Science and Innovation Leaders in Wartime Ukraine: NASU, Zagorodniy, Diaspora Networks

Scientific institutions are among the casualties of war that attract least public attention but carry some of the deepest long-term costs. Laboratories destroyed by missiles cannot be rebuilt overnight. Research archives damaged or lost represent years of accumulated intellectual work. Researchers who leave the country during a crisis often find it difficult to return when their careers have been established elsewhere. Ukraine has experienced all of these costs during the full-scale war — and has simultaneously mounted a remarkable response, pivoting portions of its scientific enterprise toward defense applications, maintaining international research partnerships, and mobilizing a global Ukrainian diaspora science network to compensate for in-country losses.

National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine: Anatoliy Zagorodniy

The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU) — one of the largest national academies in Europe, with hundreds of research institutes and tens of thousands of researchers — is led by President Anatoliy Zagorodniy, a plasma physics specialist who has managed the Academy through the war's most challenging conditions. NASU institutions suffered physical damage from Russian bombardment, lost researchers to military service, displacement, and emigration, and faced budget pressure as public resources were prioritized for immediate defense and humanitarian needs. Zagorodniy's leadership priorities included maintaining the Academy's research capacity, protecting irreplaceable scientific archives and collections, maintaining international scientific partnerships that sustained both access to global knowledge and the economic support of Ukrainian researchers through foreign-funded projects, and pivoting portions of NASU's applied research capacity toward defense-relevant applications.

Defense-Relevant Research Acceleration

Ukrainian scientific institutions rapidly organized around defense priorities after the invasion. The NASU Institute of Physics, Paton Electric Welding Institute, and other applied research institutes directed significant effort toward military applications: materials science for armor, welding technology for vehicle repair, electronics for drone components, and medical science for trauma care protocols. The Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology — one of the largest physics research centers in Eastern Europe — was in one of the most bombed cities in Ukraine, posing extraordinary operational challenges while attempting to maintain both fundamental and applied research.

NASU and Scientific Institutions Overview

Diaspora Science Networks

Ukrainian scientists abroad — working in universities and research institutes across North America, Europe, and elsewhere — organized rapidly after the invasion to support their colleagues remaining in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Research Diaspora Network and informal networks through the Ukrainian Physical Society, chemical and biological science associations, and engineering networks facilitated several forms of support: direct financial transfers to colleagues, remote employment arrangements through joint projects, hosting of displaced researchers at foreign institutions, and advocacy with international funders to direct emergency support to Ukrainian institutions. Ukrainian diaspora scientists in the US and EU brought their institutional relationships and grant access to bear on creating emergency funding streams for Ukraine-based colleagues.

Horizon Europe and International Research Continuity

Ukraine's association with the European Union's Horizon Europe research funding framework — which was actively being implemented when the invasion began — provided an important lifeline for Ukrainian researchers and institutions. European Commission decisions maintained Ukrainian institutional eligibility and created specific emergency pathways for Ukrainian researchers displaced by the conflict. Ukrainian universities and research institutes continued applying for and winning Horizon Europe grants, maintaing their connection to European research networks and the financial support this provided. Several Horizon Europe projects explicitly incorporated Ukrainian partners as part of solidarity-driven research collaboration, providing both funding and institutional connection.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much of Ukraine's scientific capacity has been lost?

Assessing the full loss is difficult without post-war comprehensive surveys, but available evidence suggests significant brain drain and physical damage. Estimates from Ukrainian scientific organizations suggested 20-30% of researchers left Ukraine during the war period. Physical damage to laboratory facilities affected some institutions severely. However, many researchers who left maintained institutional relationships, and the wartime emphasis on defense-relevant research created new funding streams that partially compensated for peacetime research budget reductions.

What role does Ukraine play in international science?

Ukraine had significant international scientific standing before the war — particularly in mathematics, physics, materials science, and computer science — with Ukrainian researchers represented across major global institutions. Ukraine was also a significant contributor to European space activities (through the Yuzhnoye/Yuzmash rocket engineering heritage) and maintained collaborative research with CERN and other pan-European scientific facilities. The war disrupted but did not sever these connections; several Ukrainian scientists maintained active participation in international collaborations even while the country was under attack.

How is Ukraine integrating into European research frameworks?

Ukraine's EU candidate status and the EU's deliberate science solidarity policy created expanding integration. Ukraine was brought into ERA (European Research Area) frameworks, maintained its Horizon Europe association, and began the legislative and institutional alignment required for full ERA participation. The European Research Council created specific Ukraine-related schemes. Marie Curie fellowship programs specifically accommodated Ukrainian researchers needing to relocate. This systematic European research integration was advancing the Ukraine-EU scientific relationship beyond emergency solidarity toward structural partnership.

Are young Ukrainian scientists continuing their careers during the war?

Young Ukrainian researchers faced acute career disruption — including male researchers' conscription eligibility, which created existential professional uncertainty. Many pursued PhD studies abroad, increasingly staying in European universities that had become familiar safe alternatives. Simultaneously, some young scientists remained in Ukraine, including in defense-relevant research roles that offered both professional engagement and a sense of wartime purpose. The Ukrainian scientific community is acutely aware that the career decisions of this generation will shape the country's scientific capacity for decades.

What happened to space industry capacity in Ukraine?

Ukraine's space industry heritage — centered in Dnipro, where the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and Yuzmash manufacturing facility built Soviet and then post-Soviet rocket technology — faced particular wartime challenges. Dnipro was under regular Russian missile attack. International space launch contracts had been disrupted by the geopolitical realignment that preceded and followed the invasion. However, Yuzhnoye/Yuzmash maintained operations, exploring new commercial satellite and launch partnerships, and Ukrainian expertise in rocket engineering attracted interest from Western space programs seeking to diversify away from Russian launch providers and technologies.

Sources

1. National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU). Official Annual Reports. nas.gov.ua, 2022–2024.
2. European Commission. Horizon Europe Ukraine Association and Emergency Measures. research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu, 2022–2024.
3. Science|Business (publication). Ukrainian Science Under War. sciencebusiness.net, 2022–2024.
4. Nature / Science (journals). Ukraine Science Emergency Coverage. nature.com / science.org, 2022–2024.
5. Ukrainian Research Diaspora Network. Initiatives and Support Programs. 2022–2024.