On December 16, at a meeting of the Presidium of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, the outcomes of the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences (NAPS) of Ukraine for years 2017-2021 were analyzed and approved.
8 laboratories with 73 researchers carry out research at the Institute. One full member of the NAPS of Ukraine, 4 corresponding members of the NAPS of Ukraine, 15 doctors of science and 39 PhD are among them. There is also one doctoral student and 24 graduate students.
Our interview with the Director of the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of the NAPS of Ukraine Mykola SLYUSAREVSKY on the socio-psychological support of reforms, psychological security of the individual and the support of public, and, certainly, on scientists, that one can’t imagine the modern intellectual space of Ukraine without.
– Mr. Slyusarevsky, there are a lot of discussions in the scientific community about the proportion of fundamental and applied research. How is the focus on updating research topics adjusted?
– In the last five years, from 2017 to 2021, 16 topics (11 fundamental, 5 applied) have been completed. At the same time, the number of applied projects aimed at studying the most acute problems of education and society, which required finding ways and developing means to solve them urgently, increased. In particular, responding to the challenges of the hybrid war and the pandemic threat, we began research on “Media psychological means of prevention and overcoming the destructive information impacts on children and youth” (research advisor – Lyubov Naydionova), “Psychological factors of individuals and corporations’ readiness for constructive behavior in emergencies” (research advisor – Vitaliy Dukhnevych), “Psychological phenomena of group interaction in stressful social situations” (research advisor – Lidiia Chorna), “Socio-psychological support of victims of hostilities during the transition to a peaceful life” (research advisor – Tetiana Tytarenko), “Psychological approaches to forecasting social processes” (research advisor – Olena Sushyi).
According to the Institute’s Development Strategy for 2020–2025, we focus on performing the leading role in the system of the NAPS of Ukraine in order to form a leadership vision of the purpose and ways of socio-psychological support of transformational processes in society and education. First of all, it is a question of satisfying public demands, counteracting negative mental phenomena caused by both external military aggression against Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic.
– And what achievements do the scientists of the Institute have in the furtherance of the goals?
– Our scientific achievements are theories, concepts, models, i.e., anything and everything that will later form the basis for textbooks, manuals, methodologies, and will help psychologists and practicing educators in solving real problems of specific individuals. Among such scientific developments I can mention socio-psychological theories of cybersocialization (Lyubov Naydionova) and restoration of psychological health of an individual (Tetiana Tytarenko), the concept of parallelism of conscious and unconscious processes in small groups (Pavlo Gornostay), socio-psychological recovery of trouble youth from among combatants (Borys Lazorenko), realization of feeling of ownership in social practices (Iryna Gubeladze), discursive production of anomie (Olena Kochubeinyk), formation and functioning of social norms as forms of socio-psychological thinking (Valeriia Zhovtyanska), constructive-discursive approach to the transformation of communicative practices as a mechanism of national and civic self-identification of youth (Iryna Zhadan), psychologically sound models of consolidation and confrontational aspects of Ukrainian nation-building (Olena Sushyi)… Believe me, this is only a small part of the real scientific achievements of the Institute.
In the last five years, our scientists have published 1,865 works of 1,797 author’s sheets. Another example: in 2020, there were 14,194 citations of 10 most cited authors. Academician of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, Doctor of Psychology Tetiana Tytarenko has the highest H-number (32) among all social psychologists in the country (in the field of social sciences, Google Scholar – Social Psychology).
The developed educational innovations are tested in the process of experimental work, which involves 322 educational institutions of various levels and other institutions and organizations, of which 210 are approved by the Orders of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
– Well, the list is really very large. And can you tell us about the studies that not only conform with the world standards, but, probably, exceed them?
– Yes, first of all, it is a series of works under the title “The world of life and psychological security in the face of social changes”, for which seven scientists of the Institute were awarded the State Prize of Ukraine in Science and Technology in 2019. It proposes a number of theories, conceptual models, typologies, periodizations and other forms of presentation of new socio-psychological knowledge aimed at identifying the potential of personal development and ways to increase its psychological security given social changes of various scale – from global civilizational shifts to processes in the field of intergroup and interpersonal relations caused by the reforms carried out in society and the challenges of the hybrid war against Ukraine.
– The Institute also conducts all-Ukrainian representative polls. What is their purpose?
– The unique monitoring of public opinion on education issues and measures to reform it are in the focus. We monitor the public opinion annually for more than 20 years, in accordance with the program of joint activities of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
We also monitor the public’s trust in public institutions, mass political sentiment and the level of social strain in society. In the last five years, 14 polls have been conducted, covering a total of more than 23,000 people. The Institute systematically informed the Administration (Office) of the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and other public authorities about the results of these polls. The obtained data were also used in the preparation of the National Report on the state and prospects of education in Ukraine, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence, state reports “On the situation of youth in 2020” and “Value orientations of modern Ukrainian youth.”
– How does such a small team manage to do so much?
– I would say that we can do it thanks to well-established scientific and organizational activities. The Academic Council plays the leading role; over the past five years it has considered more than 400 topical issues of the staff members activity and their development.
The scholars of the Institute effectively combine scientific research with scientific and practical activities, which are carried out mainly on the basis of the Educational and Practical Center for Psychological Innovation.The Center became the successor of the Methodical Rehabilitation Center, established in 2014 in order to provide operational professional support to practical psychologists and other specialists who work with victims in the ATO/JFO zone.
Since 2020, from the first days of quarantine and lockdown, the Center has involved the Institute’s scientists in an open volunteer project to provide psychological assistance to the population during the COVID-19 pandemic, this project is called the Online Circle. More than 335,000 people were involved in the project. There were 29 practical and methodological webinars, 10 support groups for the population and specialists of auxiliary professions, weekly intervision groups for educators, and more than 60 individual crisis consultations were held. All audiovisual materials are publicly available and used; links to these resources are available on the websites of the Institute and its research departments.
Over these five years, 457 facilities have become permanent sites for the implementation and practical use of scientific developments, as well as 11 public authorities and local governments, 334 educational institutions, 21 regional universal libraries, 11 subordinate institutions of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, and more than 100 other institutions, enterprises, organizations, individual consumer groups.
We actively cooperate with the I.F. Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnonational Studies of the NAS of Ukraine, G.S. Kostyuk Institute of Psychology of the NAPS of Ukraine, Faculty of Psychology at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Faculty of Psychology, History and Sociology at the Kherson State University, Faculty of Psychology and Pedagogy at the T.G. Shevchenko National University “Chernihiv Collegium”. Close cooperation is established with the Education Ombudsman of Ukraine, regional departments of the State Service for Quality of Education on social and psychological support of New Ukrainian School reform.
– An important component, obviously, is the expert activity of the Institute. What kind of documents do you receive and examine?
– The National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting, the Department for the Protection of National Statehood of the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine address the Institute as the national leading socio-psychological center. We have prepared a number of expert opinions on the presence in the information materials provided for examination, of the facts of encroachment on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the damage to national security, physical, intellectual and intellectual development of minors.
– Currently, international cooperation is considered to be a benchmark for each scientific institution…
– Over the past five years, our scientists have participated in four international projects implemented by international consortia, with partners from the EU, Canada and the United Kingdom. The Institute also joined the international consortium of 19 countries (25 institutions) in order to submit a grant application “Citizenship Education for European Values” of the Erasmus + Jean Monnet Network. In total, cooperation is carried out with scientific institutions and non-governmental organizations from more than twenty countries.
Since 2017, the Institute has been holding international conferences “Mental Health: global challenges of the XXI century”. Five of them have already taken place (Kyiv, Ukraine, 2017, 2018, 2020; Bucharest, Romania, 2019; Agrigento, Italy, 2021). Representatives of the World Health Organization, World Mental Health Federation, International Medical Corps, NATO Office, USA Embassy, National Institute of Health (Italy, Istituto Superiore di Sanità ISS), EMDR Europe Association, Balkan Universities Association were among the guests and speakers. In 2021, a senior researcher at the Institute, V.I. Vus, was elected a member of the Board of the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH), it happened for the first time in the history of Ukraine.
– We are talking about famous scientists. Do their successors grow? What can you say about the scientific youth?
– We strive to provide all possible support to talented young people, this support contributes to their progress and success, which is recognized at the state level. In recent years, the Institute’s staff has twice been awarded the President’s Prize for Young Scientists (Iryna Gubeladze in 2018, Maryna Dvornyk and Kateryna Myronchak this year), the Cabinet of Ministers Scholarship for Young Scientists (Iryna Gubeladze in 2020), the state scholarship for the best young scientists to commemorate the events of the Revolution of Dignity and honor the feat of the Heroes of Ukraine – Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred, for 2022 (Kateryna Myronchak). The Council of Young Scientists of the Institute is actively working.
Therefore, we are convinced that the prospects for our team are good. We are ready for challenges and responses at the appropriate scientific level.
Lidiia Tkachenko, journalist
Svit newspaper, № 47 – 48, December 2021