One year ago, on 24 February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale military offensive in Ukraine. Since then, countless Ukrainian families have mourned the loss of their loved ones, and many others have been forced to flee their homes. Attacks on civil infrastructures have brought immense hardship to millions of civilians. We should do everything possible to protect human life. We also should do everything possible to protect the science and higher education sector in Ukraine from the war-inflicted decline, the growing generation gap, and a “brain drain.”
On 2 June 2022, a number of national academies of sciences convened in Warsaw to work on an action plan for science in Ukraine. The results of this meeting, along with the 10-point action plan, were shared with the scientific community in Science, Vol. 376 (6599), p. 1249. Since then, we have taken a number of steps to support scholars from and in Ukraine, aligned with the 10-point action plan:
Nevertheless, we believe there is still much room for more action and more support. We urge the scientific community around the world to continue helping scientists from and in Ukraine and to outline plans for the post-war recovery of science in the country. The future prosperity of Ukraine will hinge upon human resources and infrastructure, particularly the modernization of the country’s research, innovation, and education sector.
We strongly believe that this unjustified aggression will end, and that Ukraine will prevail. We are witnessing the struggle of the scientific community in Ukraine against a brutal war. In the face of injustice, let us join forces to support science!
Swedish support for Ukrainian researchers
The Academy and Swedish higher education institutions are now engaging in a joint effort in order to host Ukrainian researchers. A united group of representatives from Sweden’s scientific community states that in these challenging times, we must do our utmost to help a country that is at war.
Scholarships for Ukrainian scientists in Sweden
The call for applications from Ukrainian scientists is now closed. Through the scholarship programme, the Academy has been able to support researchers in widely different research areas, such as biochemistry, ecology, physics, history, law and engineering. They have received support to allow relocating to a Swedish university for a period of time and become integrated in the Swedish research environment there.
The Human Rights Committee of Sweden’s Scientific and Literary Academies
The Committee works to observe and react on abuses of human rights of scientist and scholars throughout the world. The work of the committee is based on principles set forth in the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and is carried out independently on the basis of i.a. specific cases and issues evoked by the Network Secretariat.
The committee includes members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, the Swedish Academy and the Young Academy of Sweden, and it participates in an international academy network, The International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies (IHRN).
Read a statement from the IRHN
Further international engagements
The Academy also acts in support of Ukraine, its citizens and academic institutions as a member of several international academic and research organisations. Read more about the different organisations’ involvement at the links below.
On 2 June 2022, a number of national academies of sciences convened in Warsaw to work on an action plan for science in Ukraine. The results of this meeting, along with the 10-point action plan, were shared with the scientific community in Science, Vol. 376 (6599), p. 1249. Since then, we have taken a number of steps to support scholars from and in Ukraine, aligned with the 10-point action plan:
- We launched a program to enable scientists who had left Ukraine to stay in science. In total, we have hosted 218 Ukrainian fellows for up to 10 months.
- We organized a number of training opportunities addressed to Ukrainian scientists in English or Ukrainian. In total, nearly 600 participants have attended these workshops.
- We launched a grant program for Ukrainian research teams with a Ukrainian PI being hosted at a research unit in Poland plus his or her research team members, including predoctoral researchers, staying outside or inside Ukraine.
Nevertheless, we believe there is still much room for more action and more support. We urge the scientific community around the world to continue helping scientists from and in Ukraine and to outline plans for the post-war recovery of science in the country. The future prosperity of Ukraine will hinge upon human resources and infrastructure, particularly the modernization of the country’s research, innovation, and education sector.
We strongly believe that this unjustified aggression will end, and that Ukraine will prevail. We are witnessing the struggle of the scientific community in Ukraine against a brutal war. In the face of injustice, let us join forces to support science!
Marek Konarzewski
President
Polish Academy of Sciences
President
Polish Academy of Sciences
Kurt Wüthrich
President
European Academy of Engineering
President
European Academy of Engineering
Anatoly Zagorodny
President
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
President
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine