PhD Program News: “Belarusians Visited the Valdas Adamkus Library-Museum”

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From 4 to 10 February, the Valdas Adamkus Library-Museum was visited by doctoral students from Belarus.

They arrived as part of the International PhD Program for young researchers who, for one reason or another, find it difficult to complete their research in Belarus.

Andrei Kazakevich, representative of the International PhD Program for Belarus and its chief coordinator, said that this program is very important and necessary for the Belarusian academic community, since it gives doctoral students an opportunity to defend their dissertations without having to leave Belarus for three or four years.

The doctoral program was launched by a Consortium of Non-Governmental Organizations in Belarus, established in 2011.

Doctoral students participate in week-long off-site sessions, which are planned to be held in Lithuania, Poland, and other European countries.

The dissertation defense takes place at one of the European universities that are partners of the program.

The first session was held in Kaunas at Vytautas Magnus University.

On the Lithuanian side, the organizers and implementers were the Institute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Czesław Miłosz Center.

One of the main organizers and coordinators from Lithuania, Rūstis Kamuntavičius, explained that the doctoral program gives young Belarusian scholars a unique opportunity to work on research topics that are difficult to pursue at home for ideological or simply bureaucratic reasons.

This session was designed to help Belarusian doctoral students critically assess their research, to specify its concept, goals, strategy, and so on.

During the session, the doctoral students attended lectures by VMU faculty members and also presented their research for consultations and discussions, in which university faculty also took part. “These lectures are very interesting and very useful for our doctoral students, because they have the opportunity not only to acquire new knowledge, but also to discuss their research topics with the lecturers,” A.

Kazakevich said.
… In total, together with the doctoral students, 11 representatives of the Belarusian academic community took part in the session.

Most program participants are working on topics related to historical or political science issues.

Original: http://adamkuslibrary.lt/v-adamkaus-bibliotekoje-muziejuje-sveciai-is-baltarusijos (http://adamkuslibrary.lt/v-adamkaus-bibliotekoje-muziejuje-sveciai-is-baltarusijos)