Rebuilding Ukraine through education

Dariia Kholiavchuk, Programme Leader in Geography at the historic Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University in western Ukraine, is making plans to innovate her university’s curriculum working alongside Salford’s Simon Hutchinson. 

Due to missiles attacks and mines, teaching and fieldwork were initially cancelled or curtailed and remain impacted, for example by extensive power cuts affecting both electricity supplies and heating, so than an agile and resilient approach to teaching is essential. Since 2022, the University of Salford has been supporting students in Ukraine through the creation of virtual field trips, which aim to bring back a sense of normality to the country’s war-torn education system through providing students with field-based knowledge, as well as more recently developed online workshops for staff.

Dariia’s current visit to the University of Salford is multi-faceted, with the aim of building innovative new practices that will assist in fulfilling the urgent needs of her country. She hopes to modify parts of the curriculum, enhance its interdisciplinary integration and benefit from Salford’s expertise in digital education tools to support, for example, the nature conservation and geohazard mitigation that will be essential as the country rebuilds when the war eventually ends.  The country will need professionals who are trained and equipped to deal with the problems the country will face in the coming years.

Dariia said: “It is not just about the accessibility and availability of resources, but also about the human factor – it is very important for students to be encouraged and empowered. My students are being supported internationally; therefore, they still believe that their education matters.’’

As well as her role as Programme Leader in Geography, in which she oversees curriculum development, quality assurance and field-based education, Dariia is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Geography, Geomorphology, and Palaeogeography.

Teaching Meteorology, Climatology, Global Climate Change, and Monitoring of Natural Hazards, her work emphasises quantitative and geospatial methods and field training in the Carpathians. Dariia’s research focuses on climate-landform interactions in mountain environments, with particular attention to snow avalanche dynamics, fluvial responses to changing precipitation regimes, and forest-climate feedbacks over recent and Holocene climate variability.

Dariia said: “There is a multi-level support system – this starts from teachers like me, and I will share these practices with my students who will become the professionals in need in Ukraine. ‘’

“Given that we have this international support, it is very vital for students to understand that their education is up to date, therefore this collaboration enforces the international scope of their education.”

Professor Simon Hutchinson said: “It was great to welcome Dariia to Salford. Ukraine is going to need lots of international support in the coming years. The damage it has already suffered from the war is huge and it will take a long time to rebuild. If we can play a small part in supporting that process then it’s a very worthwhile thing to do.”