“Baltic Bridge to Alienating Societies: Discovering Shared Values to Ensure Regional Stability“.

We invite You to the Conference “Baltic Bridge to Alienating Societies” exploring new pathways to understanding the distinctions and commonalities among the societies of the Nordic, Baltic, Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Russian regions, and fostering opportunities for shared dialogue.

The conference deliberations will center on personal integration narratives – participants will share their motivations for coming to the Baltic States, their experiences of living and working in a society different from their own, and the factors that both divide and unite diverse communities. These discussions aim to uncover and articulate the shared values that bind these societies together and to grasp how they can contribute to promoting collaboration and regional stability.

The conference consists of three panel discussions.

Program
13:00 – 13:30 Greeting of guests.
13:30 – 13:45 Welcome speech by Helén Nilsson, Director of the Nordic Council of Ministers Office in Lithuania and Rasa Lukaitytė-Vnarauskienė, Editor-in-chief of Delfi.
13:45 – 14:45 Panel discussion “Baltic Bridge to Alienating Societies: Voices of Integration and Personal Narratives”, Moderator: Natalia Frolova, journalist.  Panellists: Anna Tomilina, International Childhood Research institute Aleksandr Kuchta, priest who came from Belarus to Lithuania to join the emerging Orthodox Church of the Constantinople Patriarchate Ksenija Nikolska, Coordinator of Caritas Humanitarian Aid for War Refugees from Ukraine in Kaunas Archdiocese Eglė Masevičiūtė, Vilnius Archdiocese Caritas Foreigners Integration Program Manager.
15:00 – 15:50 Panel discussion “Exploring Integration: Expert Insights on Ukrainian, Russian, and Belarusian Communities in the Baltic States”. Moderator: Vytautas Bruveris, Editor-in-chief of ELTA. Panellists: Dr. Monika Frėjutė-Rakauskienė, Senior Researcher, Head of the Department of Ethnic Studies at the Institute of Sociology, Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences Yevhen Magda, associate professor at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, the National Technical University Egor Burtsev, clinical psychologist, social psychologist, sociologist Dr. Roza Turarbekova, Ph.D. in History, Honorary Fellow of Institute for Global and Sustainable Development, University of Warwick.
16:00 – 17:00 Panel discussion “Emigration on a Woman’s Shoulders: Exploring Changing Gender Roles in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia before Emigration and after Return”. Moderator: Anzhela Bubeliak, Delfi journalist Panellists: Olga Johannesson, author of the documentary project “Women in War”, Denmark Lina Šlipavičiutė-Černiauskienė, co-author of “Escaped from the Hell” book, Lithuania Eugenija Kovaliova, CEO Ukreate Hub, Lithuania.

The conference is organised by the Lithuanian news portal DELFI as the culminating event of the “Baltic Bridge for Alienating Societies” project supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers Office in Lithuania.

More information and live streaming: https://www.delfi.lt/video/transliacijos/anonsai/baltijos-tiltas-i-visuomenes-bendru-vertybiu-paieska-siekiant-uztikrinti-regiono-stabiluma-96339663