On July 18-19, 2024, the annual meeting of the Ecotwins project took place at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH). Notably, despite the challenging times due to military actions in Ukraine, our university delegation, including Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation, Prof. Oksana Tonkha, Dean of the Faculty of Agronomy, Prof. Vitaliy Kovalenko, and Associate Professor of the Department of Analytical and Bioinorganic Chemistry and Water Quality, Assoc. Prof. Olha Kravchenko, managed to attend the meeting.

The official part of the event began with a welcome speech from the hosts – the UCPH team, particularly Bhim Bahadur Ghaley, Professor of the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of Copenhagen. After introducing the participants, project coordinator Prof. Oksana Tonkha delivered a report on the results and achievements of the current year.

The discussion then focused on the completed tasks from each Ecotwins project package. Interesting presentations and lively discussions addressed the first task package: joint planning of field research. UCPH PhD student Saad Mir presented an improved field research scheme in Denmark. Assoc. Prof. Olha Kravchenko reported on a workshop on academic writing and preparations for an upcoming seminar on statistical methods in agronomy and ecology, planned to be conducted jointly with colleagues from the University of Reading (UK). Scientists from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), led by Jean Yong, introduced participants to joint publications soon to be published in top-cited agroecology journals.

Most of the working time was dedicated to work package 2 – conducting joint field experiments to intensify crop production. UCPH PhD students Saad Mir and Vaibhav Pradip Chaudhary provided research protocols and analysis of results obtained during the project. An exceptionally interesting presentation was given online by Assoc. Prof. Bohdan Mazurenko from the Department of Plant Science, who presented the scheme and results of research implemented at the Agronomic Research Station. Sahar Azarkamand, a representative from the International School of Business (ESCI, Spain), highlighted the main achievements regarding the assessment mechanisms of crop cultivation technology and the use of biostimulants via Life Cycle Costing (LCC). Following this, NUBiP of Ukraine representatives reported on the valorization of joint cultivation of cereal-legume crops.