The general objective of the Baltics4UA project was to enhance Baltic universities' social responsibility through civic engagement actions addressing the Ukrainian humanitarian crisis in the Baltics. To achieve this, we set two main objectives: 1. Enable Baltic universities to support Ukrainian populations by engaging quadruple helix actors (science, policy, industry, and society). A landscape analysis of HEIs’ citizen engagement activities was planned to guide methodology development and four types of engagement actions—citizen science, hacktivism, maker movement, and artistic expression. These aimed to strengthen HEIs’ resilience and cooperation with quadruple helix actors in humanitarian crises while empowering academic staff, students, and citizens to actively support Ukrainians in the Baltics. 2. Stimulate innovative educational practices and staff upskilling at Baltic HEIs through cross-cultural dialogue, citizen engagement, and business-academia cooperation. The focus was on HEIs' capacity building, fostering collaboration between citizen groups, stakeholders, and universities to develop strong resilience models in humanitarian crises.
Three main motivations drove the launch of the Baltics4UA project. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, neighboring countries, especially the Baltics, have received numerous Ukrainian refugees. Project partners committed to social actions supporting Ukrainians both in Ukraine and the Baltic region. We identified a need for cross-country and cross-institutional coordination of humanitarian support. Secondly, enhancing Baltic HEIs' capacity and inclusion mechanisms in humanitarian crises required upskilling HE staff, emphasizing human dignity, human rights, and solidarity. To achieve this, we planned citizen engagement actions, uniting academic staff, students, citizens, local communities, and regional/national stakeholders. Thirdly, we aimed to design transparent, sustainable actions for curriculum development. Integrating knowledge, experience, and skills, we sought participatory actions for social purposes, fostering inclusive HE systems and innovative learning practices. A key gap was engaging quadruple helix actors—business, public sector, community, and HEIs—in collaborative efforts.