Academic displacement due to conflict disrupts not only individual careers but also the broader educational and research landscape. In response, “Mapping Innovative Solutions for Displaced Academic Communities: Open Science and Education in Crisis Contexts” is an initiative designed for early-career researchers to address the challenges faced by displaced Ukrainian scholars.
Structured in three stages, the initiative begin with a hybrid hackathon-style event, which will take place th 4 of April at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), where participants will work together to co-developed solutions to key issues affecting displaced academics. This first event will be followed by online meetings to refine ideas and share insights, and culminate in a final gathering with representatives from EELISA Communities Re-Shape Next Generation Academia, Ethics, Social Commitment & Entrepreneurship (ESCE), and the Open Science Community (OSC) to consolidate outcomes and future steps.
Recognizing the value of their initiative, organizers Ana Horta and Camilla Roveri were invited to one of Google’s weekly meet-ups in Madrid to present their vision. Learn more through Ana’s perspective:
Whenever you talk with someone about learning new things, they always refer to the most common paths, such as enrolling new courses, reading books or listening to key experts. But there is an different learning journey I would like to highlight, and it is the learning by connecting with people: talking with them and discussing potential solutions for nowadays problems.
This is exactly what we are achieving by implementing the ‘’Mapping Innovative Solutions for Displaced Academic Communities’’ activity led by the Re-shape Next Generation Academia, Open Science and ESCE EELISA Communities within the EELISA ecosystem. This activity, structured in 3 stages, is focused on how can we solve current challenges that the academia community face using Open Science tools. The ultimate goal, is to provide a tool-kit ready to be used in Ukraine and any other regions were necessary.
We were invited to the weekly meetups at Google Campus for Startups that the Madrid Digital Network, an organization established with the aim to support Ukraninag tech professionals and entrepreneurs who, unfortunately, have been displaced from their home country due to the current conflict with Russia. During this activity, we had the chance to connect with different profiles from the Spanish and Ukrainian ecosystem concern about this context.
Olesya Bob, the person behind this initiative, was very welcoming when we first met. We discussed potential synergies and options of collaboration. She mentioned to us that ’’The displacement of academics due to conflict, as seen in Ukraine, disrupts not only individual careers but also the broader scientific and educational landscape. This activity within the EELISA alliance is taking a crucial step in addressing this challenge by fostering collaboration among early researchers and institutions. Initiatives like this one ensures that displaced scholars can stay connected, contribute to global knowledge, and find new opportunities despite the hardships caused by war’’’. It is then when she invited us to their upcoming meetup.
Through these events, Olesya and her team want to provide help, feedback and a support network to those digital entrepreneurs coming from Ukraine and find asylum within Spain by fostering the connection between both ecosystems. For us, it was such a great opportunity to explain for a different and not-academia related audience our aim, activities roadmap and expected results to be shared by mid-2025.
Our activity was created with the aim of having impact. It’s always nice to collaborate, design and implement fulfilling activities but for us, the main keyword has been always being impact. Within the EELISA network, we are aware of all the great talent we do have in our classrooms, laboratories and departments but is necessary to connect with the different stakeholders from the ecosystem and have a multi-level and multi-actor perspective. ‘’The ‘Mapping Innovative Solutions for Displaced Academic Communities’ initiative is an inspiring example of how Open Science can be used to support academics in crisis.
By structuring the activity across multiple phases—from a hackathon to the development of a practical tool-kit—they are not only addressing immediate challenges but also ensuring long-term impact. Their collaboration with Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and other stakeholders highlights a commitment to meaningful, sustainable solutions that can be shared across Ukraine and beyond’’ stands Olesya.
We are eager to have our very first activity during this upcoming month of April at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, where we will be able to gather students from different universities and different backgrounds who will work together to find suitable and impactful solutions for this challenging situation.
She is a Project Manager at the Technological Innovation Support Center (CAIT) of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM). She manages European projects in technological innovation and entrepreneurship, such as Clean Cities Spain ClimAccelerator, a European acceleration program led by UPM and supported by EIT Climate-KIC. With a background in Biology and Business Management, Ana is pursuing a PhD focused on the collaboration between startups and public entities in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, specializing in acceleration stages. She was also featured in the Women Leaders of the Business Ecosystem Guide in 2024, developed by WITH in collaboration with Enisa, for her work in innovative entrepreneurship.
