Travel diary from Ukraine: Chapter 1
Meet the Danish-Ukrainian Scientific Delegation
Photo: Unless otherwise noted, photos are taken by the delegates.
In early April 2024 a delegation of four researchers travelled to war-torn Ukraine under the auspices of the Royal Academy and visited several of the country’s major universities. The four researchers included Marie-Louise Nosch, president of the Royal Academy, and three members of the Danish Young Academy: Birgitte Beck Pristed, Inga Kapustian and Nadiia Pavlyk. Chapter 1 of this miniseries begins by briefly presenting each one of them and the purpose of their journey.
Each week in the month of May we will unveil a new chapter presented by the travellers to provide unique insight into their experiences while abroad.
Delegate contributions are presented in their own words.
We are the Danish-Ukrainian science delegation visiting Kyiv, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, 2-7 April 2024; four scholars; four women; two Ukrainians and two Danes; from three Danish universities [Aarhus Universitet, Syddansk Universitet og Københavns Universitet, red.]. With the mission to exchange knowledge and learn much more. Our cross-cutting academic fields are youth, culture, academia, and humanities.
After two years of full-scale war, we went to visit Ukrainian research and education institutions. Our purpose: To demonstrate to Ukrainian scientists and research institutions our support, readiness, and desire to support the positive development of science in Ukraine.
Who are we in the Danish-Ukrainian science delegation?
Postdoc Inga Kapustian
Postdoc Inga Kapustian is a scholar at the Hans Christian Andersen Center, Department of Culture and Language, The University of Southern Denmark (SDU) since 2022. The research focuses on Translation and Social Semiotics, particularly on translations of Hans Christian Andersen’s works before, during, and after the Soviet era. She also works on intertextuality and Cross-Cultural Influences in translation, as well as examining Readers’ reception and cultural adaptations. Now she is working on a research project titled “Hans Christian Andersen and World Literature: Ukrainian Perspectives.”
Associate Professor Birgitte Beck Pristed
Birgitte Pristed is an Associate professor at the School of Culture & Society, section of Russian and Balkan studies, Aarhus University, Denmark. [She writes, ed.]: I am a member of the DUA/DanishYoung Academy 2019-2024, and was co-chair 2023-24. I conduct research on publishers of children books about the war published in Ukraine and by independent publishers in Russia. My research interests: Book history, publishing studies, Soviet and post-Soviet book and print culture, contemporary publishing, and illustrated children’s books. Knowledge and science diplomacy, research conditions for younger scholars. I am the PI of the project: “PUBLISH: Children’s books in the Russia-Ukraine War” which investigates contemporary publishing of Ukrainian and Russian wartime children’s books that represent child experiences of war and migration, and funded by the Aarhus University Research Foundation, AUFF Nova.
Professor Nadiia Pavlyk
Professor Nadiia Pavlyk is amember of Department of Global Studies, Aarhus University, Denmark. She is a member of the Pool of European Youth Researchers (PEYR) (2024-2025), researcher of the project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine”, former AUFF-Ukraine research fellow, Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (Denmark, 2022-2023), and Professor at the Department of Social Technologies at Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University, Ukraine. [She writes, ed.]: I am a researcher of the project “PUBLISH: Children’s Books in the Russia-Ukraine War”, Department of Global Studies, Aarhus University (Denmark, 2024). My research focus: non-formal education for excluded groups, youth work and youth policy based on Council of Europe standards and approaches, shared reading for families, children’s books in the Russia-Ukraine war.
Professor Marie Louise Nosch
Professor and President of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters Marie Louise Nosch explores traditional textiles and ancient history. [She writes, ed.]: Since 2022, I have collaborated with the other academies of Ukraine, Poland, Germany, France, the UK, the USA and ALLEA to coordinate help and support to scientists in Ukraine. [See the, ed.] 10 points action plan.
In the Royal Danish Academy, I host a “Ukrainian Scholars’ Day” every six months to assist our Ukrainian colleagues in forming new professional networks while they are in Denmark. I also have a professional interest in Ukrainian costumes and textile techniques. With Yuliia Lazorenko, Magali-Ann Berthon, Sophia Hayda, Tatiana Krupa I published a paper: “Narrative and Material Tools of Resistance: mobilising textilecrafts, heritage and fashion in the context of Ukraine’s invasion (2022-2023)” in Euroweb Anthology 2024. I have moreover collected short podcast narratives by Ukrainians who tell a story about a favorite piece of clothing.
