological economics) was meant to be created. During the process an emphasis was put on the support and facilitation of project development as a form of capacity building, which found very strong synergies with the above mentioned Joint module GPDM project activities.

Flyer

Kick-off

Think_Tank_Agenda.pdf 

Symposium "Prospects for Ukrainian-German Cooperation"

Reports

TT_In_Between_Report_Jan_2023.pdf 

Block week in June

From 5 till 9 June, participants from different groups in the project came together in Eberswalde to intensively elaborate their projects and to exchange about it.

Lectures and group work were done in the courses "Green Project Development and Management " as well as the "Interactive Content" and a symposium on the topic "Prospects for Ukrainian-German Cooperation" was conducted on 5 June.

Impressions from the Symposium

Impressions from the block week

Posters presented at the Symposium

  TT_Posters_print.pdf 

What is next?

Our partner university - Ukrainian National Forestry University

The Ukrainian National Forestry University (UNFU) is the only university in Ukraine with a forestry profile. It covers the field of ecological economics and matches the areas of research and scholarly activities carried out at the HNEE. The HNEE and UNFU have worked together in an informal capacity building between several faculties since 2011 (e.g. here). First contact between university staff was established during the implementation of different activities of the Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management at HNEE in Ukraine.

Moreover, the establishment of an Erasmus+ partnership on university level provides the basis for regular exchange of staff and students between several faculties since 2016. A sign of the cooperative partnership was also set in 2019 when not only the President of the HNEE, Prof. Dr Wilhelm-Günther Vahrson, but also the initiator of the cooperation, Prof. Dr Pierre Ibisch, were awarded an honorary doctorate by the UNFU. More information in German here.

Photos

Left - Main building of the Ukrainian National Forestry University (© UNFU)

Middle - Delegation of the Ukrainian National Forestry University visiting the Eberswalde Sustainability Society on 5.12.2017 on the topic: Ukraine - Environmental policies in times of crisis (© P. Ibisch)

Right - Students of the Eberswalde University of Applied Sciences and the Ukrainian National Forestry University during the joint excursion to Western Ukraine in 2017 (© A. Dichte)

Team & Contact

HNEE

UNFU

Funded by