Study raises fears of a ‘lost generation’ of scientists

By Nathan M Greenfield

The heinous russia’s aggression has decimated Ukraine’s scientific intellectual community: over 33% of the country’s pre-war scientists are either no longer in Ukraine or have stopped practising science, according to an academic study, “The effects of war on Ukrainian research”.

Writing in the journal Nature, associate professor in science, technology and innovation policy at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Lausanne, Switzerland) Gaétan de Rassenfosse and his two co-authors reported that since February 2022, 18.5% of Ukraine’s scientists have left the country (17% of whom have since ceased practising science) and 15% of those who remained in Ukraine are no longer scientists.

The time the average scientist in Ukraine devotes to science has also been affected, declining by 26%, from 13 to 10 hours per week, they report in their article published at the end of last year.

More recent figures from a UNESCO study published in March 2024 indicate that the cost of restoring Ukraine’s public scientific infrastructure will be more than US$1.26 billion.

The study reveals that 1,443 buildings and laboratories, as well as 750 pieces of scientific equipment, have been damaged or destroyed since the start of the war in February 2022.

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