Open science and youth creativity: Evidence from Ukrainian university students

Type of the article: Research Article Amid growing global challenges such as technological change and socio-economic uncertainty, fostering youth creativity has become vital for sustainable development. In Ukraine, open science provides a promising pathway to develop key competences like creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration, essential for navigating ongoing social and educational transformation. This study aims to investigate the relationship between Ukrainian young people's engagement with open science practices and their creative development across academic disciplines and educational levels. Drawing on data from a nationwide survey of 2,250 Ukrainian university students (Bachelor, Master, and Ph.D.), this study applies non-parametric methods to analyze how young people engage with open science. The results show that engagement with open science practices among Ukrainian students varies significantly by both level of education and field of study. Ph.D. students report the highest frequency of participation (median = 4.0 on a 5-point scale), significantly more than Bachelor's and Master's students (Kruskal-Wallis χ² = 44.92, p < 0.001). They also rate mentorship and collaborative research as more effective for creativity (e.g., mentorship: p = 0.00008 between Bachelor and Master levels). Disciplinary differences are most evident in the perceived effectiveness of webinars (χ² = 31.69, p = 0.0002) and collaborative research (χ² = 23.34, p = 0.0055), with students from engineering and life sciences showing the highest appreciation. These differentiated patterns confirm that the creative development potential of open science is powerfully shaped by students’ academic stage and disciplinary background. Acknowledgment This research was funded by the grant VEGA 1/0271/23 “Sustainable renewal of spa tourism in the Slovak Republic in the context of the impacts of civilisation crises”. This research was also prepared as part of projects 0124U000545 and ERASMUS-JMO-2022-HEI-TCH-RSCH-101085198.