Support for refugee Ukrainian academics
Five scientists have already received scholarships and the commitment continues.
Even after more than a year since the start of the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine, support and cooperation remain important and central. In order to ensure a kind of normality for researchers, the University of Bayreuth has been intensively involved in the integration of refugee colleagues for months and supports the initiation of new and deepening of existing cooperation with Ukrainian academia. Five researchers are receiving fellowships from the UBT's Bayreuth Bridge for Science and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation's Philipp Schwartz Initiative (PSI).
Since February of last year, the Service Agency for Research Funding and the International Office of the UBT have been advising numerous researchers who had to flee Ukraine in order to bring themselves and their families to safety. In addition to German courses and information about the German academic system, the focus was always on opportunities for cooperation with Bayreuth colleagues and funding for guest stays at the University of Bayreuth. To date, 12 Ukrainian researchers at UBT have received funding from the Volkswagen Foundation, the German Research Foundation and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, but also from the hosts' own financial resources. "I am very grateful that our UBT family is so committed to advising and supporting our Ukrainian colleagues. And I am confident that the cooperation will continue beyond this terrible war to strengthen Ukraine as a science location. I would like to sincerely thank the academic hosts and the foundations involved for their generous support and commitment," says Prof. Dr. Stefan Leible, President of the University of Bayreuth.
Through the specially founded Bayreuth Bridge for Science, the UBT is funding 4 researchers with the generous support of the Rainer Markgraf Foundation and the Adalbert Raps Foundation. Dr. Oksana Horbach is a lecturer at the Department of Legal Linguistics of the National Academy of Internal Affairs in Kyiv and has been a guest of Prof. Dr. Karin Birkner, Chair of German Linguistics, since October. Together they are working on a theoretical-practical specialised course on "Specialised Languages in Contemporary German" with a focus on the fields of business, media and science. Dr Horbach is also involved with the Bayreuth Luitpold School for Ukrainian children who have fled to Germany. Since August, Dr Kateryna Tryma has been working with colleagues at the Centre for Continuing Education in Higher Education (FBZHL) under the direction of PD Dr Frank Meyer. The cooperation focuses on the principles and opportunities of virtual learning with the help of so-called Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), which enrich university teaching at the UBT especially in times of the pandemic. Psychologist Dr Olena Lytvynenko from Borys Grinchenko University in Kyiv is cooperating with junior professor Laura König in Kulmbach and is investigating the eating habits and eating traditions of Ukrainian refugees in Germany. As part of the Bayreuth Bridge, the researchers receive a bridge scholarship, German language courses and access to networking and advisory services at the university. Another research cooperation is currently in preparation. "As a foundation, it was quickly clear to us that we wanted to help actively and directly. In cooperation with the University of Bayreuth, we were fortunately able to implement this direct help quickly," says Florian Prosch, Chairman of the Board of the Rainer Markgraf Foundation. And Frank Kühne, Chairman of the Foundation Board of the Adalbert Raps Foundation, adds: "By funding German courses, we would like to make a substantial contribution to the integration of the female scientists who have fled to Bayreuth, Kulmbach and the Upper Franconia region."
Prof. Dr. Natalia Morkun has already been sponsored since April 2022 through the Volkswagen Foundation's Visiting Research Programme for Ukrainian Scientists and Scholars who have Fled Ukraine. Since August, she has been a PSI Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. At the chair of her host Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gerhard Fischerauer, the holder of the Chair of Measurement and Control Technology, she is working, among other things, on improving the extraction of useful components in concentrates during the processing of iron-bearing ores, reducing the costs of the end products and thus increasing competitiveness on the world market. The Philipp Schwartz Initiative was launched by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation together with the Federal Foreign Office and enables universities, universities of applied sciences and non-university research institutions in Germany to award fellowships for research stays to researchers at risk.
But the support is not over: thanks to funds from the Bavarian Emergency Fund Ukraine Aid of the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts, the expiring Bayreuth Bridge fellowships can be extended and the scientists* can be assured of support at least until the end of this year. "We are very grateful to the State Ministry for this important support, which is in the right place," says University President Prof. Dr. Stefan Leible. In addition to the funding of scholarships for academics, there are other support offers for people from Ukraine. For example, there are DAAD-funded scholarships for students and prospective students as well as various language programmes. The pilot project PROFI in MINT, for example, specifically supports refugee academics in their transition to the labour market. The central point remains: the University of Bayreuth tries to live up to its responsibility and continues to provide support.
