One Mission and One Invitation – Opening Ceremony for Competence Network Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies

The opening ceremony of the Competence Network Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies (KIU) was celebrated on 11th July 2024, a good five months after the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) made the decision to support the KIU in Frankfurt (Oder) – Berlin with 2.5 million Euros. During the ceremony, tangible and specific steps for action were presented and a debate was held on the role that Ukrainian studies will play in those steps.

The intense, two- and half-hour long debate on what Ukrainian Studies can and should offer as a degree subject gave everyone an impressive taste of the future possibilities as part of the KIU. All speeches made – ranging from a greeting from the Ukrainian embassy and the DAAD; the keynote speech up to the lively podium debate and the view to KIU – activities made it clear that this network was desperately needed and it has already been carried this far by supporters and contributors who provide a wealth of expertise and enthusiasm.

During his opening speech, the Viadrina president Prof. Dr. Eduard Mühle thanked all actors, both from the Viadrina and the partnered institutions for their cooperation and work in applying for and starting the KIU. He, however, did not just look back, but stressed that: “[…] now, after having established KIU, of course, you all are also expected to deliver, to make KIU a success, to not only contribute decisively to Ukrainian Studies but also raise them to a new level.”

The KIU research co-ordinator, Dr. Susann Worschech made it clear how tangible the KIU activities were, a mere four months after the funding had been approved. Nine scholarships for research stays in Berlin and Frankfurt (Oder) and researchers in Ukraine have already been advertised. A certificate programme for students in seminars on Ukraine, language courses and internship possibilities will all start this winter semester. At the same time, the university will welcome its first guest lecturer to bring further Ukrainian research prospects to the Viadrina. With these activities and more, the KIU will become an inviting and enabling infrastructure, as Susann Worschech said: “I believe we have a clear mission, and this mission is also an invitation – to all of you. Our mission is to promote research and teaching on Ukraine and also to help institutionalize it.” To her, the competence network is a tool against the helplessness that was prevalent in February 2022: “To the end that it doesn’t happen to us again that political and social earthquakes occur in our immediate eastern neighbourhood and we don’t know how to deal with them,” as Susann Worschech puts it.

Singer Ganna Gryniva and pianist Yuriy Seredin at the opening ceremony of the Competence Network for Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies Frankfurt (Oder) - Berlin (KIU): The livestream of the opening is available on the Viadrina YouTube channel.

It was clear from what she said and in many of the speeches and lectures given during the afternoon that in light of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, intensifying Ukrainian studies should not be mistaken as merely measures to help and rebuild the country. This was stressed by Prof. Dr. Mychailo Wynnyckyj, deputy minister for education and research in Ukraine and sociology professor of the Kyiv-Mohyla-academy: “Talking about integration, I would like to encourage people who are part of the Ukrainian Studies effort to think in terms of mutuality. Because I think Ukraine today has a great deal to offer. We asked obviously for support on short term and we are grateful for all the help that is being provided. But we are not just receivers, we are in fact providers.”  The exemplary social cohesion and civil resistance shown by the people of Ukraine, already the stuff of legends, are examples for the value of employing researchers in his country.

For Prof. Dr. Gwendolyn Sasse, research director in the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS), the KIU offers the possibility of giving this kind of research the right parameters: "What is most needed is good and sustainable research. This kind of research – and here I see the potential strength of KIU – needs institutional structures to facilitate that research,” she said. 

Prof. Dr. Dominique Arel, Professor for Ukraine Studies at the University of Ottowa, seemed deeply impressed by the promotion of new talent offered by the competence network when he lauded: “What impressed me the most by looking at KIU is the fact that there will be fellowships for nine doctoral students. That’s extraordinary. That never happened outside Ukraine, not even at Havard.”

The importance of the Ukraine Studies department and the underlying situation accompanying its expansion was made clear time and again during the afternoon in the Audimax. In her speech, Prof. Dr. Tamara Hundorova stressed that the current war with Russia not only destroys the lives of many Ukrainians and their civil infrastructure, but also archives, museums and libraries. She is convinced that this “cruel act of erasure of Ukrainian history and memory,” needs to be counteracted by other research narratives. The Member of the German Parliament (Bundestag) Dr. Anton Hofreiter also sees a great unmet need for information, above all, in the use social media, when he warned: “We have to deal with social networks because people are often captured by propaganda and are not able anymore to see the world as it is. We have to re-learn how to deal with propaganda. We have to consider that Russia already is attacking our society and our democracy. Those attacks cannot be countered by ignoring them.”

The KIU opening event was full of enthusiasm, drive and encouragement, despite the menacing and terrible situation currently faced by Ukraine – a special mention was also made about the most recent Ukraine victims who died in the attack on a children’s hospital. Alongside the enthusiastic and welcoming underlying sentiment, the enthusiasm, drive and encouragement were thanks, above all, to the KIU coordinator Susann Worschech and the music provided by the pianist Yuriy Seredin and the singer Ganna Gryniva. The latter, together with the GANNA ensemble performed jazz adaptations of Ukrainian folksongs in the Frankfurt concert hall, providing a magical and encouraging end to a very special day.

Text: Frauke Adesiyan
Photos: Sebastian Pape

Background
The KIU competence network is a four-year DAAD-funded project to strengthen Ukraine-related research, teaching, networking and transfer activities. The competence network, initiated and led by the European University Viadrina, includes the ZOiS, the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, the Freie Universität Berlin, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin.
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