Vilnius University Kaunas Faculty (www.knf.vu.lt)

Thursday, 2 March 2023 at 12:00-13:30

Muitinės Str. 12, Auditorium X

Registration deadline: 28 February     Link for registration: https://bit.ly/3IMkbxZ 

Workshop facilitator: Dr. Thor Möller, Germany

Content

This workshop will give an overview and basic knowledge about modern project management (PM) solutions. It will present the different PM approaches and project design from traditional PM to agile approaches and a comparison of both. Then, hybrid approaches will be introduced as different combinations of traditional and agile PM. Finally, it will provide a tool for selection of the most suitable project design for each project.

Who can participate: the workshop is oriented to MSs, BSc and PhD students and open to professionals who work in the field of IT project management.

What background knowledge is required: no special background is required, general understanding of business and organisation is desired.

 Form of workshop: work in groups

 Programme:

 The trainer gives short inputs to following central questions and the participants have to apply the learnings in small workshops on a given case study about an IT project.

Question 1: What are the main steps of traditional project management?

Group work 1: What would you fix in a kickoff meeting and what would be the main steps in your IT project, if you apply traditional project management?

Question 2: What are the main steps of agile project management?

Group work 2: What would you fix in a kickoff meeting and what would be the main steps in your IT project, if you apply agile project management?

Question 3: What are the advantages of each PM approach?

Group work 3: What approach seem to be more suitable for your IT project and why?

Question 4: What are sound strategies to combine traditional and agile approaches to hybrid approaches?

Group work 4: What seem to be the best combination of PM methods for your IT project?

Question 5: How to select the most suitable approach to each project?

About the trainer

Dr. Thor Möller is the former President of GPM German Project Management Association and well-known expert in project management in Germany and all over the world. He has published more than 10 books about PM and developed different national and international standards in PM. Different associations and universities awarded him for his expertise and performances. Today he is the owner of four small companies in Germany with 50 employees in total.

Don’t you feel like it’s time to invite spring to take over?

The Kaunas Faculty dance ensemble Uosinta invites students to participate in a traditional Lithuanian carnival called Užgavėnės, dedicated to celebrating the end of winter and the approaching spring.

Vyk Žiemą Lauk" is going to take place at the Council Hall basement on 21 February, 7 p.m.

We will say goodbye to winter by dancing, singing and having fun. Wear a carnival mask at the event and get a prize!

The event is organized under the initiative of the Baltic-German University Liaison Office in cooperation with Prof. Vladas Gronskas seminar series.

Venue: Vilnius University Kaunas Faculty, Muitinės Str. 12, Kaunas, Auditorium No. X.

Local event organizer: Prof. Vladislav V. Fomin, Prof. Remigijus Ciegis, and Dr. Rasa Bartkute

Event time: Thursday, 2 March 2023, 14:30-16:30

The link for registration:https://forms.gle/p61KXgr52vLid5fL9

Live broadcast of the seminar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BPMokhXBW8

 Presenters:

Dr. Thor Möller: "Implementation of Digital Transformation in Organisations”

To manage the digital transformation of companies is a long-lasting endeavor undertaken. Next to the technical challenges there are huge requirements for organizational and social transformations. To master this a set of strategical programmes and projects is needed. This presentation provides ideas about designing and implementing digital transformation programmes and projects.
The focus is on organisational and social aspects. It starts with some chances and challenges of digitisation: technically, organisationally and socially. Then it provides ideas about the general approach to manage it. This could be by Multi Project Management (MPM) or the method Objective and Key Results (OKR). Finally it takes the perspective of employees in charge and how to manage these stakeholders.

About the speaker:

Dr. Thor Möller is the former President of GPM German Project Management Association and well-known expert in project management in Germany and all over the world. He has published more than 10 books about PM and developed different national and international standards in PM. Different associations and universities awarded him for his expertise and performances, including The International Project Management Association’s (IPMA) Award for Excellent Project Management Performance. Today he is owner of four small companies in Germany with 50 employees in total.

Free e-books on Project Management by Dr. Thor Möller

Dr. Vita Juknevičienė, Dr. Rita Toleikienė: "Development of E-Leadership in Municipal Administrations”

COVID-19 global spread as crisis-induced situation required public sector, including municipal administrations, to react immediately and find new organizational and managerial ways to continue performing effectively under the pandemic circumstances. Digitalization of daily routines became mandatory, including those of leadership, which are known to be difficult to perform in remote digital format. This presentation will share the results of research on e-leadership development in municipal administrations in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Germany. Comparative assessment of pre-pandemic and pandemic periods in Lithuania will be also presented, as well as best practices and key challenges of e-leadership.

About speakers:

Dr. Vita Juknevičienė and Dr. Rita Toleikienė represent the international researchers’ team: Dr. Vita Juknevičienė and Dr. Rita Toleikienė (Vilnius University Šiauliai Academy, Lithuania), Dr. Irma Rybnikova (Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences, Germany), Dr. Iveta Reinholde and Dr. Inese Abolina (University of Latvia, Latvia). The team is involved in two scientific projects of the Baltic-German University Liaison Office, supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic Germany: “E-Leadership in Local Government Organizations” (2019) and “E-Leadership in Municipal Administrations: the Post-Pandemic Analysis (E-LEADER)” (2023). They have scientific expertise in different fields such as organizational studies and leadership, public administration and political sciences. The speakers have also published on e-leadership in public sector.

Scientific publications on e-leadership may be found here and here 

Prof. Guntis Arnicāns: “The Second Wave of Digital Transformation of Companies in Latvia and What We Can Learn from It”
After regaining the independence of the Baltic states in the early 90s of the last century, the latest Western technologies and computer equipment entered these countries more and more. That gave a lot of momentum to the restructuring of the company's operations. The digitalization of companies during the Soviet era was at a relatively weak level and it can be considered that the second wave of digitalization began. The presentation examines examples of the approaches of that time, introducing IT technologies into the life of the company. On the one hand, those were "ancient times of IT", but now the situation is completely different. On the other hand, we can also now use the experience and lessons learned at that time.

About the speaker:

Guntis Arnicāns is a professor and ex-dean of the Faculty of Computing at the University of Latvia and the Chair of the Laboratory for Innovative information technologies at the Faculty of Computing. His research interests include software testing, large-scale information displaying, natural language processing, ontologies, multi-agent systems, databases, and data integration. He teaches data structure, algorithms, algorithm analysis and optimization, software testing, software engineering for almost 30 years. At the same time, he has more than 20 years of experience in the industry, developing various IT systems. As a result, practical knowledge and skills have been acquired in various positions such as: Programmer, Software Tester, Trainer, System Analyst, IT Project Manager, Manager of Information Systems Development Department, Manager of IT Department, etc.

Dear students,

Don’t you feel like it’s time to ask winter to leave and invite spring to take over?

On 18 February (Saturday) the Kaunas Faculty dance ensemble Uosinta invites students to participate in a traditional Lithuanian carnival called Užgavėnės, dedicated to celebrating the end of winter and the approaching spring. The event will take place at The Open-Air Museum of Lithuania (Liaudies buities muziejus) in Rumšiškės.

For more information, please call +37061850124. 

To register for the event, please contact the coordinator via email at . Registration is open until 13 February.

On the eve of Vilnius university’s (VU) 444th birthday, we would like to invite you to participate in the “Scientific Sprint” competition! 

This scientific communication event requires participants to present their research or scientific idea they find fascinating in 3 minutes. The authors of the best presentations will be awarded cash prizes. The teams chosen to compete will be able to participate in a special training course.

The competition will involve teams of 2 people: a member of the academic staff and a student. Each team will have to present a research idea or scientific interest in 3 minutes. We kindly invite you to form these teams, which must consist of a student from any academic year and area of study and a member of the academic staff. Teams should consist of a student at any level and a lecturer(s) or researcher(s). Once you have received your team member's agreement, please register your team before 3 March. All teams will receive an offer to participate in the training course.

On 23-25 February, for the third year in a row, Vilnius University Kaunas Faculty is organising VU CYBERTHON 2023, an online international cyber security competition for high school and university students, as well as cybersecurity experts. The scope of the event has been increasing each year, with the VU Institute of International Relations and Political Science joining the team in 2023 as well.

The event is organised for educational purposes: in the context of an unstable geopolitical situation, the topics discussed in it are becoming more and more relevant on a global scale for both amateurs and professionals. Participants will be invited to explore cyber security topics, national and private sector cyber security challenges, analyse the cyber resilience and security situation in Lithuania, develop critical thinking and to use their creativity in solving various tasks prepared by the organisers.

On 27 January, 11:00 EET the VU Kaunas Faculty will hold a graduation ceremony for the class of Winter 2023 at the Grand Conference Hall of the Archdiocese of Kaunas (Papilio st. 5, entrance from the Town Hall Square).

Diplomas will be awarded to Lithuanian and international graduates of the Bachelor programme Information Systems and Cyber Security, and the Master programmes Financial Technology, Sustainable Financial Economics, Art Management.

The ceremony will also be streamed live on the VU Kaunas Faculty Youtube channel and the VU Kaunas Faculty Facebook page.

Have a great time at the ceremony!

Assoc. Prof. Ilona Kiaušienė and Assoc. Prof. Ingrida Šarkiūnaitė, researchers at the Institute of Social Sciences and Applied Informatics of Kaunas Faculty of Vilnius University, attended a training course in Slovenia (ACADEMIA Maribor) from 28 November to 2 December 2022. During the training, participants listened to lectures and presentations related to strengthening learning curricula to foster innovation and the creation of sustainable Business 4.0, visited the green concept company Menerga (winner of the European Commission's Green Building Award 2011), and the bank NovaKBM.

The following were discussed enhancing labour market relevance and outcomes of higher education (Dr Andrea-Rosalinde Hofer, Slovenia), aspects of short-cycle higher education (Dr Žan Dapševič, Maribor ACADEMIA, Slovenia; Alicia Leonor Sauli Miklavčič, Association of Slovene Higher Vocational Colleges, Slovenia), sought answers to the questions 1) eWhy? (Why should we teach new technologies? Is it inevitable? Should we teach in order to avoid problems, reduce fears, reduce conflicts?); 2) eWhy? (What should we teach – eHistory? eAdaptation? eAnalytics?); 3) eHow? (How should we teach – personal eAthways? Should we include art and creative thinking?) (Dušan Vrban, ACADEMIA, Slovenia).

It also explored the digital view of the global workforce in the context of the LinkedIn network (Stewart Samkange, Academic Talent Solutions, Head of Africa, CEE&SEE – LinkedIn), analysed aspects of customer experience management (Ms Tanja Verhovnik, ACADEMIA, Slovenia), discussed the use of virtual reality tools in the learning process (Prof. Alessio Alonne, InforElea, Italy), organisations that adapt to changing situations and trends, that are able to absorb change and survive in a completely adverse environment (Dr Mihai Pascadi, AVANTERA, Romania), the application of artificial intelligence in the creative sector (Prof. Emma Selene Ixchel Iturriaga Sauco, InforElea, Italy).

Participants attended the Climathon Slovenia conference, where they learned about climate safety solutions used by various organisations. They visited Menerga, a company applying green energy solutions (sustainable building design, etc.), where they listened to a lecture on good practices in eco-sustainability (Dr Vlasta Krmelj, Slovenia). Menerga has developed and produced innovative ventilation and air conditioning systems for extensive fields of application since 1980. The meeting with representatives of NovaKBM Bank was interesting. During the meeting, the environmental initiatives taken by the bank to reduce its environmental impact were presented (electricity from renewable sources, sustainable mobility (employees use the bank's bicycles), use of tap water during meetings, digital signature, etc.).

Assoc. Prof. Ilona Kiaušienė and Assoc. Prof. Ingrida Šarkiūnaitė are participating in the project “Transnational cooperation initiative fostering developing forward thinking skills of students, teachers and workforce in sustainability-relevant sectors posed by Business 4.0 trends through innovation in Business & Engineering education and training (SMART skills 4.0)”. The project is coordinated by the Polytechnic University of Bucharest (Romania) and implemented with partners from Italy, Slovenia, Lithuania and Greece. The aim of the project is to support the development of forward thinking skills of students, teachers and workforce by designing, deploying and scaling-up the Educational Initiative (future-oriented curricula) facilitating innovation in business & engineering education and training, intercultural knowledge exchanges in various sustainability-relevant sectors of Business 4.0 and enhancing civic and responsible behavior.

More about project SMART skills 4.0: https://www.smartskills4.com/

Grant Agreement: 2020-1-RO01-KA203-080019

Assoc. Prof. Dr Ilona Kiaušienė and Assoc. Prof. Dr Ingrida Šarkiūnaitė

Institute of Social Sciences and Applied Informatics

Visit to Menerga

Lecture on the use of virtual reality tools in education

A moment in training at ACADEMIA (Maribor)