A regular meeting NUBiP’s team of the EU Horizon Path4Med project: results & progress, challenges & tasks

NUBiP of Ukraine is one of the project's partners and contributes to Working Packages through the concept-based Ukrainian Demonstration Site – D.G.3 «Future pathways for zero pollution in the Dnipro Basin under emerging challenges and threats.» D.G.3: test and generate novel insights for zero pollution in Ukraine under climate change in the post-war recovery (https://nubip.edu.ua/node/157817).

 

The NUBiP’s team has regular monthly meetings. The main ideas of these regular meetings are to discuss the tasks' results in accordance with the scheduled program of case studies of the Ukrainian demonstration site (D.G.3) and the project work packages; analyze and update progress and ensure its results; and tackle challenges and difficulties that the NUBiP team faces.

 

According to this, Oleksandr Labenko and Vita Strokal, coordinators of the Ukrainian part of the Path4Med EU Horizon project, organized this meeting on 29 January 2025. NUBiP’s team (https://nubip.edu.ua/node/157828), which is involved in this project, attended and actively participated in it.

 

At the beginner meeting, Vita Strokal presented an agenda that included a discussion of issues such as the results and progress of the last six months (the technical report of M1-6), tasks for the next six months (the planned contribution for the M7-M12), challenges for organizing the following seasonal water sampling trip, challenges for collecting datasets of D.G.3 following the document, such as the Data collection protocol, and subsequent assignments for the team for the next month.

 

At this meeting, Oleksandr Labenko mentioned that the main challenges faced during the last two water sampling tours should be clearly predicted, solved, and organized following the schedule. He continued that the leaflet (in English and Ukrainian) about our D.G.3 (Ukraine) in the Path4Med project that was developed by NUBiP, should be distributed to Ukrainian farmers, local stakeholders, policymakers, and other scientific communities. Additionally, he proposed to use them in the online version, which is attached to a project page on the NUBiP’s website (https://nubip.edu.ua/node/65775), and print them to distribute in person.

 

Larysa Voitenko addressed the issue of a group of water quality indicators that are included in the implementation plan of the Ukrainian demonstration site (D.G.3). She pointed out that the monitoring data collected by the team will be included in the development of a literature review on water quality indicators in the Dnipro River Basin based on monitoring data from water stations provided by the State Agency of Water Resources of Ukraine. Larysa Voitenko also highlighted that this literature review on key water quality indicators should be done in accordance with the methodology specified in the official Path4Med document “Data collection protocol” – Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology.

 

Olena Naumovska and Svitlana Palamarchuk shared information about local farmers who are stakeholders in the project on the Ukrainian side (D.G.3). They noted that it was necessary to organize a meeting with each of them individually to collect all the necessary initial data about their farms, discuss cooperation, and talk about their contribution to the project.

 

Meanwhile, Vita Strokal added that during the previous month, NUBiP’s team prepared several abstracts and submitted them. For instance, we submitted the abstract to the 2025 General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) on the topic «Relationship between climate drivers and agriculture in Ukraine: changes over the past two decades and potential implications on water scarcity in the future».

 

To summarize the discussion points at the meeting, Oleksandr Labenko said that this meeting was fruitful and helpful for everyone on our team. He suggested following scheduled tasks and supporting each other.

 

After considering all the team's suggestions and recommendations, Vita Strokal outlined the main tasks for the next month and set the date of the next team meeting. She also thanked the team for the positive atmosphere and for performing their tasks in good faith, wishing them success, calm days, and more positive emotions.

 

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