The Novo Nordisk Foundation has given DKK 10 million to two fellowship programmes that enable Ukrainian researchers to temporarily serve as fellows at a research institution in Poland or Denmark.
Because of the ongoing war in Ukraine, many Ukrainians have been displaced in neighbouring countries as well as other European countries. Among these people are researchers who have been forced to leave their laboratory and classrooms.
To help mitigate this difficult situation, the Novo Nordisk Foundation is supporting two separate fellowship programmes that enable Ukrainian researchers to maintain their research expertise and expand their international network until conditions allow them to return to Ukraine.
The Foundation has awarded DKK 5 million to a programme providing emergency fellowships for Ukrainian researchers. This programme has been established by the United States National Academy of Sciences in collaboration with the Polish Academy of Sciences. The fellowship programme provides financial support and training directly to Ukrainian researchers at research institutions in Poland, where they temporarily serve as fellows. The grant from the Foundation will finance more than 90 such fellowships, each 6 months in duration, with the potential to expand efforts to include Ukrainian research teams.
The Foundation has awarded an additional DKK 5 million for fellowships that enable Ukrainian researchers from any scientific field to temporarily serve as fellows at a research institution in Denmark. This fellowship programme is led by Universities Denmark and administered by Scholars at Risk Denmark.
Researchers can continue their academic career
Both fellowship programmes enable Ukrainian researchers to continue and advance their academic careers while expanding their international network until conditions enable them to return to Ukraine.
“Hundreds of researchers are currently in desperate need for such a fellowship. Most of them are female researchers whose husbands or other close family members remain in Ukraine. These fellowship programmes will help Ukrainian researchers to maintain their expertise while keeping them geographically close to Ukraine, and in the long run help to rebuild the science community in Ukraine,” says Lene Oddershede, Senior Vice President, Natural & Technical Sciences, Novo Nordisk Foundation.
At the Ukrainian Embassy in Denmark, the fellowships are well received, and the Ambassador encourages Ukrainian researchers to make use of the programmes.
“I am grateful to the Novo Nordisk Foundation for this initiative and encourage many young talented Ukrainian researchers to use such an opportunity in full. I am confident that the knowledge they get in Poland or Denmark, as well as the results of their research, will contribute to the development of the Ukrainian science. We will also be happy to see them all back in Ukraine after completion of the fellowship programme and, of course, when the security situation in my country will allow so,” says Ambassador of Ukraine to Denmark Mykhailo Vydoinyk.
About the Emergency Fellowships for Ukrainian Researchers
This fellowship programme is led by the United States National Academy of Sciences in collaboration with the Polish Academy of Sciences.
The two organisations have well-functioning and scalable procedures in place for evaluating the applicants.
For more information about the Emergency Fellowships for Ukrainian Researchers, please contact Franklin Carrero-Martínez or Kelly Robbins at [email protected].
About Fellowships for Scholars at Risk from Ukrainian Universities
This fellowship programme is led by Universities Denmark in collaboration with Scholars at Risk Denmark.
Scholars at Risk Denmark coordinates activities in Denmark to protect and support refugee researchers and promote academic freedom. Members of Scholars at Risk Denmark come from all universities in Denmark, the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), Danish Institute for Human Rights and DSF – National Union of Students in Denmark.
For more information about the Fellowships for Scholars at Risk enabling researchers from Ukrainian universities to serve as fellows at research institutions in Denmark, please contact Vivian Tos Lindgaard at [email protected].
