Science doesn’t stop in Ukraine

It could take more than 20 years between elementary and an advanced degree in the sciences, engineering or health sciences. All of it can go away in months if you’re disconnected from the global research community. Our colleagues in Ukraine are currently facing this disconnect.?

Last week, I was in Ukraine and have been reflecting on our work supporting Ukrainian scientists over the last 18 months.

Science doesn’t stop. At the National Academy of Sciences , we are working to keep our fellow scientists in Ukraine an active part of the global scientific ecosystem. It was my second trip to Ukraine in half a year, and the resolve and determination of Ukrainian researchers and scientists still moves me. Science doesn’t stop, and they refuse to either.

On May10th, NAS President Marcia McNutt together with David Spergel , President of Simons Foundation convened a group of high-level government officials to discuss the future of Ukrainian science. David floated the idea of a data science summer institute. In less than three months, 50 students from around Ukraine joined us at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv for excellent lectures and discussions.

To prepare, we had meetings, zoom calls, etc. to go over plans A to Z, and then we planned AA to ZZ. We considered various scenarios, did our due diligence to ensure, to the best of our ability, the safety of everyone involved. When your work is interrupted by air raid sirens, conducting research, writing papers, and keeping up with advancements in your field is hard. Yet, this is the reality our Ukrainian colleagues face daily, and our team worked to mitigate the danger as much as possible.

This short-turn around was only possible because of the fantastic teamwork. A special thank you to Oleksii Ignatenko and Yaroslav Prytula , who were crucial to the on-the-ground work. Patricia Cuff, Allison Purvis and of course my partner in crime Vaughan Turekian .