Maintaining educational and research activities in Higher Education have become increasingly difficult as a result of the realities of the war in Ukraine. Consequently, Ukrainian universities have turned to their numerous partners across the world for help and have received significant international support.

A key element of the curriculum in Geography and Environmental Science is field work and active learning through field-based training. With a dispersed staff and students learning online in many cases this is currently (and for the foreseeable future) impossible. Teachers in the Geography Departments of several Ukrainian universities have therefore reached out to their European partner universities to share their experience in creating virtual field trips (VFTs). This innovative approach will enhance the learning experience of students in both the short and longer term providing virtual access to a wide range of experiences and locations.

Our Workshop (Summer School) will contribute to the Furthering Science Diplomacy objective of the Central European Initiative Plan of Action in bringing together educators and researchers from a range of universities and institutions: “Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava and Geoconcept Association of Applied Geography (Romania) as host, V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Ukraine), Jagiellonian University, Pedagogical University of Cracow, University of Agriculture in Krakow (Poland), University of West Bohemia, University of Ostrava (Czech Republic), Ion Creanga State Pedagogical University of Chisinau (Rep. of Moldova), Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (Slovakia), University of Salford, University of Worchester, Bangor University (UK) across seven European states to engage in knowledge transfer and sharing.

The Workshop (Summer School) will take place in a hybrid format allowing online participants unable to leave Ukraine and from other Central and Eastern Europe institutes to also engage. Though the main objective of the activity is to support Ukrainian geography teachers in Higher Education in order to mitigate the consequences of wartime disruption and maintain the educational activities of their students, other institutions involved will also benefit from this skill development with option to engage online, asynchronously and through the Workshop’s learning materials.