New EU project will strengthen education and resilience in Palestine and Ukraine

The European project Urban resilience through open science, education, and community engagement in war regions (FORWARD) receives funding of approximately EUR 740,000 from the EU Erasmus program to strengthen urban resilience in Palestine and Ukraine.

The resilience of cities and urban communities can be described as their ability; across individuals, institutions, systems, and cities; to endure, adapt, and continue developing in the face of crises such as war and natural disasters, while addressing ongoing challenges like energy shortages, water scarcity, food insecurity, and housing demands.

Rebuilding higher education

The FORWARD project involves universities in Gaza, the West Bank, and Ukraine and will help rebuild and strengthen education systems that have been hit hard by war and destruction.

“Both Ukraine and Palestine have experienced damaged infrastructure and a collapse in higher education,” says project manager Rawia Awadallah at the Department of archivistics, library and information science.

Awadallah, originally from Gaza, works at OsloMet through the Scholars at Risk program, that protects threatened academics and promotes academic freedom.

Maintaining everyday life

The project builds on a course at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), where Norwegian and Palestinian students have collaborated on topics related to urban resilience in war areas.

FORWARD will develop an online training program for students, researchers, and professionals in fields such as urban planning, crisis management, engineering, agriculture, and IT – both at universities and in civil society organizations in Palestine and Ukraine.

"The goal is to strengthen communities’ ability to handle crises, rebuild for the future, and maintain some sense of everyday lifehandle crises, rebuild for the future, and maintain some sense of everyday life,” says Awadallah. 

Project manager Rawia Awadallah Photo: Kristine Welde Tranås / OsloMet

Support for institutions in crisis

“This project is a helping hand to higher education institutions affected by war and occupation, and it also gives us valuable knowledge about institutional preparedness – something that is increasingly relevant for us as well,” says Oddgeir Osland, Dean at the Faculty of Social Sciences.

“It’s also an inspiration for those of us working to ensure that Norwegian universities and authorities take greater responsibility for supporting students, colleagues, and civilians in Palestine.”

Learning from local solutions 

Through fieldwork, students will work closely with local communities and collect data on how families find water, grow vegetables, and organize daily life under extremely challenging conditions.

“The aim is to learn from people’s own solutions and give students practical skills that enable them to develop new strategies,” says Awadallah.

Safe data management in conflict zones

The project will create six training modules and 40 practical case studies based on the needs in Palestine and Ukraine, covering topics such as water management, sustainable energy, housing and emergency sheltering, food security, and gender equality.

One module focuses on open science and will strengthen students’ competence throughout the research data cycle – from collection to reuse.

“This is especially important in conflict situations, where data collection can be sensitive and, in the worst case, life-threatening,” says Awadallah.

The goal is for urban resilience data to follow the FAIR principles – and be findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable – as well as reliable and ethically collected.

“Reliable data is crucial for quick decisions and effective crisis response.”

The module builds on tools from UNESCO, developed for crisis management and knowledge sharing.

Students as community builders

The hands on approach ensures that students gain not only theoretical knowledge, but also tools to actively contribute to their communities.

“War and unrest are part of everyday life for these students. By connecting their studies to real challenges like access to water and food, we hope students will feel they’re doing something meaningful – for themselves, their families, and the wider community,” says Awadallah.

She believes the experiences from both Palestine and Ukraine will provide valuable insights that can also benefit other war-affected regions.

Project partners

EU partners in the project include Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet), the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), the Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund (SAIH), and the Polytechnic University of Milan.

From OsloMet, the Department of Archivistics, Library and Information Science, the University Library, and OsloMetX are involved.

Palestinian partners include An-Najah National University, the Islamic University of Gaza, the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU), and the Gaza Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Platform (GUPAP).

Ukrainian partners are Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kyiv National Economic University, and Lviv Polytechnic National University.