3rd International Symposium “Awareness Raising and Education on Biosafety and Biosecurity in Ukraine”

05 Apr 2017 - 07 Apr 2017

The 3rd International Symposium “Awareness Raising and Education on Biosafety and Biosecurity in Ukraine” organized in the framework of the STCU project P633 funded by the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom was successfully held on 5-7 April, 2017 at House of Scientists of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine.
The Head of the Symposium Organizing Committee - Academician Serhiy Komisarenko, the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Dr. Liliia Hrynevych, the Project Partner - Mr. James Harrison from the UK Ministry of Defense and the STCU Executive Director Mr. Curtis Bjelajac welcomed the attendees of the final international meeting in the framework of the P633 STCU project. The symposium was aimed to demonstrate the main project achievements and results in the field of Biosafty & Biosecurity education in Ukraine. In the framework of the STCU project implementation, a network of national life science experts was created and supported (including a web-based platform to facilitate the communication between specialists). Furthermore, as part of the project, the advanced educational materials on Biosafety and Biosecurity developed at Bradford University (UK) were translated and distributed among Ukrainian University lecturers and teachers to be used in the newly developed curriculum for life science students covering the subjects of Biosafety, Biosecurity, and Bioethics. In order to facilitate the rollout of the new curriculum, nine (9) seminars were successfully held in different regions of Ukraine to present the newly developed education modules and to share international best teaching practices on the topic.

The current meeting brought together more than 50 participants including delegates from Ukrainian Universities and Life Sciences Research Institutions. The University representatives reported about the status of the Biosafety & Biosecurity curriculum in their Universities and about the uptake of the project materials in their educational practice. A number of noted foreign experts took part at the meeting and presented their lectures, including Prof. Malcolm Dando (Bradford University, UK), Dr. Caitriona McLeish (University of Sussex, UK), and Prof. Vladimir Zaviyalov (University of Turku, Finland).