WP4 creates practical cooperation mechanisms through which Ukrainian, EU and international partners jointly develop resilience solutions, policy tools and cooperation formats, applying the knowledge from WP2 and WP3.
Living Labs
Six Living Labs, one led by each partner and one by the associated partner, act as collaborative spaces where partners and external stakeholders co-create solutions to shared challenges. They combine online collaboration between sessions with live meetings, and focus on three areas:
- immediate and long-term challenges to Ukrainian higher education resulting from Russia's war of aggression;
- opportunities for multi-level EU support to strengthen resilience in Ukrainian higher education;
- concrete cooperation mechanisms for academic resilience between EU and Ukrainian universities.
Each Lab produces a short policy memo, tool prototype or cooperation guideline.
Design Workshops
Three hybrid Design Workshops bring together students, faculty, university leaders, civil society and policymakers. Building on the Living Labs, they turn identified challenges into practical cooperation tools and policy initiatives, such as a crisis-ready academic cooperation charter or a joint resilience policy package.
Peer-Mentoring Scheme
From the project's second year, academic leaders from EU and Ukrainian universities are paired for structured mentoring sessions every three months, focused on resilient governance, crisis leadership, partnership-building and stress management. At least 25 mentees take part, and each mentoring cycle produces an action plan. The scheme will continue after the project as part of NEIRU.