This text has been translated from Norwegian with the assistance of GPT UiO.
In a recent press release, the Norwegian government announced that it is allocating around NOK 80 million through the Nansen Programme, Nansen EDU, to various projects that can help support Ukrainian higher education, the Ukrainian resistance, and the country’s future reconstruction.
The Department of Psychology (PSI) at the University of Oslo will receive NOK 10 million of this sum for two different projects within mental health.
Building up local communities
CareBridge is one of the two projects. According to project leader Beate Seibt, the aim is to establish a network of mental health hubs at five Ukrainian universities, in collaboration with the University of Oslo.
She explains that the goal is to educate psychologists who can strengthen their local communities – professionals who can build social cohesion, help people understand and cope with psychological reactions to war and loss, and provide a sense of safety and concrete tools when dealing with trauma, suicide risk and fear.
– The war has created enormous strain for the civilian population, for veterans and for displaced families, but Ukrainian psychology education is largely focused on the individual and lacks an emphasis on scalable solutions that can meet the enormous burden the war has placed on society.
– We want to close that gap, Seibt emphasises.
Student collaboration
She points out that this is a two-way collaboration. The Ukrainian universities gain access to international expertise, joint course development and a formal certification that strengthens their study programmes. Crucially, the project also gives Ukrainian professionals the capacity and travel opportunities they need to further develop their programmes under extremely demanding conditions, so that education better reflects the actual needs of society.
For PSI and UiO, the benefits are just as great, according to Seibt.
– We are further developing our pedagogical expertise in hybrid and online teaching, and we are building something that cannot simply be bought: direct collaboration between Norwegian and Ukrainian master’s and PhD students.
– Our students gain insight into Ukrainian issues – not only through the media, but through professional contact with people who are living in the middle of it.
Looking forward to getting started
Seibt has been engaged with the war in Ukraine and has been working with professionals there since Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in early 2022. She was therefore very pleased about the allocation.
– I felt a huge sense of relief. We have spent a long time building relationships with Ukrainian colleagues, and it has been important to me that this effort should result in something concrete and lasting. This funding makes that possible.
– I am really looking forward to soon sitting down with colleagues from five Ukrainian universities, learning from them about what is actually needed here and now, and being able to do something concrete together. It is a privilege, but it also comes with a responsibility, she admits.
Practical knowledge
The other project that has received funding for collaboration with Ukraine is “Restoring Focus”, led by Rene Jürgen Huster.
– I was of course pleased when I received the news. For me, the project represents a concrete way of using my expertise to support a country in an extreme crisis.
– It also means that we can contribute not only symbolic support, but something practical: building knowledge, competence and interventions that can help universities – both students and staff – under very difficult conditions, he continues.
Getting back on track
The project description states that the war in Ukraine has led to a cognitive crisis among students and staff, with chronic stress impairing memory, concentration and learning.
To help restore brain function, the project will first pilot a so‑called neurofeedback service at a university in Kyiv. The service consists of three main elements:
- Mapping brain and stress responses
- Neurofeedback training, i.e. measuring brain activity with, for example, EEG and providing real-time feedback
- Workshops on mental health and neurohygiene, offering advice on how to keep the brain healthy and functioning
To ensure continuity, they have also developed a scheme for training the teachers – a “train the trainer” model.
– More generally, I think we have to acknowledge that we are living in more turbulent times than 20 years ago. It may be that we will increasingly need knowledge about how to develop effective psychological and neurocognitive interventions that work in crises.
– In that sense, this project is not only relevant to Ukraine, but also builds knowledge and preparedness more broadly, Huster concludes.
New opportunities
The Head of Education at PSI is delighted about the funding and the opportunities for collaboration it offers the department.
– We are extremely proud that two of our highly skilled staff members have received funding for these important and ambitious projects, says Vibeke Moe.
Moe points out that both projects will strengthen higher education and mental health in Ukraine.
– At the same time, there is considerable potential for building expertise here at home, as well as excellent opportunities for collaboration between our PhD candidates and master’s students and Ukrainian research fellows and students.