On Thursday 6 October 2022 the rare sound of children’s voices was to be heard at the Royal Academy when 25 Ukrainian scientists, predominantly women, paid a visit with their families. Many of them have moved here with their children from a country whose research organisations, not to mention society as a whole, are badly affected by the war, with the bombing of one of the world’s largest seed banks and of a newly built neutron facility, as well as the destruction and wide-scale plundering of IT and other vital research equipment.

The 25 scientists from Ukraine have found refuge in Danish research environments – at least for the time being – but are in a difficult situation personally and regarding their research, particularly because they lack a network.

– “My goal with this event is to make the Royal Academy a platform for Ukrainian scientists to come together”, explains Academy President Marie Louise Nosch.

– “Hopefully it can become a haven and our members a resource for them. We have set up a mentor scheme that puts members of the Danish Young Academy (DUA) and members of the Royal Academy in touch with Ukrainian scientists and introduces them to new networks to ensure that the Ukrainians have a much larger professional network when they leave us”.

Ukrainian Scholars’ Days was a two-day event that provided a chance to network, the opportunity to participate in  a boat trip round the Copenhagen canals and to have Danish open sandwiches, in addition to a visit by Danish foundations and the Ukrainian ambassador. At the opening of the event the Ukrainian scientists immediately expressed their enormous appreciation:

– “In these difficult times it’s wonderful to be welcomed so warmly by university presidents, professors and other colleagues and equally fantastic to receive an invitation such as this to the Royal Academy”.

10 points on supporting Ukrainian research

The timing of this event was no coincidence. In early summer the Royal Academy, together with international collaborators such as the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA) and other science academies, summarised in ten points ways in which the Ukrainian research community can be helped:

– “Following on from the ten points that we agreed upon with international partners a few months ago, we have now taken the next step by holding this event. The Royal Academy chose to invite DUA to be a partner because many of the scientists coming here are young”, explains Nosch, with Kristoffer Kropp, chair of DUA adding:

– “DUA hopes that this event will help Ukrainian scientists to look beyond their daily lives and give them opportunities to find their place in Denmark. DUA is providing professional input so that we do not spend all our time talking about problems but instead about our passion, namely research. Even though the world is burning we need to keep focusing on research and on exciting and important issues. My hope is that we can help to build bridges between Ukrainian scientists and DUA’s members”.

Ukrainian challenges and Danish foundations

This event was about more than just networking, it also embraced the exchange knowledge and ideas. Senior researcher Oksana Piven, who is affiliated with the Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, outlined the situation and future scenarios to the Danish and Ukrainian scientists and foundation members in a speech in the Old Meeting Hall:

– “The research community in Ukraine is beset by enormous problems, right now because of the war of course, but before the war the situation was not good either. Many researchers in the country look to go abroad because of lack of opportunity and money, so one of the main challenges is the brain drain – also when it comes to rebuilding research after the war, she explains, and displays a slide showing that the Ukrainian state spends 0.17% of its gross national product (GNP) on research and that the lion’s share of the financial resources comes from funding”.

In Denmark the state spends at least ten times more of its GNP on research.

Among the audience in the hall were Lene Oddershede, Senior Vice President for Natural & Technical Sciences at Novo Nordisk Foundation; Majken Schultz, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Carlsberg Foundation; Thomas Bjørnholm, Director of VILLUM FONDEN’s support programmes for research in the technical and natural sciences; and Jan Egebjerg, Senior Vice President for Grants & Prizes and Director of Science at the Lundbeck Foundation. All of them listened attentively – also to the next speaker.

Sophia Opatska is Vice Rector of Strategic Development at Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine, but she is currently affiliated with Aarhus University. In her speech she mentioned three specific areas where the foundations can help.

– “Many of us Ukrainian scientists present here today obviously feel that our own research fields are the most important. I have thought further and would say that our agriculture, the issue of the brain drain, and the problem of meeting overhead costs are among the biggest challenges that a good recovery plan will need to address after the war”, she explains, turning to members of the audience from the foundations, who subsequently asked questions and were given further details.

Visit by the ambassador

The event included a visit by the Ukrainian ambassador, Mykhailo Vydoinyk, who attended the presentations and discussions and was eagerly awaited by many of the scientists.

– “The fact that the Ukrainian ambassador joined us today is perhaps a sign of the Ukrainian government’s support. It’s time to support science and education, also in a post-war recovery plan”, says Levgeniia Lukianchenko, a visiting researcher at the University of Copenhagen.

It soon became clear in the discussion with the ambassador that the researchers felt that science was given too little priority in Ukrainian society, and they offered advice to both him and each other, including this suggestion:

– “Would it be possible for you to make a list of the scientific fields that are currently active in Ukraine? That would help us to gain a much better picture of the situation while we are unable to live in the country”.

Another suggestion, which was backed by the ambassador, was about burying the Soviet era.

– “If we are to make changes, also after the war, we should write to the government”, suggested one of the scientists in the audience, who went on to comment that doing so during the Soviet era would have been pointless but that the times had changed, and it was important to exert influence wherever possible.

The shared message to the Ukrainian ambassador was clear: the Ukrainian state should realise that research is necessary to create a good future for Ukraine.

Accompanied by a round of applause, and perhaps with a note of greater optimism for the future, President Nosch rounded off the event by expressing her hope that the scientists present would keep in contact and by urging them to use the occasion to create a virtual research centre enabling mutual help across the various research areas, not just while the Ukrainian researchers are living in Denmark, but also when the war is over.