11-17 June 2023, Anastasiia Zarzhytska, International Relations Officer of Khmelnytskyi National University, took part in the 11th International Summer School at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (Poland) called “Science Communication”, which brought together representatives of 26 Ukrainian higher education institutions.
The summer school was organised by AMU International Office, Faculty of History, Faculty of English, Faculty of Political Science and Journalism, AMU TV Studio, AMU Press Office, and School of Humanities.
Vice-Rector for International Cooperation, Prof. Dr hab. Rafał Witkowski and the Director of the International Relations Centre, Joanna Barszcz, officially opened the first day of classes. Summer school participants got acquainted with the history, structure and achievements of Adam Mickiewicz University, watched a presentation about EPICUR Consortium and listened to a lecture on Introduction to Scientific Communication. At the end of the training day, gifts were exchanged: representatives of Ukrainian universities presented Ukrainian books to AMU and City libraries and received attractive AMU merchandise.
The second day began with two lectures by Eva Rüskamp, Albrecht-Ludwigs-University representative, Freiburg (Germany). Lectures were focused on science communication in the context of German universities, and the practical part consisted of teamwork to create a science communication project for different target audiences. The third lecture on the Poznań Festival of Science and Arts was delivered by Dr. Anna Młynarczyk, a festival coordinator. Participants were pleased to hear about the experience of organising such an event and how such festivals help scientific communication and also received charming festival merchandise – badges. The day ended with a Nordic walking masterclass.
On Wednesday, they discussed creating podcasts and the importance of documentaries and examined oral history as an example of scientific communication. The first speaker was Przemysław Stanula, AMU Podcast series “Science District” creator. He shared his experience of the podcast creation process and let summer school participants try themselves as podcast guest and listen to their recorded voices. In the second lecture, Dr. Dorota Latour showed how science communication can be implemented through documentaries and demonstrated several of her works. The third lecture, dedicated to oral history, provoked much discussion. Dr. Michał Kierzkowski explained that oral history does not require the restoration of historical truth but only collects stories of people who witnessed historic events. The day ended with a sausage roast on fire by a pond with summer school organisers and Ukrainian poet Oleksandr Irvanets.
On the last lecture day, participants learnt about Bilingualism Matters @Poznań, a research and information centre on bilingualism and learning language that operates at the Faculty of English, from Prof. Anna Białas. At the lecturer’s request, summer school participants shared the problem of bilingualism in Ukraine. There was a precious dialogue about the adaptation process of Ukrainian children in Polish schools. Dr. Marcin Markowicz and Dr. Tomasz Skirecki spoke about their project called “The Long Night of Anglicists”, a festival dedicated to the English language. During the last lecture, speakers conducted a quiz on Polish knowledge, in which the Ukrainians showed promising results.
The last day of the summer school was no less eventful. Participants took Poznań City Tour and visited AMU Film Studio, where they had the opportunity to learn the basics of creating Radio and TV podcasts and try themselves as hosts of Radio or TV podcasts. The final stage was visiting the main building of AMU and presenting certificates to summer school participants by Prof. Rafał Witkowski.
Among possible forms of cooperation with AMU is involving KhNU academic staff in delivering lectures for “The Long Night of Anglicists”.
We express our gratitude to Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, especially Prof. Rafał Witkowski and Joanna Barszcz, Khmelnytskyi National University and Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University for this fantastic opportunity!
