The Department of Business Relationships and International Marketing has been awarded a grant to implement an international research project conducted by a consortium of universities from the Visegrad Group (V4) countries.
How does logistics shape the security of everyday life? A grant for uep to research the resilience of urban logistics in v4 countries
The Department of Business Relationships and International Marketing has been awarded a grant to implement an international research project conducted by a consortium of universities from the Visegrad Group (V4) countries. The project entitled “Resilient City Logistics and Supply Chains for Sustainable Competitiveness in the V4 Region” is carried out in cooperation with Brno University of Technology (Czech Republic), Corvinus University of Budapest (Hungary), and the University of Žilina (Slovakia). The aim of the project is to strengthen the resilience of urban logistics systems and supply chains in the face of contemporary crises.
Resilient cities
The COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and increasingly frequent extreme weather events have demonstrated how dependent modern cities are on efficiently functioning supply chains. Access to food, medicines, fuel, or municipal services in large urban agglomerations can be disrupted within just a few hours. The project focuses on analysing these threats and identifying solutions that enable cities to respond more quickly to disruptions and recover more effectively afterwards.
Expert interviews and AI-supported data analysis
The research will be conducted simultaneously in V4 countries and will include structured interviews with representatives of local governments, logistics operators, crisis management institutions, and social organisations. The collected data will be analysed using artificial intelligence–supported tools, enabling the identification of common risk patterns, weaknesses in logistics systems, and effective strategies for enhancing resilience.
The project outcomes will include, among others, a comparative report for V4 countries, a set of practical tools for cities and stakeholders, policy recommendations for public decision-makers, and an open-access e-learning module. This knowledge is intended to support the development of sustainable and secure urban logistics in Central Europe.
The role of the department of business relationships and international marketing
The Department of Business Relationships and International Marketing plays a significant research and analytical role in the project, being responsible for conducting research in Poland and co=creating international analyses. On the side of the Poznań University of Economics and Business, the project is coordinated by PhD Arkadiusz Kawa, prof. PUEB. The research team also includes PhD Milena Ratajczak-Mrozek, prof. PUEB, and Dr Aleksandra Hauke-Lopes.
The team of the Department of Business Relationships and International Marketing will conduct interviews with Polish stakeholders, participate in the preparation of the comparative report, and co-develop educational materials and recommendations addressed to public administration, logistics companies, and other supply chain
participants. Thanks to the team’s strong links with business practice, the project results will have not only academic but also practical relevance.
International project partners
The project is implemented in close cooperation between four universities:
· Brno University of Technology (Czech Republic) – project leader, responsible for overall coordination, research methodology, and AI-supported data analysis.
· Corvinus University of Budapest (Hungary) – partner conducting research in Hungary and organising the international conference summarising the project.
· University of Žilina (Slovakia) – partner specialising in logistics and transport in crisis situations, with a particular focus on the resilience of transport systems.
Through cooperation between universities from four Central European countries, the project combines local and regional perspectives and demonstrates that urban resilience is built not only on infrastructure, but also on knowledge, collaboration, and the ability to learn from shared experiences.