Professor Igor Potapov
Last week Liverpool hosted the Twinning showcase and networking event for delegates from across the UK and Ukraine to share the broad spectrum of successful partnership activities between UK and Ukrainian research institutions.
The event, which coincided with the two-year anniversary of the Liverpool-Sumy State partnership, was hosted at the University campus and online and brought together stakeholders from Ukraine and the UK.
Attendees engaged in presentations, poster sessions, round table and working group discussions to foster new research collaboration across existing research activities and develop new links and collaborative projects between universities capitalising on current progress.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Tim Jones welcomed delegates by outlining the critical milestones that have made the Liverpool-Sumy State partnership a success, including providing an International Summer School for Ukrainian students, sharing our extensive electronic library resources and virtual learning database, and assisting with Sumy’s cloud-based IT needs. The University has also provided accommodation and access to work space for visiting staff and students.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Tim Jones
In addition, the University hosts academics supported through the UK National Academies – CARA (the Council for At-Risk Academics) programme, providing fellowships in English, Law and Paediatric Medicine which have enabled colleagues to continue their research, enhance their skills and build that aim to provide long-lasting collaborative links with Liverpool.
Additional funding through Research England and the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) enabled Liverpool and Sumy to expand the collaborative partnership with seed funding and honorary fellowships to support collaboration between research groups as well as to support in-person research visits which should lead to successful grant proposals and journal publications.
Professor Igor Potapov from the University of Liverpool’s Department of Computer Science promoted the Science for Ukraine virtual mentoring scheme to implement it at an institutional level between the UK and Ukrainian Universities and also announced the plans to support Early Career Researchers from Sumy State University. This enabled new research twinning projects across various schools and departments.
Universities can play an important role in responding to humanitarian crises and the response to the invasion of Ukraine has demonstrated what is possible when policy, funding and political interests align with the goodwill, creativity, and commitment of colleagues in the UK’s higher education community.
Professor Potapov said: “The UK-Ukraine showcase and networking event was a key platform for sharing the valuable twinning experience and engaging in discussions about the future of sustainable academic collaboration between the two countries. This event provided a unique opportunity for approximately 100 participants from over 60 universities to come together and foster academic links with Ukraine.
The comprehensive program consisted of 35 presentations, a thematic working group, and a roundtable discussion aimed towards identifying best practices, addressing key challenges, and mapping out new avenues for development.
The focus of the discussions centred on potential new collaborations in the context of joint projects and grant applications among groups of universities, the co-supervision of Ukrainian PhD students, and the establishment of research activities aimed at making a positive impact in both Ukrainian and UK societies, educational programmes as well as in industrial sectors.”
The Twinning Initiative is coordinated by Cormack Consultancy Group with the support of Universities UK International, the President’s Fund of Ukraine for Education, Science, and Sports, and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. Universities UK International Director, Jamie Arrowsmith has written a blog in reflection of the past two years of twinning partnerships.