UNET online event: Academics in Ukraine’s frontline cities
Online Event | 25 June 2025 | 3:00 p.m. (CET) | Registration Required Resilience Under Fire: How Universities in War-Affected Cities Adapt How do universities continue to operate when war reaches their doorstep? This online event explores how academic institutions in frontline cities—focusing on Kharkiv, Ukraine—have adapted to the challenges of war. Drawing on recent research and first-hand experience, our speakers will discuss the impact of war on universities, faculty, and students, as well as strategies for institutional survival, academic mobility, and the evolving motivations of educators. Organised by the Ukraine Research Network@ZOiS (UNET) in cooperation with the Competence Network Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies (KIU), the event offers a unique perspective on the resilience of higher education under extreme conditions.
This event will explore how academics in universities located in frontline cities have adapted to war-related challenges. Drawing on recent research on higher education resilience during wartime, the discussion will revolve around the impact of war on academic institutions, faculties and staff, and teaching and learning processes with a focus on adaptation strategies and long-term consequences for the sector. The participants will present findings from their research and experiences at various higher education institutions in the frontline city of Kharkiv, addressing issues such as the institutional sustainability of higher education, academic mobility, migration and the motivations of educators.
This event is organised by the Ukraine Research Network@ZOiS (UNET), funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space, jointly with the Competence Network Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies (KIU), funded by the DAAD with funds from the Federal Foreign Office.
Speakers:
Ekaterina Bataeva, sur-place Fellow at the Competence Network for Interdisciplinary Ukraine Studies Frankfurt (Oder)-Berlin (KIU), professor of the Department of Social Rehabilitation Technologies, Open International University of Human Development ‘Ukraine’, Kyiv, Ukraine
Daria Yashkina, UNET Fellow at ZOiS, Senior Lecturer at V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Discussant: Olena Muradyan, Dean of the School of Sociology of V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University
Chair: Gwendolyn Sasse, Director of ZOiS
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