UK-Ukraine Twinning Initiative

Byron Russell and Frances Pinter presented the activities of SUPRR at a one-day conference and reception hosted by the UK-Ukrainian Twinning Initiative at Birkbeck University in London on the 13th of November. It marked the end of Ukrainian Culture Week in the UK with an in-person speech by the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha.

The Twinning scheme is an institution-to-institution collaboration model aimed at supporting universities in Ukraine during and after the war by creating meaningful partnerships between Ukrainian and international higher education institutions.

The Initiative is coordinated by the Cormack Consultancy Group with the support of Universities UK International, the President’s Fund of Ukraine for Education, Science, and Sports, and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. To date over 100 institutions Ukrainian have been twinned with UK institutions.

The stories told demonstrated how thoughtfully matched twins produce not only excellent collaboration results but also friendships that will last when peace comes.

Frances and Byron raised the possibility of SUPRR running a programme that twinned Ukrainian university presses with presses in the UK and USA. A pilot is planned for 2026.

Photo: (From left to right) Ihor Nikitenko, Vice-Rector for Research, Dnipro University of Technology; Frances Pinter, SUPRR; Byron Russell, SUPRR, Oleksandr Berezko, Associate Professor, Lviv Polytechnic National University.