Denys Kovalenko is a researcher in Lund University and was the coordinator of LUA in 2023-2024. He originates from Kyiv, Ukraine and was invited to come to Lund in 2022 to join neuroscience laboratory at the Medical Faculty. Now, after completion of 2 years research position he’s moving to Linköping to continue his studies. In this interview we’ve asked Denys to share some words about his work as a coordinator of LUA before he leaves Lund completely.
Why did you decide to join this LUA group?
Since I came to Lund in 2022, I had had a vague idea of organizing some kind of supporting activity within Lund University for Ukrainian academia that would help it endure during the current times of hardship. And when an invitation came to join an already existing group, which by the time was a more closed up discussion club about the Russian war in Ukraine, I could not do anything else but join.
What was the best part of your work as a coordinator of this group?
I think the best part of this one-year experience as the coordinator of LUA was seeing how our discussions and long meetings eventually got transformed into real actions that made a difference. I had just taken over the management of LUA before the first-ever summer school for Ukrainian medical students in Sweden took place in the summer 2023, to this day the greatest achievement of LUA. Later, within just one year, we were able to organize couple of online seminars for Ukrainian medical students, invite a famous Ukrainian author for a visit, establish successful cooperation between Ukrainian and Swedish researchers that received SI funding, and more. I’m proud of what we have achieved and looking forward with hope to future activities.
Did you manage to realize everything you wanted as a group leader?
Of course not. While I was managing LUA several projects were discussed, one of most important being the idea of sending equipment that is no longer in use in Lund University to Ukrainian academic partners. However, we were not able to finalize them. My hope is that newly appointed coordinator and the entire group will continue working on them, as well as bring more ideas for potential activities in the future.
Why is it necessary to support Ukrainian academia?
It is essential to continue cooperating with Ukraine. The more we collaborate to understand better consequences of the war and experiences gained in Ukraine, the more we prepared for similar challenges worldwide. Additionally, by supporting Ukraine in the ways we can we invest in that the Russian conflict will not spread. However, one should understand that it all comes with the great cost, that no one will be able to recover from in years to come.
What wishes do you have for the members of the group?
Just the ones I said during my final presentation as the coordinator of LUA in June 2024: I’d like to thank you all for everything that has been done so far, and invite you to continue doing what we can and see where we come with that.
Prepared by Roman Balandiuk
