TNMU Students Team Participated in “International Cooperation in Research and Innovation” Training Bootcamp

On April 25 – 28, 2023, a four-day training on “International Cooperation in Research and Innovation” was hosted in the National Technical University of Ukraine “Ihor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”. This event was implemented within the framework of the project “Resilience of Education: Sustainability and Cooperation for Ukrainian Universities (RESCUU)” with the financial support of the Swedish Institute.

The participants of the event, which took place in a hybrid format (offline and online), were students and young scientists who represented teams from 9 higher education institutions of Ukraine that are participants in the Baltic University Program:

1. Ihor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (offline).
2. National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” (offline).
3. I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University (offline).
4. Western Ukrainian National University (offline).
5. Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University (offline).
6. Ivan Franko Lviv National University (online).
7. Sumy State University (online).
8. Lviv Polytechnic National University (offline).
9. V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (online).

Ternopil National Medical University was represented by a team of 5 students: Katruk Antonina (1st-year student, Faculty of Medicine); Bilyk Yaroslav (2nd-year student, Faculty of Medicine); Dovhaliuk Bohdana Anna (2nd-year student, Faculty of Medicine); Homonets Sofiia (2nd-year student, Faculty of Medicine); Lipska Valeriia (3rd-year student, Faculty of Medicine).

BOOTCAMP participants from the TNMU team: Valeriia Lipska, Antonina Katruk, Sofia Homonets, Bohdana Anna Dovhaliuk, Yaroslav Bilyk .

On the first day of the bootcamp, participating educational institutions presented their universities and teams. The students of TNMU demonstrated a presentation in which they highlighted the main information about the university, its structure, the number of students, TNMU’s place in world rankings, and also focused on the educational, scientific and international activities of the educational institution.

Valeriia Lipska and Yaroslav Bilyk presenting TNMU and the work in the international project “4 elements of nature – living in harmony of existence”.

During the next three days of the event, specialists from Finland, Sweden, and Poland gave lectures to the students about inclusion in Ukraine, about EU policies, mechanisms and funding systems for research and innovation, about the effectiveness of international scientific communication in improving research projects, about complementarity and synergy within the framework of the Program’s competitions EU ERASMUS+.

The TNMU team during the lecture “Equality, diversity and inclusion in international research and innovation projects”

The bootcamp also included workshops on international scientific communication on the topics of “How to become a successful partner and co-applicant”, “Digital and co-creative methods for project development and management”, “Academic mobility”, as well as work in project teams under the guidance of experts who provided qualified assistance in the development of grant applications, including justification and analysis of needs, definition of target groups and beneficiaries, formulation of goals and expected results, development of work plans, communication plan with target groups and beneficiaries, risk analysis, budget calculation, development of a plan for distributing the results of grant applications.

TNMU students participating in the BOOTCAMP from during workshops and while working on a project proposal.

The students presented the practical experience of initiating projects, which the participants acquired during the work of the BOOTCAMP, in writing application forms and publicly defending competitive project proposals.

The main idea of the competitive project proposal of the team of I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University “Mental Health and Eco-Life: Rebuilding Lives for Ukrainian Youth” is to socialize and adapt children from internally displaced families who suffered as a result of military actions on the territory of Ukraine, by restoring their condition psychological health, applying the methods of medical psychology and with the help of educational environmental activities.

Antonina Katruk (during) and members of the TNMU team (after) defending the project proposal.

According to the results of evaluation by members of the international jury, which included 8 experts, namely representatives from Uppsala University (Sweden), Poznań University of Technology (Poland), Åbo Academic University (Finland), the team of the organizing university won the competition. The winner of the bootcamp automatically became a participant in the student conference “Challenges of Sustainable Development in the Baltic Sea Region because of the war in Ukraine”, which will be held in April-May 2024 in Poznan (Poland).

In addition to participation in workshops and project teams, TNMU students had the opportunity to visit the Ukrainian-Japanese Centre of Ihor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, took a walk around its campus, attended an atmospheric concert performed by KPI musicians from the “Music Workshop” of the Student Consolidation Centre, and visited historical sights of Kyiv.

Spring concert by the “Music Workshop” in the courtyard of the first building of KPI.

During a visit to the Ukrainian-Japanese Centre in the library of Ihor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.

New knowledge in the field of international cooperation, teamwork, inclusion and other practices, which TNMU students have joined, will help them to work successfully as part of research and innovative project teams in the future. The experience gained will provide students with new opportunities for growth and development, it will become an invaluable asset in the future!