Condemning war, supporting scholars at risk
Dear SIEF colleagues, dear friends,
I am writing this message to you while still in a state of shock.
With Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe has entered a new era, raising spectres of the past. The war has already taken its first victims and material damage is significant. More than a million people are now displaced from Ukraine and seeking refuge in neighboring states.
As an international community of scholars in Ethnology and Folklore, we stand united with Ukraine.
With this email, I would like to direct your attention towards some of the recent initiatives aimed directly at supporting Ukrainian scholars at risk and their work.
Please read and share this overview of ways you can help:
- Secure Cloud Storage: AFS has taken the excellent initiative of providing free, unlimited, and secure cloud space for Ukrainian scholars and research institutions’ research data at a secured drive. If you are in contact with colleagues in need of such data storage, please write to us at scholarsatrisk@nomadit.co.uk and please reach out to others you know who may also be in need.
- Fellowships: This great initiative from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation fast tracks applications for fellowships from Ukrainian scholars. The deadline has been extended.
- Fellowship Assistance: Scholars at Risk, Maynooth University, and the University of Graz provide assistance to institutions and departments who wish to create fellowships.
- Support for Scholars: Science for Ukraine gathers information about support and scholarship for Ukrainian scholars from all over the world.
In addition, SIEF has compiled a special resource aimed at Ukrainian scholars offering specific contact information. This has been sent to our members in Ukraine and will be updated regularly. Please let us know if you have relevant items to add to this list at scholarsatrisk@nomadit.co.uk
SIEF has published an important anti-war statement here.
In this dire situation, we should not forget to stand united within our scientific community.
I would therefore also like to share The Russian Anthropologists’ and Ethnographers’ petition.
Let us work together to support our colleagues as best we can in this very difficult time.
Cordially,
Marie Sandberg
President of SIEF
