Three years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s academic landscape is at a critical crossroads. Universities have been damaged, relocated, or merged, and thousands of scholars have been displaced. Yet, teaching and research continue against all odds. The SCIENCE AT RISK Monitoring Report traces both the structural transformations of higher education and the lived experiences of Ukrainian scholars navigating war and psychological strain.

While many international initiatives have offered crucial support, most remain short term. The report presentation will open a discussion on how these emergency measures can evolve into a sustainable long-term strategy for supporting Ukrainian academia—balancing immediate relief with durable capacity building.

Join us to discuss how to achieve a balance between relief aid and long-term academic rebuilding, which governance and funding models ensure integrity, transparency, and autonomy, how principles of good governance, and participation can strengthen the resilience of Ukraine’s academic institutions, and how wartime adaptation can become the foundation for post-war renewal.

Welcome addresses
Anastasiya Leukhina, ZOiS – Centre for East European and International Studies
Philipp Christoph Schmädeke, SCIENCE AT RISK Emergency Office

Presentation of the SCIENCE AT RISK Monitoring Report: Consequences of the Russian military aggression for Ukrainian science and higher education
Maryna Rabinovych, UNET fellow, Kyiv School of Economics, UiT the Arctic University of Norway
Kostiantyn Fedorenko, ZOiS – Centre for East European and International Studies (tbc)

Discussion
Olena Bogdan, UNET fellow, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Maryna Rabinovych, UNET fellow, Kyiv School of Economics, UiT the Arctic University of Norway
Tilman Fietz-Bockard, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst

Chair
Gabriele Freitag, DGO – German Association for East European Studies

Get-together