On 19 October 2024, the first focus group meeting within the framework of the project “Roadmap for the Career Development of Women Leaders in Higher Education in Ukraine” took place in Kyiv, at the International European University (IEU).

The project is being implemented by the University of Bedfordshire (Luton, UK), Simon Kuznets Kharkiv National University of Economics, the Ukrainian Engineering Pedagogical Academy of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University and the NGO “Innovative Generation” as part of the British Council’s Going Global Partnerships programme of gender equality projects.

The purpose of the focus group was to gather the opinions of women leaders to develop a Roadmap for the Career Development of Women in Higher Education. The focus group participants were academics from different universities, including T.H. Shevchenko National University “Chernihiv Colehium”, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv Metropolitan University, and Berdyansk State Pedagogical University. Chernihiv Polytechnic National University was represented by Olena Kozynets, Head of the Department of Law Enforcement and General Legal Disciplines, and Alla Nitchenko, Associate Professor of the Department and member of the “Gender Education Center”.

A special feature of the focus group was the use of the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY facilitation methodology to stimulate creative thinking. Based on the results of the focus groups and the preliminary research, a Roadmap will be developed and presented in December 2024.