Rejsedagbog fra Ukraine: Kapitel 4

Besøg på Ukrainian Catholic University, Ivan Franko National University i Lviv – og flere børnebogsforlag

Fotos: medmindre andet nævnes, er fotos taget af de delegerede. I denne artikel tilhører udvalgte fotos, markeret med UCU’s logo, Ukrainian Catholic University

I begyndelsen af april rejste en delegation af fire forskere i regi af Videnskabernes Selskab til et krigsramt Ukraine, hvor de bl.a. besøgte flere af landets store universiteter. De fire forskere er tidligere præsident for Videnskabernes Selskab Marie-Louise Nosch, DUA-medlem Birgitte Pristed, Inga Kapustian og Nadiia Pavlyk. Mød dem her, i 4. kapitel af en miniserie og dagbog over deres rejse.
I dette kapitel skal vi bl.a. høre om deres besøg ved Ukrainian Catholic University, Ivan Franko National University i Lviv og flere børnebogsforlag, der udgiver bøger om krigen i børnehøjde.
Hver uge i maj udkommer et nyt delkapitel fra rejsedagbogen.

*Teksten i serien er forfattet på engelsk og er skrevet af forskerne selv.

The Ukrainian Catholic University is a small, private elite university with only 1800 students and impressive research environments of Artificial Intelligence on a beautiful and modern campus. We were warmly greeted by the three Vice-Rectors: Yaroslav Prytula – Provost, Dmytro Sherengovsky – Vice Rector for Outreach, and Sophia Opatska – Vice Rector for Strategic Development.

The leadership explained inspiring measures both to sustain and retain the most talented students and young scholars but also measures of inclusion of vulnerable or disabled students and citizens in campus life.

[See article from visit, ed.]

[See photos below. All pictures in the gallery below marked with the logo of the Ukrainian Catholic University belong to the Ukrainian Catholic University; the application of the logo to the pictures was done by the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters to ensure correct photo crediting, ed.]

Meeting students and staff of International relations at Lviv University
In a beautiful building from the 19th century at the great Ivan Franko National University in Lviv, one of Eastern Europe’s oldest universities, an interdisciplinary faculty for International Relations has been established with political science and many languages, including Estonian and Scandinavian, and professor and dean Markiyan Malskyy, former ambassador to Poland, trains a new generation of Ukrainian diplomats here. We were warmly welcomed by Dr. Borys Sulym and Professor Markiyan Malskyy who invited us to join the class and give a short talk.

However, the class was abruptly interrupted by an air raid alarm, prompting us to continue our discussion in the shelter. Despite the unexpected interruption, the students expressed great enthusiasm in engaging with us foreign guests. They were eager to discuss student life, research perspectives, European values, and strategies for developing a humanistic and democratic society. This experience underscored the resilience and determination of both the academic community and students in Lviv amidst challenging circumstances

[See photos below, ed.]

Children’s book publishers in Lviv
Nadiia Pavlyk and Birgitte Pristed conducted fieldwork interviews with director Bogdan Trojanovs’kii and editor Lyubov Kindratovych of the Greek-Catholic publishing house Svichado, founded in 1987 as an anti-Soviet underground publisher and today housed in a beautifully renovated monastery in Lviv. Normally, the production of hand-illustrated books is a demanding and time-consuming process. But only two months after Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine, Svichado launched its first book about the war for children by the artist Bogdana Bondar about the famous cargo aircraft An-225 Mriya (transl. Dream: heavenly airlines) from the battle of Antonov Airport. By interpreting the meaningless of war within a religious framework, Svichado seeks to bring children a sense of hope.

At the Lviv-based creative space FEST! we visited the 2001 founded Old Lion Publishing House, one of the leading Ukrainian children’s book publishers, and interviewed director Marjana Savka and editor Natalka Maletych. The remarkable facade of the tall publishing building features a large dimensioned “book shelf” in the pop style of roadside architecture, currently displaying a cover of the story about Tor Tractor, who is Dragging Away the Tank. The publishing house is full of children, in the ground floor there is a children’s book cafe and a kindergarten, which was opened by the director to show her employees that children and career do not exclude each other.

[See photos below, ed.]