On April 16-17, 2024, the Spring School “EU Green Deal: Current Challenges and Future Prospects on the Road to Climate Neutrality” was held online. The event was held as part of the implementation of the Jean Monnet Center of Excellence project “European Studies of Social Innovation in Education” – Jean Monnet Center of Excellence ESSIE – 101085552 – ERASMUS-JMO-2022-COE.
The Spring School was organized by the Mykhailo Drahomanov Ukrainian State University in cooperation with the Sumy National Agrarian University with the participation of the Association of Researchers of European Values in Education, Sumy Territorial Community, Sumy Business School and with the support of the National Erasmus+ Office in Ukraine. The event was attended by more than 90 scientists, researchers, representatives of public organizations and professional communities, and students from different universities of Ukraine.
The purpose of the Spring School was to familiarize its participants with the EU experience in climate change prevention, adaptation and mitigation.
The grand opening of the school began with a welcoming speech by Jean Monnet, the National Erasmus+ Office in Ukraine, Petro KRAINIK, who outlined the importance of the Spring School’s topic, emphasizing that the pre-war challenges of climate change have not disappeared, and, moreover, have become much more acute due to the impact of the war.
The speakers of the Sumy NAU event were Olena MELNIK, PhD, Senior Researcher, Climate Policy Laboratory, ETH Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland), Associate Professor, Sumy National Agrarian University, Honorary Professor, Royal Agricultural University (Cirencester, England) and Svitlana LUKASH, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Public Management and Administration, Sumy National Agrarian University.
Speakers focused on the following topical issues: green recovery of Ukraine in the focus of the European Green Deal, the role of social innovation education in building competencies for sustainable development and community development, peculiarities of planning energy and climate development of the territorial community, etc. As part of the Spring School, Olena MELNYK held a workshop “Education for the EU Green Deal” on rethinking education in accordance with the new Green Deal and the strategy for including climate science in the curriculum of educational institutions.
The event culminated in the presentation of the EU Green Deal and Climate Neutrality e-learning course on the Google class platform, which will allow participants to deepen their knowledge of the European climate policy and education system.
The school participants gained not only holistic knowledge but also valuable skills in jointly developing solutions to prevent global warming, adapt to climate change, and mitigate its effects.
On behalf of the organizers of the Spring School, we would like to thank the participants and partners of the event and invite you to further cooperation within the project!
