So dear guests, I suppose that we can start. In any case, this video will be recorded and

then published on FAO TV and will be publicly available for other speakers and those who

would like to listen to this discussion maybe a little bit later. First of all, thank you for

joining us today. I suppose that we should start with a short introduction. I'm Katerina Futurianska

and I represent here the project Science Diplomacy in Active Conflicts. As well as I would like to

introduce my colleague Alexander Stiller and Anastasia Pantuk who are also here with us today

and who represent and coordinate different activities which aim at collaboration with

Ukrainian universities, Ukrainian students, researchers, and which aim at strengthening

Ukrainian higher education system. This open discussion is a part of D&D project Science

Diplomacy in Active Conflicts which realized at Friedrich Alexander University in Langen-Nürburg

since March 2023 in close cooperation with Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

Here we have now today an open discussion on science diplomacy and this part of our project

is possible only with cooperation with FAO Chair on Science, Technology and Gender Studies

which headed by Professor Dr. Maria Rentezi and during this activity three PhD students from

Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University have an opportunity to attend a course on introduction

to science and technology diplomacy and make their research during three months in Germany and

receive necessary information in line of science diplomacy which can be implemented later in their

open research. Today we will hear three presentations from three Ukrainian PhD students

who already have experience of implementation science diplomacy in their open research and

we will see how they will do it and first of all before our three presentation I suppose that

it is very important to say many thanks to Professor Maria Rentezi for providing us this

opportunity and also here with us Ralef Michke who is research assistant to Professor

Dr. Maria Rentezi and at the same time Ralef is a coordinator of the course

on introduction to science and tech diplomacy and it is our honor that today Ralef joins us and

I would like to hand the floor to him just to give a few words about the course and

like a few words about science and technology diplomacy. Ralef the floor is yours.

Thanks a lot and thanks a lot for the introduction. Do you hear me now?

Is it? Yeah. Is the sound okay? Okay perfect perfect. Thanks a lot. Thanks a lot for the

introduction. Thanks a lot for having me and also thanks a lot for organizing this online

discussion. In our opinion a discussion like this is the perfect outcome of our introductory course

we currently run at our chair on science technology and gender studies.

Science diplomacy, tech diplomacy, also innovation diplomacy in our point of view is something that

has to be actively be done. It's not something like a kind of umbrella or way of thinking.

It's something that has to be put in practice and it not only have to be put in practice by

let's say the professionals in the embassies or in the departments and so on but also on a let's

say grassroots level where people try and as I see in the introduction successfully try to implement

ideas of science diplomacy in their research, in their work and also in their

supposed actions they want to do. This is the basic idea of science diplomacy. Science diplomacy

as I mentioned is not something and tech diplomacy is not something like a nice umbrella. Something

you write over a kind of discussion or something. It is something that has to be actively done and

what we must think of is the science diplomacy, tech diplomacy especially in the age of conflict

we currently endure is most of the time a kind of last resort to find any common ground, to find

any connection, to find any let's say base or foundation for conversation in a heavily contested

space in science, in economy, in technology, in innovation and to put this in practice to

and this is why I'm looking very forward to your presentations. To put this in practice is the first

wing we have to do. Science and tech diplomacy is often treated like something nice to have

or a best practice, things that have been done and so on and so on and we've got these great examples

from history like Apollo Solio's mission or whatever but science diplomacy is something that

has to be done in the universities, on the ground level, in every department, in every chair. It's

not something that's just happening on international levels from diplomats, politicians and so on and