Academic Engagement
Academic engagement is one of importants aspects of the project’s dissemination strategy. Through active participation in academic conferences, workshops, seminars, and scholarly events, the project contributes to international dialogue on higher education resilience, crisis response, and Ukraine’s recovery.
Here, we share news and updates about the project’s academic activities, including conference presentations, panel discussions, invited talks, and other forms of scholarly engagement. These activities support knowledge exchange, strengthen research collaboration, and ensure that project results reach relevant academic and policy-oriented audiences.
Research on Resilience During Wartime Presented within Project TURBO
In September 2025, at the 13th Conference on Performance Measurement in Management Accounting at EADA Business School (Barcelona, Spain), Olga Iermolenko presented a paper titled: “No way to bounce back: How did SMEs in Ukraine stay resilient during the war?”, written together with Valeriia Melnyk and Carolyn Cordery.
This paper examines how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ukraine have built resilience during the ongoing war, focusing on the role of management control systems (MCS)—both formal (e.g., planning, budgeting) and informal (e.g., cultural values, HR practices)—in enabling survival and adaptation. It explores whether SMEs “bounce back” to pre-crisis operations or “bounce forward” by transforming and developing new capabilities under extreme uncertainty.
This study complements Project TURBO at Nord University by addressing resilience under wartime conditions from a business perspective. While TURBO focuses on sustaining higher education through innovative teaching and institutional adaptability, this research examines how Ukrainian SMEs employ MCS to maintain operations and adapt strategically. Both initiatives share a core objective: understanding resilience as a dynamic process of transformation rather than mere recovery, offering insights into organizational responses to extreme uncertainty.
CIGAR Conference 2025
On June 26, 2025, Anatoli Bourmistrov and Veronika Vakulenko presented their paper “Education Against a Black/Shadow Economy: Comparative Analysis of Norway and Ukraine” at the CIGAR Conference in Athens.
The paper, developed within the framework of the TURBO project, explores the role of higher education in addressing the challenges of the shadow economy – particularly during times of societal crisis. Drawing on examples from Norway and Ukraine, the authors argue for a more comprehensive educational approach that not only promotes legal and ethical practices but also raises awareness of the risks and realities of economic crime, including white-collar offenses.
Their research highlights the need for educational systems to prepare future managers and professionals to navigate both the visible and hidden aspects of economic life, contributing to more transparent and resilient societies.