The EastWest Chemistry Conference 2021 was held in Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute from October 7 to 9. It was organized by Kyiv Polytechnic together with the Turkish Chemical Society.
The Turkish side was chaired by the Secretary General of the Chemical Society of Turkey – Prof. Mustafa Kulha. Serhii Sydorenko, Vice-Rector for International Relations of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, greeted the audience at the grand opening of the event. Co-chairs of the conference Mustafa Kulkha and Deputy Head of the Department of Physical Chemistry Georgii Sokolskyi, Head of the Department of Physical Chemistry Olena Chyhyrynets also made a speech.
Today, Ukrainian science is actively cooperating with Turkish: We have quite a few Ukrainian-Turkish centers, and the President of Turkey himself is an honorary doctor of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.
Every year conferences of the Turkish Chemical Society are held in different countries. Ukraine hosted the event in Lviv three years ago, at the same time they decided to meet in Kyiv in two years. In 2019, Georgii Sokolskyi took the baton in Italy. However, a pandemic occurred within a year – and in 2020 the conference was canceled. And this year the conference was held, however, on-line. To interest Ukrainian scientists, one of the scientific publications in which the materials of the reports will be published was invited to participate in the forum.
“Such cooperation and events are an interesting experience for us, because everything happens a little differently in our country. The Chemical Society of Turkey is active in various areas: in educational matters, industrial, in public life. And they’re really interested in new relationships. The conference is a huge school of exchange of experience between specialists, especially when world-class specialists are present. We have tried to attract those who, in our opinion, represent the best forces of chemical science. It was not just a conference in zoom, but an interactive platform with different sections, which helped to compensate for the lack of live communication. And this is also a new and important experience for us, ” – says Georgii Sokolskyi.
However, he adds that scientific conferences are most effective when they contain a component of live communication.
“It’s not just important for Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute – it’s important for chemical science”. This is the need to share knowledge, to find partners, to conduct research. One or two people cannot conduct qualitatively complex and multifaceted research. Bringing teams together to solve problems is always more productive, and achieving goals is more efficient. The following forums are intended for this purpose. In addition, young people need to gain experience, to communicate with those who already have extensive experience – this is a real school. In the offline format, of course, it’s easier – you can just approach the person, meet, agree on joint research. However, such conferences are needed regardless of the conditions. We hope that next year we will be able to hold a conference at our university, “said the scientist.