The exchange project between the Universities in Parma and Zhytomyr was a new step in the long standing collaboration existing since 1999. It was conceived after the completion of a previous Erasmus+ project which had been impacted by the COVID pandemics and it was seen as a way of starting new avenues of collaboration, stimulating travels of students and professors. Unfortunately, the war began few days after the submission. The significance of the project is now even higher because it is a way of keeping alive learning and research activities in this tragic period.