This is an-in person event at the Munk School, 1 Devonshire Place, Seminar Room 208, North House, Toronto, Ontario.

Ukraine’s heroic defence has provoked various discussions about brave and strong resistance, much evidence of which have been demonstrated since late February 2022. Ukraine’s experience has proven that enduring resilience forms a solid basis for resistance, whereas successful resistance enables transformative effects of resilience. Both systems and functions are critical for a nation’s survival, development and recovery which anticipates and observes the post-victory progress in reconstruction, recuperation, and rehabilitation of the nation.  

The development cooperation programme “Resilient Ukraine” has been implemented by the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) since 2016 with the support of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Currently, the ICDS team studies several resilience-related attitudes and perceptions of the war and recovery among vulnerable groups in Ukraine (i.e. refugees, IDPs, veterans, youth, traumatised families, people from de-occupied territories etc.). The analytical data will be used for promoting best practises in and civic engagement for crisis preparedness, civil protection and public safety on local and regional levels in Ukraine. Moreover, a more profound understanding of societal resilience will contribute to strengthening active citizenship and social cohesion and preventing polarization, radicalization and youth disillusionment through intergenerational and interregional dialogue.  

Dmitri Teperik will present the latest results of ICDS field research with the major findings and policy recommendations on Ukraine’s development needs in operational continuity, civil security, law enforcement, crisis preparedness and strategic communications. As the role of institutional resilience — especially that of state agencies and local municipalities — increases considerably during the crisis and also recovery phase, Ukraine’s international partners and donors should, therefore, support the wide spectrum of resilience stakeholders on all levels.  

Speaker bios:

Dmitri Teperik has been the Chief Executive of the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) since 2016. From 2007 to 2015, he worked at the Estonian Ministry of Defence, overseeing research and development (R&D), as well as the defence industry. In 2016, he co-founded the “Resilience League”, an international training and co-operation platform, to provide young professionals and experts with practical skills and tools necessary to develop cognitive resilience against hostile disinformation and societal polarisation. Since 2016, he has been leading “Resilient Ukraine”, a development and cooperation program that focuses on measuring and strengthening national resilience in vulnerable communities in Ukraine. Among his main academic interests are factors contributing to national resilience, situational awareness in the information environment and social media, as well as interdependencies between communication and behaviour. He holds an MSc degree from the University of Tartu (Estonia) and has completed various internships abroad, including at Vilnius University and NATO HQ. He has participated in various professional training courses on security in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, as well as NATO and the EU.