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Ukrainian Scholars’ Seminar for the NaUKMA Researchers at Georgetown University

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Published on Thursday, 29 May 2025 08:08

Kyiv-Mohyla Academy co-organized Seminar on the Development of Scholarly Publishing Activity, which took place on April 28 - May 2 at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.

The event was aimed at strengthening the international influence of Ukrainian scholars, increasing the number of publications by Kyiv-Mohyla Academy researchers in English-language scholarly journals, as well as building strong academic diplomacy and strengthening the voice of the Ukrainian academic community.

The following topics were covered during the intensive one-week training:

• key stages of creating an international scholarly publication, including choosing the relevant journal and target audience; 
• effective planning of the article writing process, the way of presenting the topic and the optimal use of scientific sources to strengthen the argument;  
• development of an individual academic style, taking into account professional experience and new trends in academic writing;  
• systematic text editing at the final stage of preparation of the article.

According to the Professors Heather Weger and Julie Lake, who created the program and held the seminar, this seminar was an important part of the broader support for Ukraine:

“As a global community, we engaged in activities to develop the Ukrainian scholarly voice in English, leveraging the strengths of each scholar and exploring what it means to navigate the publishing system in English. Each scholar worked with a manuscript of her/his choice to explore discourse and rhetorical strategies expected for publishing in English”.

Participants also shared their impressions of the seminar:

The Dean of the Faculty of Humanities Dmytro Mazin emphasized: “Very valuable during the seminar was the internal interaction and communication among the participants from NaUKMA, who represented various research areas for a better understanding of the academic needs of Ukrainian scholars”.

“This seminar deepened our understanding of the English-language research and publishing industry and the factors that influence the success of a Ukrainian researcher in the international academic community”, added the Head of the English Language Department Nataliia Rudnytska.

“The participation in the seminar is an amazing opportunity to gain valuable experience and share your ideas and best practices in academic writing in English”, said the Head of the Department of Private Law Ivan Yatskevych.

This seminar was organized as a joint project of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and Georgetown University. From the NaUKMA side, it was initiated by Olha Polyukhovych, Vice President for Research and Education in cooperation with Volodymyr Venher, Dean of the Law School. From Georgetown University, the initiators and creators included Professor Mitt Regan, the Head of the Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession, Professor Heather Weger and Professor Julie Lake from the Legal English Department.

The Kyiv-Mohyla Academy participants of the seminar were Dmytro Mazin, Olha Poliukhovych, Nataliia Rudnytska, Volodymyr Venher, and Ivan Yatskevych.

The interdisciplinary team of participants from the NaUKMA is sincerely grateful to Georgetown University Professors Heather Weger and Julie Lake, guest trainer from American University Dr Nancy Sachs, and other invited experts from Georgetown University and George Washington University for sharing their valuable experience and useful practical activities during the seminar.

The knowledge and experience gained by the participants of the training will be the basis for further planning of institutional efforts and training activities aimed at developing competencies in scholarly English writing among members of the academic community of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, with the possibility of involving representatives of other Ukrainian universities.

“Today, it is more important than ever that the voices of Ukrainian scholars are massively present and heard in the international academic community, because a serious conversation about Ukraine and its future cannot take place without the participation of the Ukrainian academic community”, concluded Olha Poliukhovych.

“Ukrainian Scholars’ Seminar for NaUKMA” at Georgetown University, implemented by the Kyiv-Mohyla Foundation in Ukraine with the support of the Ukraine-Moldova American Enterprise Fund.