International interdisciplinary seminar "Improving environmental sustainability: UzhNU experience"

October is full of events. This month marks a number of interesting days: World Environment Day, World Animal Protection Day, International Day of Nonviolence, International Energy Conservation Day, World Planting Day, International Climate Action Day, United Nations Day. In this regard, Uzhhorod National University hosted an interesting online event, the International Interdisciplinary Seminar "Improving Environmental Sustainability: UzhNU Experience", to broaden students' horizons. The working languages of the event were Ukrainian and English. The seminar was initiated and conducted by Hanna Ihorivna Melehanych, PhD in Political Science, Associate Professor of the Department of International Studies and Public Communications, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Development at UzhNU and Senior Lecturer of the Department of English Philology Antonina Mykhailivna Bulyna, who is currently coordinating and implementing two projects related to the internationalisation strategy of UzhNU.

H. I. Melehanych spoke on the topic "The concept of sustainable development and its implementation at UzhNU". She outlined the theoretical basis and practical implementation of the concept, in particular, through projects implemented at UzhNU, which involve not only teachers but also students.

А. M. Bulyna made a presentation on the topic "Ecocritical Dimension in Literary Studies". She spoke about the origins of ecocriticism ("green studies") and the term itself, waves of ecocriticism and its types. 

The guest of the event was Italian Andrea Maroe (research director-agronomist), who heads the Giant Trees Foundation.  He spoke about the mission of the organisation, its activities and those who work there, as well as what connects them with Zakarpattia. The Giant Trees Foundation aims to improve knowledge of ancient trees and forests and promote their conservation around the world.

Students of three faculties had the opportunity to attend the seminar: students of the Faculty of History and International Relations, students of the Faculty of Foreign Philology, and students of the Faculty of Philology. 

We share their feedback:

Iryna Kozorovska, 1st year, Faculty of History and International Relations: "I am sincerely grateful for such a relevant, informative seminar. I have a lot of positive impressions. All speakers spoke with great inspiration and a desire to be useful. Many thanks for the opportunity. I look forward to more such meetings."

Evgeniya Chonka, 4th year, Faculty of Philology: "The seminar was very interesting. The topic is serious and timely, because it affects not only certain regions of a country, but the whole world. I would also like to thank Andrea for warning me from the very beginning that his English was not very good, but I must say that he managed to convey the most important things about the activities of the organisation he heads."

Roksolana Honak, 1st year, Faculty of Foreign Philology: "I learnt a lot at the seminar. I hope you will be able to organise more events like this one."

It is important to look for points of intersection, especially in the academic space. We are pleased that thanks to our cooperation and, accordingly, through the prism of international relations and philology, we managed to consider the topic. It is this way that makes it possible to solve what is difficult for a specialist in one field to cope with, and this, in turn, contributes to a better understanding of each other at the local, national and global levels.

 

• Faculty of Foreign Philology,
• Faculty of History and International Relations,
• Faculty of Philology,
• Sustainability Development Centre