The war in Ukraine leaves many researchers with nothing. The Stiftung Universität Mannheim (University of Mannheim Foundation) and the University of Mannheim have set up an emergency fellowship fund for early-stage researchers affected by the war.
The war in Ukraine is an attack on fundamental values such as democracy, rule of law, and basic rights, which are also the basis for freedom of research. Many Ukrainian researchers have lost their entire living environment, their job and, in the worst case, family and friends. Many are still in the war zone or are fleeing the country. At best, they have already found a provisional home in Germany or another country. But there are also many people in Russia, in particular researchers, who have the courage to stand up against this war, despite all repressions. As a consequence, they have to fight for their freedom and livelihood. In addition to the various threats, losses, and worries caused by this cruel war, all of these people have in common that they lack perspective.
Therefore, the University of Mannheim Foundation and the University of Mannheim have established an emergency fund for the researchers affected by the war in Ukraine (Ukraine Notfallfonds). Thanks to your generous donations, almost EUR 80,000 have been raised for this purpose. With this money, we are currently supporting four researchers who thus have the opportunity to continue their academic work at the University of Mannheim for one year.
Thanks to your generous support, we are able to provide Alina with a scholarship. Alina comes from Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, near the borders to Belarus and Russia, and has fled together with her five-year-old daughter to acquaintances in Germany after spending many days in a shelter. Her husband is still in Ukraine.
Alina holds a doctorate in history and is researching legal structures in Ukraine during the Nazi occupation. She is now able to continue her research work at the Department of History at the University of Mannheim and is looking forward to the exchange with her fellow researchers in Germany and the new experiences she will make. All this has been made possible thanks to your support.
We spoke with Alina and two other scholarship holders, Ganna and Olha, and portrayed the researchers in three exciting interviews.
The donors have been listed in alphabetical order.