Empowering Ernst Mach Ukraine Scholars: Networking and Resilience workshops at the OeAD

The event not only offered a platform for exchange and networking, but also a possibility to attend educational workshops for mental health and dealing with stress. Unfortunately, Ukrainian students still face not only academic and financial challenges but also have ongoing concerns about the situation in Ukraine. This double burden impacts their daily life and academic success and creates the need to learn new techniques for coping with such pressure. 

On the first day, Ukrainian students who arrived from all regions of Austria had the opportunity to get to know each other, exchange their experience and build new friendships. According to the survey, Ukrainians got to know on average 7 new friends and will continue to stay in touch with them. 

The second day was all about practice-oriented workshops led by experts in the fields of mental health, stress management and creative self-knowledge. Participants received valuable tips and techniques to deal with daily pressure, motivate themselves positively and develop long-term resilience. Moreover, students learned to strengthen positive attitudes and self-confidence through artistic and theatre practices. 

The meeting was a great success and offered Ukrainian students a much-needed break from their stressful everyday lives as well as valuable inspiration to tackle the challenges of the upcoming semester with renewed strength. According to the feedback survey, Ukrainian students rated the topic of mental health as very relevant, and many participants enjoyed the workshops and would be willing to attend more of them in future.