Research Retreat

Spring has finally sprung, but there were some bright moments in winter that we want to share with you. So, at the end of February, we held a fantastic event as part of the Research Teams and Ideas Competition project. We share our fond memories of the Research Retreat.

In 2022, based on research proposals, we selected the best research teams from the pilot universities that received project support in implementing their research. The result of this activity for each team is a scientific publication based on the study conducted, published in an international journal indexed by Scopus.

The research teams worked in the most challenging conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war for a long time. Therefore, at the end of February 2023, we held the final offline event, the Research Retreat, which supported the teams’ efforts and helped to strengthen horizontal ties. In addition, at the event, the participants presented the results of their research and showed how far they had come by participating in educational activities and collecting and analyzing data.

“The Research Retreat was a combination of a conference and an evening with guests. The offline event brought together representatives of all the research teams and their Ukrainian and international supervisors (some joined online). Each participating team shared the results of their work in the form of presentations.

Among the guests was Wim Groot, Ph.D., Professor of Health Economics and professor of Evidence-Based Education at Maastricht University. We remind you that you can watch two plenary sessions presented by the speaker at the final event:

• Advantages and drawbacks of value-based health care → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsxdexdJGnM
• The impact of EU membership on higher education in Ukraine → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY7YknsR6T8

To broaden the participants’ horizons, we invited Kunsht to present a session on research communication. Kunsht is a Ukrainian science education media outlet that disseminates knowledge about how science affects life locally and globally, promotes self-development, and creates conditions for communication between people interested in science. At the event, the media co-founder Kyrylo Bezkorovainyi held three sessions to discuss:

• Why do we need science and the people who communicate it,
• Why do people believe in horoscopes, and what is the difference between Newton and Galileo in their approaches to popularizing science,
• How to write about science for a broad audience,
• How to write a press release that someone will publish,
• The main motives of disinformation and how to counter them,
• Whether it is worth arguing with a conspiracy theorist.

The event included a panel discussion: “To publish or not to publish?”

Watch the recording here → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWJxzvxABwM. 

We believe that the “Competition of Research Teams and Ideas” strengthens research practices and skills in writing scientific publications among teachers of medical schools. This, among other things, contributes to improving the quality of medical education in higher education institutions!