Participants agreed that the Ukrainian scientific community has demonstrated remarkable resilience under the extremely challenging conditions of war.
The two-day summit was part of the European project RIFF – Research Infrastructures for the Future of Ukraine, coordinated by Masaryk University, which aims to map and support the preservation and further development of research in Ukraine. The June event focused on opportunities for integrating Ukrainian capacities into European research infrastructures, as well as on enabling Ukrainian scientists to make use of European research infrastructures.
One hundred participants spent two days discussing and presenting research infrastructures and specific research projects in three parallel sessions. The first session was led by Sergei Dzyadevych from the Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. According to him, the meeting was highly beneficial, allowing researchers to learn about the opportunities offered by European research infrastructures in the fields of food and health research. It also enabled them to become familiar with one another’s work and to better understand the importance of sharing resources and collaboration for the future development of science in Ukraine.
The conclusions of the session dedicated to the environment were presented by Gert Verreet, Chair of the ESFRI Environment Working Group from Belgium. “We learned what Europe can mean for Ukraine in research, and also what Ukraine can mean for the rest of Europe,” he said when reflecting on the outcomes of the meeting. He emphasized that Ukraine possesses extensive expertise, but that in the long term, cooperation with Europe will require addressing issues such as research data sharing and, above all, stronger connections between researchers and research topics at the national level. In the short term, it is essential to assess the damage to Ukraine’s research infrastructure in order to establish a clear basis for future support.
The third session focused on topics grouped under the acronym DIGIT. In his concluding remarks, Luděk Matyska, Director of the CERIT-SC Center, stated that in the era of the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence, it is crucial for Ukraine to become involved in European high-performance computing centers and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). To better align Ukrainian and European research in digital fields, participants agreed that Ukrainian institutions should engage in training and educational programs offered within the EU, including those focused on the development and management of research infrastructures. Another important factor is that Ukraine is an associated member of the Horizon Europe program, which allows its researchers to access European digital research infrastructures remotely and gradually build a Ukrainian ecosystem compatible with European open science standards.
Participants agreed that the Ukrainian scientific community has demonstrated extraordinary resilience under the extremely difficult conditions of war and has preserved or further developed a wide range of expertise that can enrich the rest of Europe.
Support and solidarity with researchers and with Ukraine as a whole, which has now been facing Russian aggression for a fifth year, were also expressed by Martin Bareš, Rector of Masaryk University. He recalled that Masaryk University had stood by Ukraine from the very beginning of the war, supporting students through special scholarships and assisting researchers and academics as well. Today, Ukrainian students and academics primarily make use of standard forms of support. In June, more than 540 study enrollments by Ukrainian students were registered at the university, and 57 Ukrainian nationals were employed by Masaryk University.