Valeriia Vereshchynska, a student of Sumy State University, won the second round of the International Student Research Paper Competition in Management as part of a joint research team together with Nataliia Smerchynska, a student of Kremenchuk Mykhailo Ostrohradskyi National University.
Following the results of the competition, their research paper “Adaptive Application of Agile Principles in Leading Organisations” was awarded a Second Degree Diploma. The research was supervised by Oleksandr Matsenko, PhD in Economics, Associate Professor, Associate Professor at the Department of Economics, Entrepreneurship and Business Administration, Sumy State University, and Oksana Zbyrannyk, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Management and Marketing, Kremenchuk Mykhailo Ostrohradskyi National University. The consultant of the research was Andrius Sadauskis, Vice-Rector for Economics and Development at Vilniaus Kolegija / University of Applied Sciences, Lithuania.
The final meeting of the sectoral competition committee took place online on 5 June 2026 at Kremenchuk Mykhailo Ostrohradskyi National University. This year, the competition brought together 93 participants from 46 higher education institutions, who presented 64 student research papers.
The international status of the competition adds particular significance to this victory. Representatives from Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Italy, Georgia, Germany, Czechia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Slovakia, Latvia, France, Spain, Kazakhstan and Finland took part in the competition and its organisation. Such broad international representation highlights the high level of academic competition and makes the result of the student team especially significant.
The research by Valeriia Vereshchynska and Nataliia Smerchynska focuses on the relevant issue of the adaptive application of Agile principles in leading organisations. The topic is of great importance for modern management, as agile approaches help organisations respond more quickly to change, improve teamwork efficiency, adapt business processes to an unstable environment and strengthen competitiveness.
The victory in this prestigious international competition demonstrates the high level of research training of Sumy State University students, the effectiveness of inter-university cooperation and the value of academic supervision by Ukrainian and European specialists.
We sincerely congratulate Valeriia Vereshchynska, Nataliia Smerchynska and their research supervisors – Oleksandr Matsenko and Oksana Zbyrannyk – as well as the research consultant Andrius Sadauskis, on this well-deserved international recognition. We wish them new academic achievements, professional growth, inspiration and further victories!
