Cooperations 

The USiM network sees itself as a place where researchers from different disciplines come together on the basis of a common interest in Ukraine. In addition, USiM also aims to promote co-operation between the academic community and the public. We are therefore pleased to not only have a local connection with the association ‘Ukrainische Sprache und Kultur in Münster e.V.’, but also to have strong supra-regional partners - in Germany and, of course, in Ukraine. The continuous co-operation and the expansion of mutual relations is a priority for USiM. This page is intended to give you an overview of our various partner organisations. 

University partnerships

In May 2023, the University of Münster was able to intensify its cooperation with the Yuri Fedkovych National University in Czernowitz. This ‘act of solidarity’, as Prof Dr Irina Wutsdorff (Institute of Slavic Studies) emphasises, was also a consequent expansion of existing contacts. This cooperation is particularly appreciated in the fields of Slavic Studies, Jewish Studies and East-Central European History. For Prof Wutsdorff, Ukrainian Studies is ‘an exemplary field of study for a humanities and social science interested in transnational, intercultural and intertwined historical phenomena.’ 
A summer academy in Münster with students from Czernowitz is already planned for the 2025 summer semester. Exchanges to Czernowitz are also to be organised as soon as possible for the period after the end of the war. 

We are equally pleased about the partnership with the  National Taras Shevchenko University in Kyjiv.

Read more about the cooperation with Czernowitz in an article in the university newspaper ‘wissen.leben’ (German).

German-Ukrainian Historical Commission

The German-Ukrainian Historical Commission (formerly: German-Ukrainian Historians' Commission) was founded in 2015 to promote academic exchange between German and Ukrainian historians. The research focuses on the intertwined history of the two nations during the two world wars, with a particular focus on the German occupations and the Holocaust. The period of state socialism in Ukraine is also analysed.
As a long-standing member of the Commission, Prof Dr Ricarda Vulpius is the link between the Commission and USiM. 

Scholarship programme of the Department of History

Long-term cooperation with the Department of History at the University of Münster in the organisation and supervision of the scholarship programme for academics from Russia and Ukraine who have fled or been persecuted. Since the start of the programme, six academics from various historical disciplines have been supported and supervised. The programme also aimed to continue their individual research projects and integrate them into everyday academic life at the University of Münster.

Overview of the scholarship holders

Renovabis e.V.

Renovabis [lat. ‘you will renew’] is the Catholic Church's aid organisation for the countries of Central Eastern, South Eastern and Eastern Europe, founded in 1993. As of April 2024, the organisation was active in 29 countries and has supported around 26,450 projects since its foundation. It supports ‘ecclesiastical-pastoral projects, social tasks [and] educational projects’. A particular concern of Renovabis is to deepen the dialogue between East and West and to promote solidarity. To achieve this, the organisation carries out ‘public relations, education and information work.’ This also includes the publication of the quarterly magazine ‘Ost-West’. 
The latest country report on religious freedom in Ukraine (German) was compiled in collaboration with Prof Dr Regina Elsner and Dr Iryna Fenno (Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyjiv). 

‘Ukraine Research Network’ (UNET) at the Centre for East European and International Studies

The ‘Ukraine Research Network’ (UNET), which was established by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in 2022 in the face of the war of aggression against Ukraine, is affiliated with the Centre for East European and International Studies. It pursues three basic goals: Firstly, to offer researchers from Ukraine security by providing financial support for their research in their home country or by facilitating a research fellowship in Berlin; the aim here is to ‘to contribute to maintaining academic potential in Ukraine and provide a basis for reconstruction’. Secondly, UNET is endeavouring to bring together the various institutions conducting research on Ukraine within Germany. And thirdly, UNET is stepping up its public relations work, both for a specialised audience and for a broader public, in order to raise awareness of the situation in Ukraine and Russia. This also includes integrating lectures on Ukraine and Russia into university curricula. 
With Prof Dr Regina Elsner as an affiliated researcher and tutor, a member of USiM is represented in this network. 

Associaition "Ukrainische Sprache und Kultur in Münster e.V." 

We are glad to have a partner right on our doorstep in the form of the association ‘Ukrainische Sprache und Kultur in Münster e.V.’. Founded in 2010, the organisation strives, according to its name, to preserve Ukrainian identity and promote the Ukrainian language in Münster. The programme is not only aimed at Münster residents with Ukrainian roots, but also explicitly serves to bring other people into contact with Ukrainian culture and language. The aim is to "create a comprehensive and objective image of Ukraine as a modern European state with a unique culture." For this purpose, the association organises language courses, equips libraries with Ukrainian literature, organises readings and information events. Greek-Catholic community life is central to the organisation as well. Since 2022, the focus of the association's work has shifted towards helping refugees from Ukraine to integrate in Münster on the one hand and organising aid deliveries to Ukraine on the other.