THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF UKRAINE AS A STATE AND SOCIO-CULTURAL PHENOMENON AND ITS CURRENT CHALLENGES

Abstract

Introduction. Academies of Sciences were founded in Europe during the Modern Times as the antithesis to medieval universities, which were transformed into the centres of dogmatism and scholasticism. Academies were considered to be free associations of researchers, but over the years when a new experimental science emerged, they required government attention and funding, while defending their autonomy to elect the objects and methods of research. The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine emerged against the background of national renaissance and should be considered as a peculiar phenomenon of national self-consciousness. Since its establishment and till nowadays the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine has been an important sign of our country and has served as a systematically important national centre during complex public and political processes of the XX century, has contributed to consolidating society and defining resources of its development. The aims and tasks. The 100th anniversary of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine requires more specific and analytical defining of its features, historical evolution, also prospects and problems of adaptation to modern globalized science. Research methods The socio-cultural approach, the principles of historicism, the historicalbiographical method and the method of cultural-semantic analysis are used in the research. Research results. Since its establishment and till nowadays the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine has been an important sign of our country and has served as a systematically important national centre during complex public and political processes of the XX century, has contributed to consolidating society and defining resources of its development. When establishing the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences V.I. Vernadsky noted that relations between authorities and academic community should involve a continuous dialogue which would promote an effective science and technology policy in the country. Discussion. In the history of science there are periods when such dialogue took place, and that’s when the Academy of Sciences initiated promising forms of innovative development. Conclusions. The current stage of development of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine is concerned with exploration of new nano-, bio-, info-, cognitive and socio-humanitarian technologies and their convergent effects for reaching global science.