The Ukrainian Days in Saarland were held in Saarbrücken on September 26-27, 2024, accompanied by the 9th annual meeting of the German-Ukrainian Academic Society (DUAG). The event brought together over 120 researchers, students, and professionals from higher education institutions, interested and dedicated to fostering cooperation with Ukraine. Since 2016, organised along annual meetings of the German-Ukrainian Academic Society these conferences have been serving as a regular platform to promote academic exchange, build partnerships, and enhance cooperation between Germany and Ukraine. Each year, the event gathers academics and professionals from different research fields who are interested in collaborative projects, academic exchanges, and research cooperation.
Report was prepared by Dr. Mariia Nesterkina
This year, the conference was hosted by Saarland University in collaboration with the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) and chaired by Prof. Andriy Luzhetskyy, DUAG member. The event was supported by the German Academic Exchange Service with the funds from DAAD Go East Programme. The detailed program of the event can be found here.
Day I (26 September 2024)
The welcoming remarks were delivered by:
- Andriy Luzhetskyy, Professor for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Saarland University
- Deniz Alkan, Head of Office II of the Franco-German Plenipotentiary for Culture, State Chancellery of Saarland
- Ludger Santen, President of Saarland University, Professor of Theoretical Physics
- Andriy Moskalenko, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, Lviv City Council
- Olga Garaschuk, President of the German-Ukrainian Academic Society, Professor of Neurophysiology, Tübingen University
After the opening ceremony of the Ukrainian Days in Saarland, Prof. Rolf Müller, Director of the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), presented the CENtR: German-Ukrainian Core of Excellence in Natural Products Research. This is one of four projects, selected for funding by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research, advances a long-standing collaboration involving Saarland University (UdS), HZI and HIPS in Germany and the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and the company Explogen LLC in Ukraine. It is aimed at supporting advanced research in pharmaceutical sciences and focuses on discovering and developing novel anti-infectives based on natural products, at the same time fostering ties between German and Ukrainian researchers.
Following the opening ceremony, the event hosted the annual UKRAINET PhD Thesis Presentation Contest, an initiative designed to highlight and promote the contribution of young researchers to science. This year, five talented finalists presented their research, and the jury selected the following the winners:
- 1st place: Olena Nosovska from Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany, for her presentation entitled „Enantioselective Lewis base catalyzed Allylation of Nitrogen-centered Latent (Pro)nucleophiles. Preparation of an Integrin Inhibitor Library”
- 2nd place: Anna Myronova from Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany, for her presentation entitled “Using single cell RNA-sequencing to characterize gene expression signatures in human heart failure”
- 3rd place: Anastasiia Zhuravel from Centre for Fundamental Rights – Hertie School, Berlin, Germany, for her presentation entitled “What role for the International Human Rights Law in regulating armed conflict?”
After the PhD Contest award ceremony, Dr. Gisela Zimmermann, DAAD, introduced the current programmes of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) focused on the German-Ukrainian cooperation.
Following this insightful overview, Dr. Franziska Davies, an expert in Eastern and Central Eastern European History, delivered a keynote talk on Ukraine in Europe from the historical and current perspectives and introduced her recently published book “Die Ukraine in Europa: Traum und Trauma einer Nation”.
The first day of the event concluded with a panel discussion entitled “Innovative Economy, Startups: Opportunities between Germany and Ukraine,” featuring insights from
- Dr. Olexander Yagenskyy, BAIN Company, Munich/ DUAG member
- Olena Vovk, Enzym Group, Lviv, Ukraine
- Michael Jung, Triathlon, Saarbrücken, Germany
- Prof. Dr. Benedikt Schnellbächer, Professor for Digital Transformation and Entrepreneurship, Saarland University, Germany
- Dr. Rudolf Krumbholz, K 6 Verwaltungs GmbH, KD Pharma GmbH
Discussions covered the unique challenges and opportunities for startups, the role of innovation in economic growth, and strategies for developing resilient partnerships to advance technology and entrepreneurship in both Germany and Ukraine. The Day 1 of the conference concluded with a networking reception.
Day II (27 September 2024)
The second day of the event began with a roundtable discussion featuring invited guests from prominent Ukrainian scientific communities abroad. Dr. Anastasiia Hubina, representing the Czech-Ukrainian Scientific Society, and Dr. Olena Kovalchuk, President of the Ukrainian Scientific Diaspora in France, led the conversation.
The program continued with a presentation of the DAAD-funded Wildau-Kharkiv IT Bridge – Ensuring Success in Times of Crisis, presented by Prof. Dr. Alina Nechyporenko and Prof. Dr. Marcus Frohme, from TH Wildau. The discussion highlighted innovative collaboration models that maintain research and educational partnerships even during challenging periods, focusing on bridging IT initiatives between institutions in Germany and Ukraine.
Following this, DAAD-funded projects of Leibniz University Hannover such as Open Education Resources with Ukraine and Management of Internationalisation and German-Ukrainian Academic Cooperation (MOI Ukraine) were showcased by Nataliya Butych, who serves as managing director of the German-Ukrainian Academic Society, with practical examples of internationalization projects by Alina Mozolevska (joining online) and Tetiana Mayboroda. These projects highlighted the significance of open educational resources and internationalisation in promoting sustainable academic collaboration. A dedicated poster session was devoted to the presentation of 15 Ukrainian universities and the internationalization projects developed and implemented by the 3rd cohort of the MOI Ukraine participants.
The event also featured a session entitled “Saarland University and Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University: Building Bridges Across Borders“, with contributions from Prof. Dr. Astrid Fellner, Dr. Svitlana Kot, Dr. Yuliya Stodolinska, and Dr. Halyna Zaporozhets.
The event continued with the Members’ Assembly of the German-Ukrainian Academic Society.
The event concluded with an excursion to the Saarschleife, the iconic great bend in the Saar River, which offered attendees an opportunity for networking in a picturesque setting.
