Having returned from the Telia Cyber Battle of Nordic-Baltics 2023, which brought together the best teams from the Nordic and Baltic countries in the city of Tartu on 11-12 November, the Vilnius University Kaunas Faculty team "CTF Team LTU" say they are surprised that Lithuania is still not represented in the European Union CTF standings. Simonas Švabas, Rytis Šertvytis and Karolis Petniūnas, second-year students of the bachelor's degree programme Information Systems and Cyber Security, who participated in the competition last year, and students Rokas Tiškus and Mantas Razbadauskas, who joined the team this year, came 9th. The team was accompanied by cyber security expert, assistant professor Dr Šarūnas Grigaliūnas and coach Lukas Misiukevičius.

Organised for the fourth time this year, the Cyber Battle of Nordic-Baltics is the largest youth ethical hacking event in the Nordic-Baltic region, which aims to improve the knowledge of young people and educational institutions about cyber security. The event is organised by CTF Tech, an Estonian cyber education start-up, and CybExer Technologies, a NATO-accredited Estonian cyber defence company. The competition is organised in cooperation with Telia, the city of Tartu, the University of Tartu and several private sector companies. The aim is to teach the basics of cybersecurity in a practical, realistic and ethical way in order to improve the region's cybersecurity skills and thus make it more stable and secure.

The annual event "River of Souls" organised by the Students' Representation of Vilnius University, Kaunas Faculty (VU SA KnF) will take place in Kaunas for the 22nd time. 

On 1 November, 6 PM, a river of candles will stretch from the fountain of Laisvės alėja (Liberty Boulevard) to the Church of St. Michael the Archangel (Sobor), encouraging people to gather and commemorate All Saints' Day.  "We are so happy that despite of the changing generations of students and the evolution of the faculty, the inspiration to continue the existence of this beautiful event persists," says Erika Monstavičiūtė, one of the coordinators at VU SA KnF. 

For the first time the River of Souls of souls will include live music 

The performers will include Ignas Lapienis, Ela and band members Mantas Barkauskas, Adrija Suchockaitė, Austėja Suchockaitė.  Light-emitting diode (LED) and paraffin candles will be used at the event. Attendees don’t need to bring candles as they will be able to light the candles distributed by the event organisers. 

"We encourage people not to bring their own candles because we want to reduce our impact on the environment by reducing litter. For this reason, we are going to set up candle stands where everyone will be able to take a candle and light it", says Erika Monstavičiūtė. This will provide everyone with the opportunity to contribute to the River of Souls trail. After the event, the organisers and volunteers will collect the candles and store them for next year.  

The organisers are looking for volunteers to contribute to the event. Here is the link to register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSexOcZkA6PPD6rgV1RynYujphnt0PhIBGdK3pWcf5SqCiZK1w/viewform   

The story behind the River of Souls  

The idea to organise the River of Souls was born in 2002. The initiator of the event was Agnė Januškevičiūtė, a student of the Culture Management study programme at VU KnF. For the first few years the event was held exclusively on the Faculty premises.  

Gradually, the river of candles moved to the streets of Kaunas, flowing in the Town Hall Square, Vilnius Street and Laisvės alėja. Throughout the years the event attracted more and more people. In 2008, the Mayor of Kaunas awarded Algirdas Kviklis, the President of the Kaunas Faculty Students’ Representation, with the Crystal of Kindness for the initiative. 

In 2020, because of the pandemic, the River of Souls was commemorated online, via VU SA KnF's social media accounts.  

In 2021, the event returned to the streets of Kaunas, albeit with a slight change – the paraffin candles were replaced with sustainable and long-lasting light-emitting diode (LED) candles. 

Tomas Palšis, Stepas Telešius, and Stede Ingram – three alumni of Vilnius University (VU) Kaunas Faculty and founders of ‘ACME Group', a group of companies specialising in wholesale trade of electronic devices and other business areas – have recently donated EUR 100,000 to the VU Foundation. At the request of the sponsors, the support funds will form the Kaunas Faculty Endowment Sub-fund, with its return on investment to be used for student scholarships.

‘Education is a priority of both our own social responsibility and that of ‘ACME Group’ in general. I believe that we all gain from every investment in this field. First and foremost, Lithuania’s greatest wealth and capital stem from talented people who can create well-running unicorns, open up new business areas, and promote our country. That is why we believe that public education is up to all of us,’ states T. Palšis, co-founder of ‘ACME Group’.

S. Telešius, a shareholder of ‘ACME Group’, agrees that an educated nation is a prosperous nation and that lifelong learning is, therefore, of the utmost importance: ‘At university, we learn to systemise, analyse, and create. With a strong academic grounding, lifelong learning can become much easier. Having been an active VU student myself, I consider it a great honour and pleasure to support the students of this institution and, in general, contribute to the knowledge economy in Lithuania.’

The EUR 100,000 donation by ‘ACME Group’ will have an everlasting effect on VU Kaunas Faculty, as the support funds will be invested rather than spent. In the first year, the return on investment will amount to EUR 2,500. In 100 years, with no additional financing, solely due to exponential growth driven by reinvestment*, the value of the sub-fund established by ‘ACME Group’ will reach EUR 3.2 million, while the return payout to the faculty will be EUR 3.1 million.

At the 15th International Conference on Culture & Creativity Dr. Giovanni Ercolani is willing to present his recent book The Maidan Museum: Preserving the Spirit of Maidan - Art, Identity, and the Revolution of Dignity which examines the relation between art created during the so-called Revolution of Dignity–Maidan Events (November 21, 2013 – February 23, 2014, Ukraine) and the mission of the Maidan Museum (Kyiv, Ukraine) born from the ashes of Euromaidan, to preserve the ‘Spirit of Maidan’.

The Maidan events, defined as the Maidanization process, produced a post-colonial discourse language, a new apolitical ideology based on the concepts of dignity and Ukrainianness; generated symbols, social myths, and collective imaginary; triggered the ‘Spirit of Maidan’ that changed the consciousness of the participants in the demonstrations; and functioned as a ritual of intensification-aggregation-initiation passage, in which the identity of new Ukraine was shaped.

In this transformative process, in which the human being is seen as an ‘animal identitarium’ struggling, defending, and fighting for his/her own identity, artists played a crucial role in assembling the main elements of the post-Maidan Ukrainian identity (homo Maidan), were able to empower the whole movement with concrete ideas, and finally reworked objects, symbols, and music already present in the Ukrainian DNA through a process of meaningization, symbolization, mythization, canonization, sacralization, and interpellation.

This volume is based on interviews with artists who dramatically participated in the Maidan events and fieldwork at the Maidan Museum, and unfolds and identifies the main elements, emotions, expectations, and motivations of the relation of art creation and Ukrainian post-Maidan identity formation based on the ‘Spirit of Maidan’.

On October 26th, a welcoming event for doctoral students will take place at Vilnius University's (VU) Theatre Hall. This event will focus on discussions about collaboration between doctoral students and their academic supervisors, emphasizing the importance of feedback. The event will feature the participation of VU's Pro-Rector for Research Prof. Edita Sužiedėlienė, as well as representatives from the Doctoral and Postdoctoral Department, the PhD committees of different research fields, and VU Student Representation.

All VU PhD students (especially those in their first year) are invited to a welcome event. The event will be conducted in both Lithuanian and English on October 26th, from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM at the VU Central Palace, Theatre Hall.

You can register for the event here.

Programme

3:00 PM - 3:15 PM - Welcome Address by Prof. Edita Sužiedėlienė

3:15 PM - 3:45 PM – “Collaboration Between Doctoral Students and Supervisors. The Importance of Feedback” (Dr. Mariana Sueldo)

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM - Small Group Discussions using the “World Café” Method: by rotation at different tables we will engage in informal conversations with representatives of Doctoral Committees, experienced Doctoral Students, and Doctoral Department Staff.

The autumn wind has ushered us into the 59th academic year. This year is special for the VU Kaunas faculty community because the term of the dean of the Faculty is coming to an end.

We invite you to discuss what is important to us this autumn, and, of course, to share the cake of “Friendship“, the goodies of the garden harvest, and some new ideas.

The Dean of Vilnius University Kaunas Faculty invites the community of teachers, students and non-academic workers for a conversation

Tempus disputandi – Time to discuss about the 59th academic year of Kaunas Faculty

on Wednesday, 18 October, at 11:15 AM

At the Student leisure space, in the cellar of Building No 3

Topics on the agenda: 

• celebrate the establishment of the Faculty of Vilnius University in Kaunas; 
• Start the brainstorm of ideas for the 60th aniversary of the Faculty; 
• current issues of the 59th academic year; 
• the plans of this semester and... your expectations.

International students might face some challenges regarding their employability in Lithuania. That’s why we invite everyone to online seminar “Landing your dream job in Lithuania: how to maximize your opportunities.” The seminar will be held on Microsoft Teams platform on the 18th of October, starting at 15:00 h. The seminar will be led by Work in Lithuania Business Advisor Karolina Zelbienė.

Don’t hesitate and register here: https://forms.office.com/e/NkBT7P32qg

More information about Work in Lithuania:

“We encourage highly-skilled professionals from around the globe to build their lives in Lithuania. Together with our partner companies, aiming to build international teams, we enable global talents to achieve their full career potential.”

This event is organized by Vilnius University Career Centre.

You can find more information about Vilnius University career services here: https://www.vu.lt/en/studies/student-services/for-your-development-and-career

For more training events organized at Vilnius University, please click here: https://www.vu.lt/trainings

 At the 15th International Conference on "Culture & Creativity" Prof. Dr. Paul Long is willing to share his work concerned with the political representation of migrants in terms of their individual and proportional presence and inclusion in the Australian cultural economy. This approach to representation encompasses the role of makers, intermediaries, producers, entrepreneurs and, potentially, policy makers. This research is based on exploratory empirical work that seeks insight into migrant practice and narratives qua migrants, of their roles and experiences in the sector.

Paul Long is Professor in Creative and Cultural Industries and Director, Monash Migration and Inclusion Centre. He has published widely on issues in popular cultural history, participation, and creative work. He co-founded the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research at Birmingham City University in 2009 and is founding co-editor of the Journal of Beatles Studies (Liverpool University Press). He is currently researching the role of migrants in the creative and cultural industries as well as Australian home-made, amateur, and DIY creative production.