Department of Internal Communications

The Chief of the The Department
Ph. D., DocentColonel
Oleksandr Kovalchuk

The Department of Internal Communications is a subdivision of the Strategic Communications Institute, which conducts educational, methodological, scientific and innovative activities in the interests of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the relevant specialties (specializations) and areas of scientific research.

The Department of Internal Communications is headed by The Chief of the Department, Ph. D., Docent, Colonel Oleksandr Kovalchuk.

The main tasks of the Department are:

• training of military specialists of the second (masterʼs) level of higher education in the specialty 254 “Provision of troops (forces)” of specializations “Organization of moral and psychological support of troops (forces)”, “Information and propaganda support of troops (forces) and ideological work in troops”; “Psychological Support of Troops (Forces)”;
• training of doctors of philosophy in the field of knowledge 05 “Social and Behavioral Sciences” in the specialty 053 “Psychology” and in the field of knowledge 25 “Military Sciences, National Security, State Border Security” in the specialty 254 “Provision of troops (forces)”;
• retraining and advanced training of military personnel, employees of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The customer of the training of military specialists at the department is the Main Directorate of Moral and Psychological Support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The department provides teaching of more than 20 disciplines in the following thematic areas: psychology of troop management, psychology of mass communications, psychological assistance and rehabilitation, psychology of personal security, organization of internal communications and information support, military and social management, modern socio-political processes, etc.

The activities of the department are focused on a humanistic, human-centered, subject-subject approach to students and are aimed at their self-development and professional growth. The main principles of the educational process are cooperation and the use of active teaching methods.

The educational process at the department is provided by one Doctor of Science and nine Candidates of Sciences (Doctors of Philosophy). The leading scientists of the department are Doctor of Psychological Sciences, Professor of the Department Stasiuk Vasyl Vasyliovych, Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department Khairulin Oleg Mykhailovych.

Scientific-pedagogical and scientific staff of the department take part in the work of specialized academic councils for the defense of dissertations in the field of military, psychological and pedagogical sciences, manage the scientific work of students. Scientific interest for the scientific, pedagogical and scientific staff of the department is the following issues: research of the methodological foundations of moral and psychological support for the activities of troops (forces); psychological patterns of human behavior in war; modern technologies of psychological assistance to combatants; theory and practice of protection of troops (forces) from negative information and psychological influence; methodological and practical principles of military and social management.

At the department, under the leadership of Doctor of Psychological Sciences, Professor Vasyl Vasyliovych Stasiuk, there is a scientific school of psychological support of childbirth in combat conditions. To increase the level of methodological preparedness, the development of scientific thinking, the acquisition of skills of research, inventive and innovative work at the department under the guidance of scientific, pedagogical and scientific workers, the work of the scientific circle of students was organized.

The personnel of the department takes an active part in the implementation of research work in the areas of psychological and information-propaganda support for the actions of troops (forces), conducts research during exercises and other training activities of troops (forces), summarizes and disseminates the best practices of moral and psychological support during the use of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Teachers participate in international, all-Ukrainian and departmental scientific and practical conferences, publish articles in professional foreign and Ukrainian scientific journals. To discuss ways to develop the system of moral and psychological support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine taking into account the lessons of the Russian-Ukrainian war, exchange practical experience and develop common approaches to activities, the staff of the department annually organizes a scientific and practical seminar, to which they are traditionally invited representatives of all law enforcement agencies of the Security and Defense Sector of Ukraine.

The academic disciplines of the department are fully provided with textbooks, manuals and methodological recommendations. The educational and material base makes it possible to qualitatively train officers to work in the structures of moral and psychological support. Practitioners and stakeholders are actively involved in conducting classes.

The department maintains scientific relations with the G. Kostiuk Institute of Psychology, the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, the V. Glushkov Institute of Cybernetics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, actively cooperates with the Research Center for Humanitarian Problems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Center for Moral and Psychological Support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Кафедра підтримує наукові зв’язки з Інститутом психології імені Г. Костюка, Інститутом соціальної та політичної психології Національної академії педагогічних наук України, Інститутом кібернетики імені В. Глушкова Національної академії наук України, активно співпрацює з Науково-дослідним центром гуманітарних проблем Збройних Сил України, Центром морально-психологічного забезпечення Збройних Сил України.

Today, the Department of Internal Communications is a highly qualified and competent scientific and pedagogical team that effectively solves the problems of training specialists for service in leadership and other positions in military units, military command and control bodies of the Armed Forces and other military formations of Ukraine.