News and Events

The US Embassy, together with the Competence Network for Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies (KIU) and the European University Viadrina, invite you to a film screening with lecture of Michael Kimmage on Wednesday, November 27, 6 p.m., in the main building of the Viadrina. Michael Kimmage’s presentation delves into the origins of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, starting in 2008, when war was not predestined, and traces Russia’s growing antagonism toward Ukraine as well as tensions with Europe and the United States. He examines why the war started and how its origins have influenced the war’s ongoing course, now in its third year. Kimmage concludes with insights on the lessons learned — or still to be learned — from the conflict, particularly focusing on their importance for Berlin, Washington, and the U.S.-German relationship Venue: Große Scharrnstraße 59, Frankfurt (Oder), Senate Hall, Room 109.

The call for the KIU PhD program has been published. The application portal is going to open 15 December 2024.

The Competence Network for Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies (KIU) is organising Brown Bag Lunch lectures at the University of Viadrina on a monthly basis. KIU research fellows will present their work over lunch. Mykhailo Minakov’s lecture marks the start of the new event series. Mykhailo Minakov Brown Bag Lunch – Wednesday, 11 December 2024, 1–2 p.m. GD 102, European University Viadrina Goodbye to Homo Sovieticus: Reviving the Heroic and Creative Spirit of the 1990s In this talk, KIU research fellow Mykhailo Minakov will revisit the intellectual heritage of Ukrainian and Russian philosophy and literature in the late 1980s and the 1990s. This was a period when the Soviet Union – and all related institutions and practices – collapsed, opening up a space for human creativity in science, politics, the arts and the economy. It was a period when the world, history, and what it means to be human were re-imagined. As the search for a “New Human” started in emerging Eastern European societies, the “Soviet Man” became a thing of the past. How did philosophers and writers theorize and artistically symbolize the break with "Soviet Civilization"? What post-Soviet Humans and social worlds were projected? How is this story linked to our own time? These are the questions Mykhailo Minakov will address. Mykhailo Minakov (born on 6 October 1971) is a political philosopher based in Kyiv and Milan. His major philosophical investigations focus on human experience, social knowledge, political systems, historical consciousness, and multiple modernities. Mykhailo has been a Principal Investigator for Ukraine, and editor-in-chief of the Wilson Center blog Focus Ukraine since 1 March 2018. Everybody is invited to have their lunch during the presentation. Note: No lunch provided, please bring your own.

Starting with the report presentation on the consequences of Russia’s full-scale invasion for Ukrainian academia, the event continues with a panel discussion on the future challenges and reform directions of the Ukrainian science and higher education system. The SCIENCE AT RISK Monitoring Report on Ukraine examines the consequences of the Russian full-scale invasion for Ukrainian academia based on the analysis of the online-survey results among Ukrainian scholars. Analysing 1,720 responses, the Report draws conclusions about the state and needs of Ukrainian scientists in times of war

During the russian invasion of Ukraine, archives and cultural heritage were severely damaged and lost. Arolsen Archives' research shows that the destruction of historical documents was often deliberate and premeditated.

The KIU is represented at this year's biannual conference of the DGO (Deutsche Gesellschaft Osteuropakunde e.V.). On Monday, October 7, 2024, 2.30 to 4 p.m., KIU project coordinator Dr. Susann Worschech will participate in the panel discussion “Support, Reconstruction, Reforms: How can we make Ukrainian cooperation in research even more attractive”? On the second day of the conference, between 13:00 and 13:45, she and Guido Hausmann (University of Regensburg) will present the KIU as one of the two DAAD-funded projects for the establishment of Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies in Germany.

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. Scientific coordinator, Dr. Susann Worschech, opened the KIU with the following outlook.

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.

On Thursday, July 11, 2024 at 4 pm in the Auditorium Maximum of the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), we will celebrate the opening of the Competence Network Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies Frankfurt (Oder) – Berlin (KIU).

On 7 March 2024, Viadrina President Prof. Dr Eduard Mühle and Prof. Dr Gwendolyn Sasse, Director of the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS), gave an insight into the projects of the "Competence Network Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies Frankfurt (Oder) - Berlin (KIU)" during a media conference. Following the decision of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to fund a Ukraine Centre under the direction of Viadrina, they described the research and teaching projects in detail for the first time in public.

On Thursday, 7 March at 11.30 a.m., the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) invites you to a media conference on the "Competence Network Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies Frankfurt (Oder) - Berlin (KIU)".

The European University Viadrina, leading the “Competence Network Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies Frankfurt (Oder) - Berlin (KIU)”, has been awarded a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The network was successful in the competition alongside the “Denkraum Ukraine” at the University of Regensburg. The DAAD is providing a total of a five million euros for both projects until the end of 2028.