More details about the organized scientific events here.
“Diplomat” Student International Relations Society: History and the Present
Starting in 2009, within the specialty “International Relations, Public Communications and Regional Studies,” a practice was introduced in which the most active students held thematic meetings several times a year, discussing problems of international relations and Ukraine’s foreign policy that were topical at the time.
Since 2012, international relations students have been involved in organizing the reception of colleagues from Polish universities, during which round tables were held on topics of shared scientific interest. In particular, one such event took place on October 1, 2012, during a visit to Ivano-Frankivsk by a large group of students from the Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce (branch in Piotrków Trybunalski), led by lecturers Marta Walczak and Agata Włodarska-Bagan. A similar scenario unfolded in April 2013, when, as part of the project “Eastern Partnership – Challenges for Contemporary Polish-Ukrainian Relations,” Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University was visited by a group of students from Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, led by lecturers Bartosz Bojarczyk and Jakub Olchowski. That same year, students of the specialty “International Relations, Public Communications and Regional Studies” Oleksandr Blyzniukov, Diana Velykochyi, Ilona Zhernoklieieva, and Yaroslava Kostiv took part in the International Scientific and Practical Conference “National Consolidation in the Context of European Integration,” held on October 31 – November 1, 2013, at the Department of Political Science of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University.
In 2012, the scientific life of students of the specialty “International Relations, Public Communications and Regional Studies” was also marked by participation in the first international conferences abroad. In particular, on April 25–26, Diana Velykochyi, Khrystyna Diakiv, Anna Zhekalo, Oksana Ivankiv, Svitlana Kurchuk, Khrystyna Melnychuk, Ivan Nahorniak, and Nataliia Nikulina took part in the international conference “Polska–Ukraina – 20 lat współpracy,” held in Piotrków Trybunalski at the branch of the Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce. That same year, from September 30 to October 1, students Nataliia Mysyk and Ivanna Kavatsiuk represented Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University at the Ukrainian-Polish Eastern Student Conference, held at the University of Warsaw. In the following years, participation in international conferences abroad became a regular practice for international relations students of the Faculty of History, Political Science and International Relations.
Since 2017, the geography of scientific activity of students of the specialty “International Relations, Public Communications and Regional Studies” at Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University has expanded. In particular, during July, two groups of students took part in educational familiarization visits to the European Parliament, during which two round tables on European integration issues were held in Brussels. Participants in these events included Oleh Kotliar, Viktor Lesyk, Khrystyna Mahas, Sviatoslav Mendiuk, Roksolana Mykytyn, Mariana Pastryhan, Nataliia Pitei, Petro Podobinskyi, Denys Serhiichuk, Sofiia Tsikhovska, Oleksii Chernetskyi, Vira Shaturma, and Oleksandr Shymanko. In November 2017, Precarpathian international relations students visited Karabük University in Turkey and took part in the conference “25 Years of Turkish-Ukrainian Diplomatic Relations.”
The intensification of the scientific life of higher education students in the specialty “International Relations, Public Communications and Regional Studies” in 2012 led to the establishment of the “Diplomat” student scientific society. In subsequent years, its members, together with staff of the Department of International Relations, regularly organized several round tables per year. Since 2017, the format of the meetings has changed. Meetings of young researchers from Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University with their colleagues from Poland, Slovakia, and Turkey have transformed into scientific conferences conducted in English. Since the autumn of 2017, the presence at the Faculty of History, Political Science and International Relations, within the framework of the US Fulbright Scholar of American Studies program, of Professor David Hrekon of Eastern Illinois University gave impetus to involving participants from the USA in these scientific events. Since 2018, alongside young researchers, more experienced American scholars have traditionally delivered keynote presentations at the conference.
The most recent large-scale event involving members of the “Diplomat” student scientific society was the international conference for young researchers “Crisis of the institutional and legal foundations of the existing world order in the context of Russian aggression against Ukraine,” held online on December 10, 2022.
As of the beginning of 2023, the society has 56 members. The initiator and permanent mentor of the “Diplomat” student scientific society is Ihor Hurak, Associate Professor of the Department of International Relations.