On 30 November 2025, the associate professor held an interesting event at the StartUp School of NTU ‘KhPI’ for schoolchildren, organised by the Spark StartUp Centre.
Oksana Polyakova gave a lecture-game entitled ‘Emotional Intelligence in Creating Start-ups,’ during which she told participants why the ability to recognise one’s own emotions and those of others is a key factor for success.
The schoolchildren learned that a startup team is in many ways similar to a sports team: it can become a champion if there is trust, understanding and team spirit within it — or lose if internal competition and misunderstanding prevail. The speaker also showed how emotional intelligence helps generate new ideas, including in the field of sports technology.
After the discussion, participants took part in interactive games that helped them better understand themselves and team processes. The activity generated a lot of interest: the schoolchildren interacted enthusiastically and actively participated in the game.
The event provided participants with new knowledge, useful experience and incredibly positive emotions.