The education and research communities take action to support students and researchers from Ukraine.
The crisis in Ukraine is touching all of us and we feel compelled to do something in support of the people in Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian authorities, any school and university activity was stopped. Therefore, the education and research communities across Europe and Switzerland are condemning the war and showing support through concrete acts of solidarity with researchers, teachers and students.
In response to the current crisis in Ukraine, several European organisations have published statements to support the Ukrainian research and education community. These include among others the Academic Cooperation Association (ACA), the AURORA Universities Network, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA), the Coimbra Group, the European University Association (EUA), the Erasmus Student Network (ESN), European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU), Science Europe, The Guild, EURASHE, Universities of Applied Sciences for Europe (UAS4EUROPE), the Network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe (UNICA), and a joint statement from Global Student Forum, European Student Union (ESU) and the Ukrainian student union. In Switzerland, among others, the ETH Board and the institutions of the ETH domain, swissuniversities, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), and the Swiss Student Union published statements. The Swiss Academies fully endorse the statement of ALLEA. On 26 February 2022, Russian scientists and science journalists declared in an open letter a strong opposition to the Russian war launched against Ukraine. On 28 February 2022, in a phone interview with Science Business, Olga Polotska, the executive director of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (NRFU), asked for assistance for Ukrainian scientists, indicating, “any kind of international joint programmes involving Ukrainian researchers would help keep the country’s science base alive”.
Several European countries call for cooperation in research, innovation and education with Russia and Belarus to be ended. Other European countries are still evaluating the way forward. A science diplomacy initiative could currently not be started, but once the aggression ends, it would be important to “keep some channels open for dialogue and eventual collaboration”, highlighted James Moran, a former EU diplomat and associate senior research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies.
Based on the many above-mentioned statements in support of Ukrainian students and researchers, the question arises what concrete actions for students and researchers can, and have started to, take place in Switzerland but also in Europe at large. Jan Palmowski, the Secretary-General of The Guild, put it clearly in an opinion piece in Times Higher Education: While universities have experience and programmes in place to support refugees with language courses and mentoring, it is not sufficient for the current humanitarian crisis. He calls on governments to urgently increase support for universities to welcome researchers and students who are at risk. He also advocates for a special Erasmus+ Ukraine programme to enable students from Ukraine to pursue their studies in the EU. Very concrete offers of support for researchers and students are collected and presented by the volunteer-led Science for Ukraine campaign. The different offers, such as funding and accommodation across Europe (including Switzerland), are well presented on a map on their website, and can also be found on twitter under #ScienceforUkraine and @Sci_for_Ukraine. The SNSF and Swiss universities further support Scholars at Risk activities in Switzerland, for which researchers in Ukraine are currently considered candidates for support. The SNSF indicates that Swiss institutions that are “ready to provide sanctuary to a researcher; can apply for financial support from the SNSF”. The SNSF put CHF9 million additional funding forward in this regard. Besides, the SNSF offers flexibility for ongoing projects and doctoral studies, and additional contributions for employing researchers from Ukraine. Another example is set by the University of Zurich, which put in place an emergency fund for Ukrainian students and offers psychological counselling. The Erasmus Student Network is also taking action by setting up a refugee-acceptor matching system to find places to stay in countries neighbouring Ukraine for student refugees fleeing the war. The EC published on the EURAXESS website a new ERA4Ukraine Platform, a one-stop-shop for information and support services to Ukraine-based researchers fleeing Ukraine. Measures of the Swiss EURAXESS institutions are included.
When it comes to the Erasmus+ programme, the European Commission (EC) has introduced flexibility for ongoing projects with Ukraine or its neighbouring countries: projects can end earlier or be postponed, volunteering services can be continued online, additional costs for return transport will be covered, and the stay of participants from Ukraine can be prolonged (if possible). The Academic Cooperation Association further calls for “immediate and tangible actions to support Ukrainian scholars and students”, specifically to “establish flexible visa and residence provisions” and the introduction of “an emergency scholarship / grant support scheme” on the European level. This relates to a recent proposal by the German, Norwegian, and Polish National exchange agencies for Erasmus+ to step up efforts on the European level towards supplementing national support programmes offering support and funding for students at risk. In Switzerland, the Swiss Student Union has started setting up a Students-at-risk programme.
Russia received €14 million in Horizon 2020 (H2020), with some of the projects running until 2026, while most of the funds were deployed to Research Infrastructures with the largest beneficiary CREMLINplus. In addition, Russia cooperates in several European mega-science projects, among them CERN and ITER. CERN decided to suspend Russia’s observer status, while ITER has currently not communicated any actions. On 3 March 2022, the EC laid out a set of measures to express their solidarity with Ukraine. Firstly, the EC will not “engage into further cooperation projects with Russian entities”; thus, the preparation of grant agreements under Horizon Europe (HEU), involving Russian research organisations will be suspended, and any further contracts will not be signed until further notice. Secondly, payments to Russian entities under existing contracts are suspended. Thirdly, the EC will ensure continued successful participation of Ukraine and Ukrainian entities in HEU and Euratom Research and Training Programmes. And lastly, Ukraine signed its agreement to associate to both the HEU and Euratom in October 2021, and once Ukraine “notifies the EC of the completion of its ratification process”, the association agreement will enter into force. Administrative steps have been taken to guarantee that successful Ukrainian beneficiaries “can receive funding from the EU R&I programmes” in the meantime.
This article will be updated as new initiatives and information come out.