In the winter semester 2025/26, at the Jesuit Center for Spiritual and Mental Health, Dialogue and Communication “Space of Hope” in , we began a lecture series organized in cooperation between University Ignatianum in Kraków (poland) and Chernivtsi National University named after Yurii Fedkovich (Ukraine). The cooperation agreement between these two institutions was signed last year during the visit of the Rector of Ignatianum, Fr. Prof. Tomasz Homa SJ, to Chernivtsi.

The lecture series is held in close collaboration with the Faculty of History, Political Science, and International Relations at the Chernivtsi University, which defines both the thematic scope and the target audience. This semester, the lectures will continue until the end of May and take place twice a month in so-called “pairs”: two lectures, each approximately 45 minutes long. In April, due to the “Spring School” program in Krakow, only one lecture cycle will take place.

The “Spring School” in Krakow is a continuation of the “Summer School” in Chernivtsi after the end of the summer examination session and is also aimed at students of international relations. The Spring School includes lectures, seminars, discussions, and visits to various places connected with history and culture — this time in Krakow and its surroundings. The target audience remains similar: students from the Faculty of History, Political Science, and International Relations from Chernivtsi.

The lecture series at “Space of Hope” is an event “in-between.” The lectures, inaugurated on March 26, 2026, were led by: the Dean of the Faculty of History, Political Science, and International Relations, Prof. Vasyl Karpo, and the director of the Jesuit center, Fr. Norbert Frejek SJ.

Prof. Karpo dedicated his lecture to the history and present of the university as an institution that not only imparts knowledge but, above all, builds human community, especially in the context of the contemporary history of this region.

Fr. Norbert Frejek, during his lecture, spoke about the distant and immediate causes of the current Ukrainian-Russian war, delving into the recent history of Eastern Europe and highlighting several important factors that continue to play a role in this conflict.

The project supervisor from Chernivtsi University is Prof. Władysław Strutyński, Associate Professor at the Faculty of History, Political Science, and International Relations.

The next lecture cycle is scheduled for April 9, 2026.

Norbert Frejek SJ