The program of the summer school Practicing Resilience – Preparing for Recovery will take place in Šibenik, Croatia, at the Catholic Primary School for eleven (11) days from June 27 until July 7, 2024.

The summer school is intended for students from different Catholic universities interested in learning more about resilience and post-war recovery and acquiring new experiences of people and institutions affected by war and destruction.

This year’s summer school will be held in partnership between the Catholic University of Croatia, the Nanovic Institute of the University of Notre Dame from the United States, the Ukrainian Catholic University from Ukraine, and the Catholic Universities Partnership.

This second summer school will bring together professors and renowned lecturers from numerous Catholic universities. It will host 40 students from different Catholic universities around the world with a minimum of 20 students from Ukraine.

The program emphasizes education with 15 hours of lectures, 7 hours of workshops, 6.5 hours of the capstone project, more than 30 hours of reading materials, and more than 13 hours of cultural activities that will approach resilience and post-war recovery from a specific perspective. Teaching topics will be covered through interactive teaching methods using different media for students to be actively involved in the teaching process. Due to its holistic approach, the program also consists of spiritual, social, cultural, and sports activities. Reading materials will be sent by the organizer before the beginning of the summer school. The working language of the summer school is English. At the end of the program, 3 ECTS credits will be awarded to all participants who will attend classes and actively participate in other activities.

All participants will be provided with 3 meals a day, coffee breaks, and an overnight stay at Rooms Mihovil, an accommodation complex within the Catholic Primary School. Participants will be provided with a free ticket to visit local museums and fortresses, as well as a free excursion to local places near Šibenik.

The participants of the summer school should actively participate in daily prayer and are encouraged to participate in the Holy Mass in English every morning, as well as in Divine Liturgy in Ukrainian, which will be celebrated twice during the program. All participants will have the opportunity to enjoy time at the seashore and to get to know each other. The rich cultural heritage of the city of Šibenik enables various cultural activities as part of the program: from visits to the local islands to the city fortresses, to a visit to the sights and churches. Sports activities will be organized in the sports ground where volleyball, soccer, basketball, badminton, and other sports can be played.

The official program will be published soon. 

1. Morgan Munsen, PhD, University of Notre Dame

Morgan Munsen (PhD) is the Research & Partnerships Program Manager at the Nanovic Institute for European Studies at the University of Notre Dame (USA). She completed all of her postgraduate education at the University of Notre Dame: a Bachelor’s in Neuroscience & Behavior in 2013, a Master’s in Psychology in 2020, and a PhD in Psychology (concentration: Cognitive Neuroscience) in 2022. Prior to joining Nanovic she worked at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study as a postdoctoral fellow, exploring interdisciplinary questions of ethics and the common good. Her personal research interests include the effects of bias on memory consolidation and decision making and the role of constructive interpersonal discourse on the updating of political and moral beliefs.

2. David Buckley, University of Notre Dame

David Buckley is a Managing Director at General Atlantic, a private equity firm based in New York. He leads a global team that evaluates new investment opportunities and makes operational improvements at companies within the investment portfolio. Before joining General Atlantic in 2011, David worked at McKinsey & Company, a management consultancy. Previously, as a Captain in the United States Army, he served in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. After graduating from Notre Dame, he studied in Poland on a Fulbright and received an MPP from Princeton University. David serves on the Advisory Board for the Nanovic Institute for European Studies.

3. Assistant Professor Lana Batinić, Catholic University of Croatia

Lana Batinić is a Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology at the Catholic University of Croatia. She earned her doctoral degree in psychology in 2019 at the University of Zagreb. Lana works at the Catholic University of Croatia and she has collaborated on several projects regarding family dynamics and quality of life. Most recently she has participated in the CUC’s project on Croatian war veterans’ health and family well-being. Lana was involved in different classes in the field of developmental and social psychology and her current field of interest and teaching is social psychology, especially close relationships.

4. Assistant Professor Francesca Giordano, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan

Francesca Giordano (PhD) is a child psychologist and psychotherapist. She is an adjunct professor in “Developmental Psychology” at the Faculty of Psychology of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC) of Brescia, and in “Adolescent Psychology” at the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the UCSC of Piacenza. She is a member of the Resilience Research Unit, within the department of Psychology of the UCSC in Milan. Over the last 16 years, Francesca has carried out research, capacity building, and interventions aimed at defining, promoting, and sustaining resilience processes among children, families, and communities in emergency contexts.

5. Professor Jasna Ćurković Nimac, Catholic University of Croatia

Jasna Ćurković Nimac is a Professor at the Catholic University of Croatia. She obtained a degree in Catholic Theology from the University of Zagreb (2002) and a PhD in Moral Theology from the Alfonsian Academy in Rome (2008). She is a member of Societas Ethica, the European Society for the Study of Ethics, and Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church (CTEWC). She is also a member of the editorial board of Nova prisutnost – Journal of Intellectual and Spiritual Issues. She teaches ethics and philosophy at the Department of Communication Sciences and the Department of Sociology. Her research interests are in moral philosophy and theology, philosophy and ethics of communication and media, ethics of memory, intercultural communication, ethics of art, and ethics and empathy.

6. Olya Matiychuk, Ukrainian Catholic University