Solidarity in Time of Disruption

The contemporary world is living through a prolonged period of profound disruption - shaped by war, political instability, social fragmentation, technological acceleration, and moral uncertainty. What once appeared exceptional has increasingly become structural. In such conditions, solidarity can no longer be reduced to an ethical ideal or a language of compassion alone. It emerges as an active force - essential for protecting human dignity, sustaining resilience, and shaping a shared future.

The Integral Human Development Forum 2026 (March 7–14), organized by the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Ukrainian Catholic University invites a strategic and interdisciplinary reflection on solidarity as a form of action, a mode of knowledge, and a mean of protecting and sustaining human dignity in times of radical uncertainty. Rather than treating solidarity as a reactive response to crisis, the Forum approaches it as a societal capacity - one that enables communities, institutions, and especially universities to cultivate agency, responsibility, and trust amid war, forced displacement, the fragmentation of public discourse, and the erosion of social bonds.

Bringing together scholars, students, alumni, security experts, journalists, religious thinkers, and international partners, IHD Forum 2026 creates a space where solidarity is not only examined but also practiced and transmitted - through dialogue, education, collaborative research, and public engagement. Ukraine’s lived experience of thinking, teaching, and acting under conditions of war is presented not as a peripheral case, but as a vital source of insight for a global conversation on resilience, just peace, and integral human development in an age of disruption.

Forum at a Glance

Participants

The Forum will bring together international and interdisciplinary scholars, practitioners, and students from across the social sciences, humanities, ethics, security studies, communication, journalism, NGOs, and public policy. Participants will include leading academics, practitioners from international organizations, media experts, representatives of diplomatic missions, security professionals, and voices from civil society. Through live sessions, online interviews, collaborative seminars, and student-led discussions, the Forum will foster a rich exchange of perspectives on solidarity as both a lived experience and a strategic resource in times of disruption.

IHD Forum Series

IHD Forum 2026 continues the annual international forum series on Integral Human Development, inaugurated in 2019 by the International Institute for Ethics and Contemporary Issues (IIECI) and the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Ukrainian Catholic University. Rooted in interdisciplinary inquiry and public engagement, the series explores foundational questions of human agency, dignity, resilience, and social cooperation in moments of profound change.

Organizers & Partners

The Forum is organized by the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Ukrainian Catholic University, with the active participation of its scholarly units, including the Analytical Center, the International Institute for Ethics and Contemporary Issues, the School of Journalism and Communications, the Institute of Religion and Society, the Institute of Leadership and Management, the School of Public Management, and the Departments of Political Science and Sociology, as well as partner institutions from Ukraine and abroad.

Program Formats

The Forum will feature a dynamic mix of live panel discussions, in-person and hybrid sessions in Lviv, Ukraine, online interviews with global thought leaders, interdisciplinary student research seminars, and expert roundtables. Together, these formats examine how solidarity can protect, sustain, and advance human dignity in contexts of war, displacement, and systemic uncertainty.

Schedule

Venue: online

Join the Zoom meeting

EET 17:00 - 18:30

Panel Discussion: Solidarity as a Global Challenge: Disruption, Responsibility and Resilience

Speakers:

James E. Baker, former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and former Legal Adviser to the U.S. National Security Council, specializing in national security law and civil–military relations.

José Casanova, professor of Sociology at Georgetown University, USA and Senior Fellow of Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affair.

Myroslava Shcherbatiuk, ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, with extensive experience in diplomacy and regional security.

Geoffrey Glenn, founder and director of civXHub and strategic advisor to Build Forward Ukraine, working on community resilience and civic infrastructure.

Tetiana Hogan-Klaubert, scholar focusing on humanitarian response, care for vulnerable groups, and community resilience.

Moderator: Solomia Maksymovych, director of the Institute of Leadership and Management at UCU.

Venue: Sheptytskyy Center,

Stryyska 29A, Lviv

Room 002

EET 14:00 - 15:00

Sociology Students Panel: What Do Sociologists Do — and Why Does It Matter?

EET 15:30 - 17:30

Students Research Presentations:

Students of School of Journalism and Communication

Students of Ethics, Politics, Economics Program, Faculty of Social Sciences UCU and Law Students, Faculty of Law UCU

Students of Sociology Program, Faculty of Social Sciences UCU

Students of School of Journalism and Communications, Faculty of Social Sciences UCU

EET 17:45 - 19:15

Moderated Debate: National interests and global solidarity in migration policy

Venue: Sheptytskyy Center,

Stryyska 29A, Lviv

Room 002

Join the Zoom meeting

EET 15:00 - 16:15

Graduate Student Panel: Forming values of solidarity through education, research and service

Speakers:
Olena Krechet, Master's Student in Management of Non-Profit Organizations, Faculty of Social Sciences UCU.
Daria Chernyavska, Master's Student in Public Management and Administration, Faculty of Social Sciences UCU.

Moderator: Rostyslav Klimov, Master's Student in Public Management and Administration, Faculty of Social Sciences UCU.

EET 16:15 - 16:30

EET 16:30 - 17:45

Coffee Break

Alumni Panel: Leadership as a tool for cross-sectoral cooperation for the solidarity and sustainability of Ukrainian society

Speakers:

Natalia Soroka, Institute of Leadership and Management Alumni, Faculty of Social Sciences UCU.

Volodymyr Marusiak, School of Public Management Alumni, Faculty of Social Sciences UCU.

Maryna Pinkevych, School of Journalism and Communications Alumni, Faculty of Social Sciences UCU.
Marta Kostiv, Sociology Alumni, Faculty of Social Sciences UCU.

Moderator: Oleksandr Monastyrskyi, Ethics-Politics-Economics and Institute of Leadership and Management Alumni, Faculty of Social Sciences UCU.

EET 17:45 - 18:00

Coffee break

EET 18:00 - 19:30

FSS Alumni Club: From Solidarity to Action – Alumni Projects

Speakers:

Olha Katsan, School of Journalism and Communications Alumni, Faculty of Social Sciences UCU.
Vlad Gazda, Institute of Leadership & Management Alumni, Faculty of Social Sciences UCU: Development of an educational program for community managers as an element of community development in non-profit organizations.
Timur Abdulin, School of Public Management Alumni, Faculty of Social Sciences UCU: State policy on employment of veterans.

Moderator: Myroslava Chekh, Head of the Master Program of Public Management and Administration at the School of Public Management, Faculty of Social Sciences UCU.

Venue: Sheptytskyy Center,

Stryyska 29A, Lviv

Room 002

EET 13:15 - 14:00

EET 14:00 - 15:30

EET 15:30 - 15:45

EET 15:45 - 17:15

Registration, Welcome Coffee

Panel Discussion I: Solidarity, Security and Resilience: Institutional Cooperation and International Partnerships

Speakers:

Sanshiro Hosaka, Research Fellow at the International Center for Defense and Security (ICDS), Estonia.
Gennadii Kovalenko, Director of “EDGE Autonomy Ukraine”, Director of the Department of International Defense Cooperation at the Ministry of Defence (2023–2025), Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Danylo Lubkivsky, Director of the Kyiv Security Forum, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine (2014).
Luciano Monti, Adjunct Professor of European Union Policies at LUISS Guido Carli, Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali, Italy.
Liubov Tsybulska, Founder and Director of “Join Ukraine”, Head of the Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine (2021).

Moderator: Volodymyr Turchynovsky, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences UCU.

Coffee break

Panel Discussion II: Fundamentals of Resilience: Cross-Sectoral Cooperation in Times of War

Yaryna Boychuk, CEO of UCU Business School.
Serhiy Cherevatyi, Director General of the Ukrainian national news agency Ukrinform, Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Anton Drobovych, Founder and Head of the Center for Human Rights and War Memorialization at the Kyiv School of Economics, Head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (2019 - 2024).
Mykhailo Honchar, President of the Center for Global Studies “Strategy XXI”.
Oleksandr Kubrakov, Chair of the Supervisory Board of “We Build Ukraine”, Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine (2021–2024).

Moderator: Petro Baykovskyi, Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science UCU.

Institute of Religion and Society XXV Youth Scientific Conference

"Dimensions of Solidarity: From Social Action to Spiritual Unity"

Venue: Sheptytskyy Center,

Stryyska 29A, Lviv

Room 002

EET 9:30 - 10:00

EET 10:00 - 10:10

Registration, Welcome Coffee

Opening Remarks

Volodymyr Turchynovskiy, Dean of of the Faculty of Social Sciences UCU

Roman Nazarenko, Director of the Institute of Religion and Society UCU

EET 10:10-10:30

Opening Reflection: The Ethics of Solidarity: How to Remain Human When Violence Reigns

Speaker: Myroslav Marynovych, President of the Institute of Religion and Society UCU

EET 10:30-11:30

Keynote Panel Discussion

Speakers:

Oleksandr Chornyi, Officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Anna Bondarenko, Founder and Head of the Ukrainian Volunteer Service.
Orysya Demyanyuk, Founder of the PROBIG running club, Head of the military sports department.

Moderator: Roman Nazarenko, Director of the Institute of Religion and Society UCU.

EET 11:45-13:15

Panel Discussion I: Solidarity of Action: Volunteering as an Ecosystem of National Resistance

Moderator: Anastasiia Popilevych, Head of Fundraising and Partnerships at the Kharkiv School of Architecture.

EET 13:15-14:15

EET 14:15-15:45

Lunch

Panel Discussion II: Active Memory: Solidarity in Preserving Our Identity

Moderator: Vladyslav Sasin, Institute of Religion and Society UCU.

EET 15:45-16:00

EET 16:00-17:30

Coffee Break