UNESCO outlines recovery plan for Ukrainian science

Some 750 items of scientific equipment have been damaged by war in Ukraine over the past two years, most of them beyond repair. The cost of replacing this equipment has been assessed at US$ 46 million. 

The damaged scientific equipment ranges from microscopes and x-ray diffractometers to the Boris Alexandrov research vessel used for environmental monitoring of marine waters, which will cost about US $10 million to replace.

Essential equipment for monitoring the state of the nuclear industry has been destroyed or stolen from research premises of the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants situated in the Chernobyl district, since the temporary Russian occupation in March 2022. This includes a unique radiological laboratory which controls radiation levels at the decommissioned Chernobyl plant and Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, among others. The loss of this monitoring equipment could threaten the health and safety of more than two billion people living across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

These findings are part of the Analysis of War Damage to the Ukrainian Science Sector and its Consequences commissioned by UNESCO from the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, which was released on 11 March, in order to inform the symposium. Information and data have also been provided for the study by the National Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Education and Science.

A plan to equip labs with state-of-the-art facilities

Amal Kasry, Chief of the Section for Basic Sciences, Research, Innovation and Engineering, outlined UNESCO’s recovery plan for Ukrainian science at the symposium. ‘The aim is to enhance working conditions by equipping laboratories with state-of-the-art facilities’, she said. ‘UNESCO will collaborate with laboratories outside Ukraine that are willing to share access to their own sophisticated scientific equipment’.

If necessary, Ukrainian scientists will travel to these partner laboratories for specialized training. Upon their return, they will impart their knowledge to fellow scientists, enabling them to utilize the equipment remotely, as well.

In some cases, Ukrainian scientists will also need equipment with which to process samples, such as small microscopes and spectrometers. ‘Whenever this essential small-scale equipment for process labs is lacking, UNESCO will procure and ship the necessary items to Ukraine through its partners’, explained Kasry.

The estimated cost of training up to six scientists in how to use each piece of equipment remotely and shipping the requisite sample processing equipment to Ukraine is US$200,000.

The plan will prioritize critical facilities, research centres and universities. To be eligible for inclusion, each institution will need to fulfill several criteria. It will have suffered from the war but be currently situated outside the conflict zone. The buildings will still be standing but their scientific equipment will have suffered considerable damage and the institutions chosen will be known for their contribution to cutting-edge research.

The recovery plan is partly inspired by a UNESCO programme launched last year which has already provided scientists in three African countries with remote access to advanced laboratory equipment.

‘At this stage, there have been no specific financial pledges’, acknowledged Amal Kasry after the symposium wound up, ‘but UNESCO will continue holding bilateral meetings with Member States to discuss mobilizing resources to address the needs outlined in the report’.

‘There is a need for long-term rehabilitation efforts to strengthen Ukraine's scientific capacity through sustained investment and international partnerships’, she said. ‘Solidarity and collaboration within the global scientific community will be crucial in accelerating Ukraine's recovery process and ensuring a brighter scientific future for the nation’.

‘If we don’t act now, there will be very little to rebuild after the war,’ remarked Sergey Barsuk, Research Director at the Irène Joliot-Curie Laboratory of the French National Centre for Scientific Research and Paris-Saclay University, during a panel discussion.

‘We need technical support, support for equipment’, remarked Maksym Nadutenko, lead researcher at the National Academy of Sciences. 'We need training by scientists in other countries’.

The recovery plan will rely on international scientific collaboration and solidarity. That is why representatives of institutions from other parts of the world spoke at the symposium, in addition to Ukrainian scientists.

Frederik Søndergaard, Policy Officer for Horizon Europe at the European Commission, mentioned that, as an Associate Country, Ukraine was given preferential treatment when it came to international research grants from the European Union, such as under the Marie Sklodowska Curie programme.

Maija M. Kukla presented the National Science Foundation’s scheme for International Multilateral Partnerships for Resilient Education and the Science System in Ukraine (IMPRESS-U). She was joined on the panel by Vivi Stavrou, Senior Science Officer at the International Science Council.

In his video message, Oksen Lisovyi, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, evoked the dilemma that scientists faced in Ukraine. ‘Currently, our researchers are in a position where they must take care of not only their professional fulfilment, ensuring the country’s survival, but also of their own safety’, he said.

Sergey Barsuk explained how the Institute of Scintillation Materials, situated in Kharkiv close to the Russian border, had been forced to move its experimental activities underground.

He described the time he and a colleague from the European Organization for Nuclear Physics had been teaching in Kyiv when the sirens blared, announcing an imminent air attack. ‘We had to move to an underground shelter’, he said, ‘where we continued teaching 50 students in the subway’.

Some Ukrainian scientists find themselves unable to focus solely on their professional responsibilities. Theoretical physicist Khrystyna Gnatenko from the National University of Lviv described dividing her time between teaching and volunteer work to support ‘the armed forces who are risking their lives for us’.

Other Ukrainian scientists have put their own safety at risk to ensure a semblance of normalcy for their students. ‘I would like to share an example of courage’, offered Stanislav Dovgyi, President of the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine which had authored the assessment of damage to Ukrainian research infrastructure. He spoke of how ‘Professor Fedir Shandor from the National University of Uzhhorod is still giving classes to students from the trenches at the front’.