The International Science Council and its partners have released their report on the Ukraine Crisis, highlighting 7 key recommendations for the international community to support science systems affected by conflict.
On 15 June 2022, the ISC and partners the All European Academies (ALLEA), Kristiania University College, and Science for Ukraine co-hosted the ‘Conference on the Ukraine Crisis: Responses from the European Higher Education and Research Sectors’.
We are proud to now share the report of the conference, which includes important lessons and recommendations on how to support the science sector in Ukraine and in other places affected by conflict and disaster.
Guests at conference
The conference brought together over 150 stakeholders from across Europe. Over half of the attendees came from Ukraine, including the Minister of Education and Science for Ukraine, the Honourable Serhiy Shkarlet, who gave a keynote speech.
Participants reflected on the assistance provided to-date for academics, scientists, researchers and students who are at-risk, displaced or refugees as a result of the war in Ukraine, and put forward recommendations for mid- to long-term support, including rebuilding of the higher education and research sectors after conflict.
This conference report provides an overview of the full breadth of these discussions, and highlights seven key principles for national governments, multilateral organisations and the global science sector to consider, from which the priority recommendations flow.
Key principles
They are: Responsibility, International Solidarity, Openness, Inclusion, Mobility, Flexibility and Predictability.
Speaking at the conference, ISC President Peter Gluckman said: “The war in Ukraine must be a warning sign that there will be other episodes which disrupt science, and we are not well prepared. As a scientific community we can either be passive or recognize that in finding ways to help Ukraine we must also generalize and find ways to ensure our planet’s and people’s futures.”
In launching the report, Antonio Loprieno, President of ALLEA, co-organizing partner, remarked that “we are now six months into the invasion and there is a real need to remind people that the crisis has not gone away, so the report is very timely.”
The report was shared at the Science|Business Network Conference ‘United Europe: Widening R&I cooperation in times of war’, held on 7 September 2022.
