Name of project
Enhancement of The PhD Students Potential for Qualitative Research in Ukraine
Target Country
Ukraine
Project Coordinator
Czech University of Life Sciences Prague
Project Team
Prof. Ing. David Herák, Ph.D., ass.prof. Ing. Abraham Kabutey, Ph.D., ass.prof. Ing. Vladimír Krepl, CSc., ass.prof. Tetiana Usiuk, PhD., ass.prof. Natalia Dubrova, Ph.D.,
Partners
Sumy State University, Dnipro State Agrarian and Economic University, Sumy National Agrarian University, Polissia National University, Chernihiv Polytechnic National University
Donor
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic
Duration of the Project March 2022 – December 2022
Project description
The target group will include the PhD students currently enrolled at the university for studies, those who are finishing their Master’s aiming to enroll in PhD studies and those who have just graduated from PhD studies (max 3 years after).
The Eurodoc, the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers, has stated in 2020 in their report, that “EHEA member countries should encourage the development of innovative, flexible, inclusive and relevant doctoral training, that is influenced by societal needs, dynamic global challenges and also considering the Sustainable Development Goals”. These principles and standards are pursued by the current project in terms of partner universities' needs.
PhD students are the most vulnerable in terms of financial support in such countries as Ukraine. Due to their traditionally low academic status in Ukraine, their just emerging and thus yet insufficiently low background knowledge and skills, they have very limited access to international cooperation, opportunities to work on advanced equipment or to get a foreign mentor. Partly due to the USSR academic tradition, partly to the absence of knowledge and skills, the PhD students serve an additional workforce and very few manage to get an advanced position before the PhD thesis defence.
Also, traditionally the PhD students’ advisers are the older professionals who often do not possess the skills required currently at the international level as they are content with what they have in Ukraine. That is why they are not able to transfer necessary skills or pass on the partnership connections to the new generation: up to 80% of PhD advisors in Ukraine do not speak English. Thus, e.g. the inter- or multidisciplinary approach is not provided for the students within their PhD training, as well as is not widely supported organizationally within the universities.
The Master’s students who want to get enrolled in PhD studies are far from understanding the PhD work essence, values and standards. Thus, giving them an early opportunity to enter the “market” correctly, will help them to be more competitive and successful in their choice of field, mentor and the career path.
Those PhD students who graduated are not usually secured with the job places or are offered a low-paid position, the post-graduates places are traditionally absent in the participating countries. Therefore, advancing their research value, the project will give them an opportunity to find a job or shift fully to science as their main working field. Internationally useful and recognized research is able to engage grants funding, higher honorars and wider opportunities.
By enhancing the abilities of the PhD students to start their career as early as possible and correctly, with right knowledge and international opportunities, the project contributes to the development of advanced and qualitative science. In Ukraine only 10-20% of PhD graduates continue to do science [participating universities statistics] and even less have really high scientific results. A big number of PhD students either do not intend to do science and study only for the sake of scholarship or a status of a student, or they do not manage to launch into qualitative science and continue as a university teacher with a PhD degree.
By establishing the joint research projects, joint mentorship and giving access to cooperation with Czech colleagues, the project enables higher quality scientific relations between Ukraine and Czech Republic, able to attract external grants funding which will enhance the inter-country relations even further. As the project foresees training and establishment of multi-disciplinary research teams and their support with mini-grants and equipment, the impact on the issue is going to be comprehensive and long-lasting.