"On February 24, 2022, I woke up in my apartment in Odessa in the south of Ukraine to the sound of an explosion. The news confirmed my worst fears: War had broken out." This is how Prof. Tetiana Melnychuk begins her account of her journey from the Odessa School of Law to Osnabrück University. The legal scholar is one of ten researchers who are currently at risk and/or under threat and who have found refuge and a new academic home at Osnabrück University.
Osnabrück University set up the Coordination Refugees @ UOS position at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS) back in 2015, and following the outbreak of war in Ukraine, advice and support for refugee academics was transferred to the International/Global Engagement department. In addition, the university has been a member of the Scholars at Risk and EURAXESS networks since 2023, and the University Society also supports the international orientation of the university and this target group with bridging funds and scholarship grants.
Many refugee academics are not allowed to make public appearances, as otherwise they would put themselves and their families in danger. Tetiana Melnychuk is different. She speaks openly about her experiences.
"War is a turbulent time for science too, when personal safety takes precedence over other areas of life. It is both mentally and physically difficult to reconcile self-protection and intellectual work," she says. The war thwarted all her plans, stopped her career opportunities and shattered her academic contacts. "As a woman, mother and academic, I was faced with deeply contradictory challenges."
"It's not just about getting out of a crisis area, but also about maintaining your dignity as an academic and being able to work accordingly," says Prof. Arndt Sinn from the School of Law at Osnabrück University. He is currently mentoring two Ukrainian women: Prof. Tetiana Melnychuk and Prof. Svitlana Mazepa from Ternopil University. She had to flee Ukraine with her twelve-year-old daughter. "Some of my students were killed in the war," she says. The law faculty where she worked was also damaged by a missile attack.
Arndt Sinn already knew Svitlana Mazepa before the Russian attack, as their research areas partly overlap. Tetiana Melnychuk was previously unknown to the legal scholar. "That was a happy coincidence - it turned out that we also deal with similar issues," says Prof. Sinn.
"As an international university, we see it as our responsibility to offer protection and prospects to academics who are under pressure or at risk in their home countries," says Prof. Andrea Lenschow, Vice President for International Affairs, Diversity and Academic Staff Development at Osnabrück University. "Research thrives on free exchange - where this is threatened, it is not only science that suffers, but society as a whole. It fills us with pride that we at Osnabrück University, together with committed colleagues, can create safe spaces for thinking, researching and teaching."
And yet the opportunities to take in academics at risk are limited - the university relies on scholarships and funding programs.
This is where the threads come together with Dr. Stephanie Held from the International/Global Engagement department at Osnabrück University. She has an overview of networks and funding opportunities, maintains contact with the schools and their dedicated mentors, who are willing to invest a lot of time with her in applying for funding and supporting the researchers at risk, as well as with many departments in the university administration, from Human Resources Development to VirtUOS, the university guest house or the apartment building on Westerberg. Many cogwheels have to mesh to make the admission work. "And every crisis, be it in Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan or Gaza, leads to increased demand," says Stephanie Held.
A demand that universities can hardly keep up with. After the start of the war in Ukraine, the VW Foundation set up its own funding program specifically for this target group; however, the program has since expired and other scholarships are highly competitive. The two Ukrainians from the School of Law can therefore be all the more pleased: they have received scholarships from the Philipp Schwartz Initiative, which is funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. "This is an elite scholarship, a true accolade," says Arndt Sinn. "But the two are also simply outstanding scientists."
Further information for editorial offices:
Dr. Stephanie Held, Osnabrück University
Department of International Affairs/Global Engagement
E-mail: stephanie.held@uos.de
