On June 16–17, 2025, the CEE Security Forum was held in Warsaw, one of the key international platforms for strategic discussion of security challenges in Central and Eastern Europe. Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian (Carpathian) National University, represented by Acting Rector Ihor Tsependa, adequately represented Ukraine at this high international level.
Over two days, more than 600 participants from dozens of countries took part in 22 panel discussions covering the topics of geopolitics, cybersecurity, information security, energy threats, defense strategies, and the role of education in the new security landscape.
Acting Rector Igor Tsependa, spoke as a speaker at the panel “How to involve research centers in building social resilience?”, where he discussed with: Valerio Mancini (Italy), Director of the Rome Business School Research Center, Kjell Inge Bjerga (Norway), Director of the Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies, Piotr Jedynak (Poland), Rector of the Jagiellonian University, and Dariusz Wieczorek, Member of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, Minister of Higher Education and Science of the Republic of Poland (2023–2024).
The panel was dedicated to the role of universities in shaping intellectual, ethical, and social resilience.
Igor Tsependa emphasized in his speech: “For Ukraine, universities are not only educational institutions. During the war, they became centers of strategic mobilization of knowledge, humanitarian support, volunteerism, and scientific response to the challenges of war and reconstruction. For us, the issue of social sustainability is not just a vector of development. It is a question of survival.”
The CEE Security Forum was organized by the Institute of Eastern Studies (Poland) – the same team that organizes the famous Karpacz Economic Forum.
The event brought together representatives of governments, international institutions, academia and business.
The participation of Carpathian University in such an international discourse once again confirms Ukrainian science and education have not only something to protect, but also something to offer to Europe in the joint struggle for a safe, sustainable and dignified future.