Our volunteers organise several hundreds events each year, and annually, we award the most impressive one from the preceding year with the Event of the Year award. In 2024, this award went to the 2023 edition of the Ukrainian Renaissance conference.
The two-day Ukrainian Renaissance conference took place in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, in July 2023, and was the first Students For Liberty event in the country since 2018.
Since the invasion of Ukraine started, our teams in Central Europe have been steadfast in their support of Ukraine’s defensive efforts. They have actively raised awareness, provided accommodation for war refugees, extended assistance, and organised protests and events.
Building on previous cooperations with organisations delivering and facilitating humanitarian aid, and on a partnership with the Ukrainian Students for Freedom, our Regional Coordinator Štěpán Kovář initiated the project of the joint conference, co-hosted by Students For Liberty, Ukrainian Students for Freedom and their regional leader Maksym Bryksa, and Institut liberálních studií, a Czech think-tank running a humanitarian mission to Ukraine, as the natural next step of the cooperation.
The goal of the conference was to look beyond the current conflict and engage in discussions about the reconstruction of Ukraine, focusing on both physical infrastructure and institutions. Over two days and eight thematic blocks, the audience engaged with volunteers, doctors, politicians (including the Ukrainian deputy minister of education), economists, psychologists, and historians from Ukraine, as well as from the Czech Republic and other neighbouring countries. The discussions centred on envisioning the future of Ukraine as an integral part of the European community.
The conference covered a wide range of topics, including lessons from the ongoing war, the current state and development of Ukrainian and European politics, society, and economy. Discussions also addressed student pro-liberty movements and their historical impact, and the role of entrepreneurs and civil society alongside the public sector in rebuilding a country after a war.
The event successfully brought together over 135 attendees, not only from Ukraine and Central Europe but also from as far as Australia, Colombia, or Brazil. Notably, around 30 people travelled from the Czech Republic alone, in addition to our volunteering team that co-organized the event with members of Ukrainian Students For Freedom.
Multiple media outlets also reported on the event and interviewed speakers and attendees.
Parts of the university that served as the venue in 2023 were destroyed by a Russian missile in June, 2024. Regardless, the conference has already returned for its second edition in 2024 in Lviv.
For starting what is to become a recurring annual event and the incredible impact of the first edition, the Ukrainian Renaissance conference is our Event of the Year for 2024.