Ostroh Academy hosted a round table of the grant project “WARN. Academic Counteraction to Hybrid Threats”

December 20, 2021

A round table was held at the National University of Ostroh Academy on December 20-21 in the framework of the second work package “Creating new curricula and updating and adapting existing curricula” of the WARN grant project “Academic Counteraction to Hybrid Threats”. Among the participants are representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, National University of Ostroh Academy, Kharkiv National University of Radio Electronics, Ukrainian Catholic University, State University of Infrastructure and Technology, National Academy of Management of Culture and Arts, V. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Gorlovka Institute of Foreign Languages, Donbass State Pedagogical University, as well as France (ECAM-EPMI Higher School of Engineering), Estonia (University of Tartu), Finland (University of Jyvaskyla) and Portugal (University of Coimbra).

A round table was held at the National University of Ostroh Academy on December 20-21 in the framework of the second work package “Creating new curricula and updating and adapting existing curricula” of the WARN grant project “Academic Counteraction to Hybrid Threats”. Among the participants are representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, National University of Ostroh Academy, 

Rector of the National University of Ostroh Academy, Doctor of Psychology, Professor Igor Pasichnyk made a welcoming speech:

“I sincerely greet you all within the walls of the oldest and at the same time the youngest educational institution - the National University of Ostroh Academy. It is not just a regularity that this round table is held here. I believe that after the completion of the project, it will become a good tradition at the Ostroh Academy to hold such round tables on academic counteraction to hybrid threats. This project is of archival importance not only for Ukraine, but also for the whole world, first of all for Europe. I believe that the participants of the round table and the project in general are pioneers, especially in higher academic education. I am proud that the active participants in this project are representatives of our Department of Political Science and National Security. I am sure that the developments that will be made will find a response not only in Ukraine but also in the world.”

Eduard Balashov, leader of package 2, an assistant of rector of NaUAA for international cooperation and fundraising, professor, doctor of psychological sciences, also greeted the participants of the round table.

“We are very pleased to see representatives from Kyiv and Kharkiv. We are especially pleased to welcome you to the implementation of this extremely important project for the whole of Ukraine, which is aimed at combating hybrid threats, which is very relevant in today's world. I sincerely hope that these two days of intensive work will help us to analyze what has already been done and what needs to be done, where to achieve new results and where to make more efforts.”

Mr Edward then published a report on the updated profiles and curricula of the master's programs, as well as a report on the syllabuses of the new and updated courses of the participating universities.

The project will create new courses at the National University "Ostroh Academy": "Resilience of citizens to hybrid threats", "Public discourse as part of information wars" and "Identification of hybrid threats and countering them in political science." The following courses will be updated: "Information and Psychological Operations", "Information Security of the State", "State Policy in the Field of Information Security", "National Security of Ukraine", "Propaganda and Counterintelligence" and "Modern Political Theory".

Svitlana Hryshko, Associate Professor of Economic Cybernetics and Economic Security Management, Associate Professor of Artificial Intelligence, Kharkiv National University of Radio Electronics, Candidate of Economic Sciences, National Coordinator of the WARN project spoke about the purpose of the project. First, it was to update educational programs to provide all students with new competencies - combating hybrid threats, as well as understanding, identifying and effective decision-making in the context of hybrid influences. Secondly, the aim is to create a WARN academic environment that allows project developments, research and scientific synergies to be extended to the entire educational, scientific community and even the general public, which is currently under serious threat.

After that, Ms. Svitlana focused on further plans to develop course content, methodology and launch LLL courses.

“The project has already started developing new courses that will provide general competence to adapt both personal and professional space to work in conditions of hybrid threats. We plan to complete work on new courses during the spring, and already in the summer all partner universities will start recruiting for updated master's programs. Also in the spring we will start educational activities outside the university, i.e. we will offer the society advanced training courses that will allow to involve not only students but also the professional community. In addition, we are planning additional trainings from our European partners. We will refine their experience in the process and gain new knowledge”

Taras Zhovtenko, Head of the Hybrid Threats Laboratory, Coordinator of the WARN. “Academic Counteraction to Hybrid Threats” from the Department of Political Science and National Security spoke about the importance of the participation of the Ostroh Academy and the department in particular in the project.

“As the project is aimed primarily at academic and practical counteraction to hybrid threats, it is very logical to fall into two, one of the leading specialties in NaUAA - "National Security" and "Political Science". The main elements that the university implements together with its partners within the project are also based on these two specialties. "National security" plays an important role, as it originally included a component related to information security and countering hybrid threats. Also on the basis of our department in accordance with the requirements of this project created a laboratory to combat hybrid threats. It is a practical foundation to put into practice not only the subjects we start within WARN, but also in general for all other specialties of the university to be able to work out the aspects related to combating hybrid threats in various fields.”

Timo Tikhonen, WARN project coordinator, analyzed the current state, progress, and also reporting and financial situation of the project in general. After that, Olga Kopievska, leader of Package 5, Doctor of Cultural Studies, Professor, Head of the Department of Art Management and Event Technologies of the National Academy of Management of Culture and Arts, presented a report on measures to disseminate project results and proposals for future advertising campaigns.

At the end of the round table Lyudmila Titova, engineer, coordinator of international cooperation, executive manager of international projects in education and science of the Department of Artificial Intelligence of Kharkiv National University of Radio Electronics, published a project self-assessment report for September-December 2021.

More information about the project by the link: https://warn-erasmus.eu/ua/project-overview/

By the way, the grant project “WARN. Academic Counteraction to Hybrid Threats” began on November 15, 2019, and will last until November 14, 2023.