VCU, Harvard program gives Ukrainians displaced by war academic resources

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Select Ukrainian scholars displaced by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war are being offered academic resources through a collaboration between Harvard University and Richmond’s Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).

According to a July 17 press release, the VCU-Davis Center Non-Resident Academic Associates program launched on July 1.

Through this one-year program, selected fellows are given virtual access to things like VCU’s information resources and librarian liaison services, offering them academic support during wartime.

“In many cases, regular access to these resources at the scholars’ home universities has been interrupted, either because their cities have been occupied or because Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy and other infrastructure have degraded power and internet services,” said VCU scholar Judyth Twigg in the release. “This VCU-Harvard virtual affiliation, taking advantage of VCU’s world-class research materials and services, will provide an intellectual lifeline for these scholars so that they are not cut off from access to resources that are essential to their work.”

In addition to the provided virtual resources, fellows will be connected with VCU departments working on similar research to them. According to the release, this allows for the scholars to be supported directly, as well as creates an opportunity for joint research and programming.

The release listed the first nine scholars who are partaking in this program. Three are humanities scholars, three are social sciences scholars and three are physical and natural sciences scholars.

Their names, home schools and academic focuses are as follows:

• Ihor Dvorkin
  • Associate professor in the departments of History of Science and of Ukrainian and Cultural Studies at the National Technical University Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute.
  • Research interests span the memorialization of World War II in Ukraine, Jewish and Holocaust studies, memory studies and museum studies.
• Alla Fridrikh
  • Associate professor in the Department of Philology at the Rivne State University of the Humanities.
  • Research focuses on teaching and learning the English language in emergencies.
• Oleksandr Kondratenko
  • Professor in the Department of Applied Mechanics and Environmental Protection Technologies at the National University of Civil Defense of Ukraine (Kharkiv).
  • Research explores the improvement of environmental safety of internal combustion engines for emergency rescue vehicles.
• Iryna Liashenko
  • Associate professor in the Department of Foreign Languages at Sumy State University.
  • Research involves online language learning, with a focus on English language-learning among Ukrainian doctoral students.
• Maryna Maslova
  • Associate professor in the Department of Foreign Languages at the University of Zaporizhzhia
  • Studies discourse linguistics, text interpretation and linguistics of text using mathematical methods, as well as neurolinguistics.
• Denis Sheka
  • Professor in the Department of Nanophysics of Condensed Media in the Educational Scientific Institute of High Technologies at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
  • Research focuses on the theory of nonlinear phenomena in nanomagnets and the theory of curvilinear magnetism.
• Viktoriia Strilets
  • Professor and head of the Department of International Economics at the Poltava University of Economics and Trade.
  • Studies digital entrepreneurship, the digital transformation of small and medium enterprises, and the development of a digital business ecosystem in Ukraine.
• Natalia Tsybuliak
  • Associate professor in the Department of Pre-school, Special and Social Education at Berdyansk State Pedagogical University.
  • Research areas include mental health and academia and the value of teaching and learning in higher education institutions in times of crisis and war.
• Ohla Zibtseva
  • Assistant professor of landscape architecture at the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine.
  • Work focuses on sustainable development of green space systems in small towns in the Kyiv region.

This program’s conception involved collaboration between Twigg and the Davis Center’s Daniel Epstein, who serves as the assistant director of Scholars Without Borders .

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