The project includes 3 specific objectives:

1. Introducing a new quality assurance mechanism – online open peer review platform for transparent research results evaluation at academic conferences in Ukrainian HEIs.
2. Foster EU-Ukrainian cooperation and internationalization of Ukrainian HEIs by building an international online virtual community of peer reviewers and researchers within the online peer review platform.
3. Raising awareness on academic integrity and Open Science, improvement of open practices and Open Science skills at Ukrainian HEIs and society at large through implementation of new subjects on open practices within modernised academic courses and open online course.

For more information about objectives you can visit OPTIMA site.

NASC will be responsible for bringing the top-level climate change expertise to the project. Part of new academic subjects to be developed within the project frame as well as the online course on OS will be enriched by examples on climate change and its mitigation. This will help rising awareness on this painful topic in Ukraine. NASC will also help with the project results dissemination and activities promotion.

The OPTIMA consortium includes Lviv Polytechnic National University (Coordinator), Vasyl Stus Donetsk National University, Sumy State University, Lutsk National Technical University, National Antarctic Scientific Center and the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance.

International partners: Graz University of Technology (Austria), Wrocław University of Science and Technology (Poland), University of Côte d’Azur (France), the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc, Belgium), Stichting eIFL.net (Netherlands). Associated partners: Council of Rectors of Displaced Universities, Centre for Innovation and Sustainability for International Development and Antiplagiat Ltd.

Start: 15-01-2021 – End: 14-01-2024
Project Reference: 618940-EPP-1-2020-1-UA-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP
EU Grant: 938664 EUR
Programme: Erasmus+
Key Action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices
Action Type: Capacity Building in higher education

Prof. Pavlo Zhezhnych, Sc.D., OPTIMA Project Coordinator
Dr. Oleksandr Berezko, Ph.D., OPTIMA Project Manager

E-mail oleksandr.l.berezko@lpnu.ua
Facebook @OPTIMAOpen
Twitter @optima_open
YouTube Project OPTIMA

NASC team

Svitlana Krakovska
Position in NASC: Senior researcher, meteorology.
Email: SvitlanaKrakovska@gmail.com
Role in OPTIMA: Coordinator of project in NASC, member of Steering Committee, meteorology expert, management
Additional information: Ph.D.in Geophysics, Head of Applied Climatology Lab in UHMI, Leading author, review-editor and delegate of Ukraine to IPCC

Anatolii Chernov
Position in NASC: Junior researcher, geophysics, ECS
Email: AchernovP@gmail.com
Role in OPTIMA: Preparation of the scientific materials, management of the communication between LNU, Ukrainian partners and NASC
Additional information: Ph.D. in Earth Sciences, participant of Antarctic Expeditions

Oksana Pnovska
Position in NASC: Head of scientific management department
Email: OksanaPnyovska@ukr.net
Role in OPTIMA: Implementation of OPTIMA Open Peer review practices in scientifical and educational activities of NASC, financial management
Additional information: Ph.D. in Agro Science, Journal manager of the Ukrainian Antarctic Journal

Mariia Chernyshenko
Position in NASC: Junior researcher in department of scientific management
Email: Chernyshenko123@gmail.com
Role in OPTIMA: Dissemination of OPTIMA information and Open Science standards in NASC and in NASC network, preparation of financial and other reports
Additional information: Has finished Ph.D study in Botany

2021

• Requirements to the Open Peer Review Platform
  Reichmann et al. OPTIMA D1.3 Requirements to the OPR Platform
• Requirements to Updated Courses with New Subjects on Open Science
  Reichmann et al. OPTIMA D1.4 Requirements to Updated Courses
• Open Lecture “Climate Change and Open Science”
• The presentation of Dr. Svitlana Krakovska, researcher at NASC, during the Kick-off Meeting of OPTIMA Project
• Dr. Krakovska’s Open lecture Open Science and Confronting Climate Change (in Ukrainian). The first Ukrainian-language webinar within the OPTIMA project. The lecture is dedicated to implementing principles of open science to achieve Goal 13 (Combat climate change) of the list formulated on the UN summit of 2015 to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all till 2030.

• OPTIMA webinar Open Science for Climate Protection (in Ukrainian). The event was held in the framework of #ErasmusDays 2021, and Dr. Krakovska’s report was dedicated to the role of open science in counteracting climate change (in particular, in the writing of the IPCC reports). Her presentation starts at 26.00.

2022

• Session REF 30561 of the Science Summit at the UN General Assembly (UNGA77), moderated by Dr. Svitlana Krakovska. The session was dedicated to the recovery of Ukrainian science and innovation after the Fossil Fuel War ends. The summit as a whole encompassed the development and implementation of scientific cooperation to demonstrate global scientific mechanisms and measures pursuing Sustainable Development Goals, Agenda 2030 and Local 2030.

• 

  Description of the event on the web-page of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine. The discussion underscores the necessity to comprehensively counteract the russian federation’s aggression for the development of science and novel technologies necessary to rebuild Ukraine and in the global context. Video recording of the session (English subtitles available). The problem of recoverying the Ukrainian scientific potential and its integration into the worldwide research is considered from different angles, by scientists in Ukraine and abroad.

• Online webinar Ukraine’s Climate Science and Innovation Before and After the Fossil Fuel War. The event was held in a hybrid format and moderated by Dr. Krakovska within the framework of UN Climate Summit COP27-2022 in Sharm El-Sheikh. The discussion was part of the International Day on Science and Youth on the 10^th of November in Ukrainian Pavillion. The topics included the common roots of climate change and russia’s attack of Ukraine, the war’s effect on the implementation of the already developed measures to protect the climate, possibilities for climate research and education for Ukrainians and included presentation of Open Science principles and OPTIMA project by Dr.Krakovska.
• Online session International Climatic Studies at Vernadsky Station, moderated by Dr. Krakovska. The session was quite multifaceted; the presentations were dedicated to the effect of climate change on antarctic flora and fauna, the ozone hole’s impact on the planet, the Ukrainian ice-class research vessel, the Special Winter Observation Period within the YOPP-SH 2022, using isotopes to study precipitation, future polar climate, NASC research as part of PolarRES and GEOSPACE projects, thunder, lightning, a description of the OPTIMA project for prospective participants, and penguins.

2023

• Dr. Krakovska’s lecture “Climate crisis in the modern world” (part 1)
• Dr. Krakovska’s lecture “Climate crisis in the modern world” (part 2)
• Dr. Krakovska’s lecture “Climate crisis in the modern world” (part 3)

• Training Workshop on Best Practices on Open Science and Open Educational Resources (Nice, France). From June 12 to 16, 2023, a training workshop on Best Practices on Open Science and Open Educational Resources was held on the basis of Université Côte d’Azur in the city of Nice (France). The main task of the event was to deepen the team’s knowledge of various aspects of open science and to prepare for the creation of an open educational resource within the project. Svitlana Krakovska (Optima project manager) and Oksana Pnyovska participated in the workshop from the National Antarctic Scientific Center.

  The trainings, presentations and follow-up discussions organized by Nicki Lisa Cole and Eva Kormann from the Technical University of Graz were extremely relevant; Sebastian Dahle and Agnieszka Żyra – representatives of the European Council of Graduates and Young Scientists (Eurodoc); Wojciech Wodo from Wrocław Polytechnic. The event also included a meeting with Thomas Guillemaud, one of the founders of the French community of scientific reviewers PCI (Peer Community In), who has already repeatedly held lectures and trainings for the project team online.

  The highlight of the workshop was a visit to the University’s Center for Pedagogical Support (Centre D’accompagnement Pédagogique – CAP), whose multidisciplinary team provides support to teachers through training, coaching and the implementation of innovative means of creating educational materials. The center’s team, led by Nataliia Timus, conducted training sessions on the creation of open multimedia educational resources for the OPTIMA team, during which the Ukrainian participants of the event recorded audio podcasts and videos. The acquired knowledge and experience are necessary for project team members to prepare planned video materials for an open educational resource on open science.

  The workshop gave its participants the opportunity to significantly expand their professional network and discuss new cooperation projects with existing and new international partners. 

  

  Participants of the workshop on Best Practices on Open Science and Open Educational Resources

• Training Workshop on Best Practices on Open Science and Open Educational Resources (Graz, Austria). Dr. Svitlana Krakovska team leader and coordinator for OPTIMA at National Antarctic Scientific Center visited training workshop on best practices on Open Science and Open Educational Resources within the frames of the Erasmus+ OPTIMA project (Open Practices, Transparency and Integrity) during 15th-21th of October 2023 in Graz University of Technology (Graz, Austria). This project aims to introduce more open and transparent practices to increase academic integrity leading to improved education quality in Ukrainian universities.

  Representatives from relocated universities of Ukraine and representatives of international partners of the project attended the training at the University of Graz: Technical University of Graz (Austria), Wrocław Polytechnic (Poland), University of the Cote d’Azur (France), NGO “Eurodoc” (Belgium), NGO ” Stichting eIFL.net” (Netherlands)

  During the training, the main speakers were: Sara Voivod with the OPENness initiative at TU Graz, Martin Ebner with iMOOX presentation/seminar, Agata Bochynska with an online report on the creation of a new reproducibility network, Serge Horbach with an online report on Open Peer Review platform.

  A workshop on the Open Online Course was also held. During the workshop, short promotional videos were filmed in the Graz University of Technology studio, the purpose of which is to draw the attention of the audience to the course from various fields of knowledge: information technology, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, solving climate change and other environmental problems, ensuring the quality of education, socio-economic research.

  

  Participants of the workshop near main building of Graz University of Technology

  

  Svitlana Krakovska in the studio of the iMOOX