Department of Public Affairs

The Chief of the The Department
Ph. D.Colonel
Oleksiy Chernobay

The Department of Public Affairs is a structural subdivision of the Strategic Communications Institute, responsible for educational, methodological, scientific and innovative activities in the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other components of the Defenсe Forces of Ukraine interests in the relevant specialties (specializations) and research areas.

The Department of Public Affairs was established in September 2023 to train highly qualified specialists in the fields of military public relations and civil-military cooperation for the components of the Ukrainian Defense Forces. It also aims to conduct scientific and analytical research, consolidate best practices, and implement innovations in the strategic communications domain

The Department of Public Affairs is headed by Colonel Oleksii Chernobai (PhD).

The Department of Public Relations was established in September 2023 to ensure the training of highly professional specialists in the field of public relations for the Security and Defense Sector of Ukraine, the development of research, the generalization of experience, and the implementation of strategic communication innovations in the sphere of national security and defense.

Within the department, the training of students and postgraduates is conducted by 1 Doctor of Sciences and 1 Ph. D.

The main tasks of the Department are:

• training highly qualified military specialists at the second (master’s) level of higher education for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, other military formations, and law enforcement agencies of the state in the field of knowledge K “Security and Defense”, specialty K6 “Support of Troops (Forces)”; with specialization “Organization of Public Relations Support” to obtain the professional qualification “Professional in the Field of Support of Troops (Forces), Operational Level Officer”;
• retraining and advanced training of military personnel, employees of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, officials of other components of the security and defense sector of Ukraine, and civil servants in the fields of military public relations and civil-military cooperation through specialized and optional courses;
• participation in the training of military specialists to obtain full higher education and the qualification of “Professional, Operational Level Military Management Officer”;
• participation in conducting courses of professional military education for officers of the joint staffs of the operational (L-3) and senior management of the strategic (L-4) levels, including those with English as the language of instruction;
• participation in the training of scientific and scientific-pedagogical personnel of the highest category (Doctor of Sciences, Philosophy Doctor, Candidate of Sciences) for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations;
• conducting analytical, scientific, technical and innovative activities in the interests of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine by ensuring the creative activity of participants in the educational process, using the results obtained in the educational process of the university;
• introducing the combat experience of the Russian-Ukrainian war into the educational process on strategic communications, military public relations, and civil-military cooperation;
• participation in the development of draft regulations (professional standards, etc.) in the areas of educational and scientific activities of the department;
• participation in the improvement of the material and technical base to ensure the educational activities of the department.

The Department of Public Relations maintains professional relations with the Department of Strategic Communications and the Mass Media Department of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, the Main Communications Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Central Department of Civil-Military Cooperation of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other specialized structures and organizations.

The educational and methodological work of the Department focuses on improving active forms and methods of military education, enhancing the methodological skills of research and teaching staff and systematically updating curricula and materials to adapt to current requirements and challenges posed by the realities of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The content of the training is constantly updated to reflect on both the direct experience of repelling large-scale armed aggression and NATO principles and approaches to strategic communications. This includes, in particular, the study and use of doctrines such as AJP 10 (Strategic Communications), AJP 10.1 (Information Operations) and AJP 10.3 (Military Public Affairs). This ensures the relevance and adaptability of the curriculum, as well as ensures that the training meets both the dynamic requirements of modern armed conflict and the strategy of integration into NATO.

Within the framework of the joint project by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the OSCE to implement democratic civilian control over the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the academic staff of the Department, acting as national trainers, train military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on effective media engagement in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Directions for Further Development of the Department of Public Relations:

• introduction of modern, interactive training forms, such as interactive lectures, syndicate work, case studies, simulation-based modeling, and training on the basis of military command and control bodies and military units as part of mobile training teams;
• to increase academic mobility through mutual participation of leading national specialists from civilian higher education institutions and military educational institutions in conducting classes;
• to increase the share of classes in English with the involvement of experts and customers, which is focused on communication of multicultural knowledge and skills;
• introduction of modern methods and practices of military public relations development and involvement in research projects on the use of the armed forces, taking into account threats in the media and information sphere;
• to continue the implementation of military lessons learned during the Russian-Ukrainian war in training to update the curriculum to current realities and prospects for the transformational development of the “security environment”;
• to increase the number of practical classes and group exercises conducted by invited representatives of the customer and the expert community to raise the level of direct practices of the implementation of military public relations and civil-military cooperation activities.