Summer is traditionally associated with a vacation period and a certain slowdown in university life. However, the scientific, project and international activities of South Ukrainian National Pedagogical University named after K. D. Ushynsky do not stop for a day.
Following the results of the summer of 2026, four international projects with the participation of Ushynsky University received support from international programs. This was the result of the systematic work of the University's scientists, project teams and foreign partners. The search for international opportunities and partners, the formation of consortia and the coordination of the preparation of project applications were carried out with the direct participation of the Department of International Projects and Programs of the University.
The topics of the new projects cover areas relevant to Ukraine and Europe: green and digital transformation of higher education, countering disinformation and developing media literacy, psychological support of the population, as well as the use of artificial intelligence and STEAM approaches in modern education.
BRIDGE-UA — Bridging Ukrainian Higher Education to the European Green Deal through Green & Digital Institutional Transformation, Living Labs and Sustainable Governance
The BRIDGE-UA project received support within the framework of the Erasmus+ program, Capacity Building in Higher Education (CBHE), Strand 1.
The project’s goal is to promote the green and digital transformation of Ukrainian higher education institutions in accordance with the principles of the European Green Deal. The project involves developing the institutional capacity of universities, modernizing management, creating Green Transition Offices, implementing digital sustainability monitoring systems, and creating university Living Labs, where students, teachers, and external partners can jointly develop and test solutions in the field of energy efficiency, resource management, and sustainable development.
The coordinator of the international consortium is Loyola University Andalucía (Spain). The project partners also include Athens University of Economics and Business, Odyssea and Drasi gia tin Koinonia ton Politon (Greece), and from the Ukrainian side – Ushynsky University, Hryhorii Skovoroda University in Pereyaslav, Mykola Hohol Nizhyn State University and West Ukrainian National University.
SYNESIA — Systemic Network for European Scrutiny & Information Architecture
The SYNESIA project will be implemented with the support of the European Union’s Creative Europe program, Media Literacy direction.
Its goal is to strengthen public resilience to disinformation and information manipulation by combining professional fact-checking, journalism, modern digital tools and media literacy education.
The project envisages the creation of an open multilingual platform for identifying and analyzing disinformation narratives, conducting training for teachers, journalists and digital content creators, as well as establishing interaction between fact-checking specialists, educators and citizens.
The consortium includes organizations from France, Lithuania, Romania, Spain, Ukraine and Montenegro. The coordinator is the NGO Mythodologie (France), and Ushynsky University is the scientific partner of the project.
CareBridge — Norwegian-Ukrainian cooperation in training psychologists and community mental health specialists.
The CareBridge project received support within the framework of the Norwegian Nansen EDU program.
Its goal is to develop a modern system of training psychologists and strengthen the capacity of universities to provide psychological and psychosocial support to people affected by war.
The project involves the creation of a 6 ECTS certificate program in community psychology, training specialists to work with internally displaced persons, veterans and their families, integrating issues of professional self-help and burnout prevention into educational programs, developing Ukrainian-Norwegian research cooperation and creating four Solidarity Hubs, including in Odesa.
The project coordinator is the University of Oslo. The Ukrainian partners are the South Ukrainian National Pedagogical University named after K. D. Ushynsky, the Polesie National University, the Kyiv School of Economics and the Sumy State University.
WELLBEING-STEAM — AI and Storytelling Technologies for Resilient and Inclusive STEAM Education
The WELLBEING-STEAM project combines modern technologies of artificial intelligence, digital storytelling, STEAM education, inclusive learning and supporting the psychological well-being of children.
The main goal is to modernize the training of primary school teachers through the creation and implementation of an educational module of 3 ECTS and a set of open educational resources that will combine mathematics, computer science and computational thinking, natural sciences and English with storytelling technologies, artificial intelligence, psychological resilience and inclusive education.
The project plans to create multimodal educational stories, teaching materials and lesson plans for grades 1–4, digital educational resources, train teachers, as well as testing the developed solutions in universities and schools.
Together with Ushynsky University, the international consortium includes Universidad de Extremadura (Spain), University of Silesia in Katowice (Poland), Instituto Superior de Tecnologias Avançadas de Lisboa — ISTEC Lisboa (Portugal) and Universidade Politécnica de Santarém (Portugal).
International cooperation continues.
Four victories in international competitions within one summer are a significant result for the University and demonstrate the active integration of its scientists into the European educational and research space.
New projects will allow expanding international partnerships, conducting joint research, developing and implementing modern educational solutions, involving teachers and students in international activities, and using the best European practices for the development of the University and Ukrainian education in general.
We sincerely congratulate the project teams and their leaders on their victory!
We wish the teams successful implementation of their projects and look forward to new international initiatives and victories!