When Irina Ilienko fled Ukraine with her daughters, she abandoned her research and the 20-year career she built as a cell biologist in Kyiv before the Russian invasion.
Ilienko and her girls, aged 9 and 19, fled to Budapest, Hungary, shortly after the war began, and remained there for a month before flying to Edmonton on April 9, unsure of what lay ahead.
As the war rages, there are growing concerns about the long-term effect the conflict will have on the world scientific community – and on lost opportunities for discovery in academia, medicine and science in Ukraine.
In Canada, however, there are scientists trying to help war-displaced researchers settle in a new country, at least for now.
In Edmonton, the co-founder and CEO of Future Fields, a biotechnology company, reported online that the lab was interested in hiring Ukrainian researchers who had fled the conflict.
“The thought of having to put my career on top of everything else you’re going to have to face as someone fleeing a war-torn country is awful,” said Matt Anderson-Baron. “If we could help this way, it’s pointless.”
Prior to the conflict, Ilienko worked at a research center in Kyiv for more than 20 years. She was worried about losing her scientific career because of the war. (Sam Martin / CBC)
And a few weeks ago, Anderson-Baron hired Ilienko.
“I [was] I am afraid that my scientific career may be stopped, “she told CBC News.
“It’s like the first step for me,” she said of the new job. “Of course it’s very difficult… It’s very important to me to be here [had to] I spend another month in Canada without a job, I think [I] it will be absolutely crushed. “
Displaced academics
Intellectual institutions are often the first targets when war breaks out, said Carly Kehoe, an associate professor at St. Mary’s University in Halifax and an advocate for displaced and refugee scholars.
“Universities are usually seen as areas where there can be intellectual exchange and they have more freedom, academic freedom to say what they think based on their research,” Kehou said.
“It doesn’t always work out very well.”
A local is walking near a building badly damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on May 20th. (Alexander Ermochenko / Reuters)
Keho points out how scientists were displaced by World War II, during the war in Syria and now during the conflict in Ukraine.
“The most common thing that happens is that people have to run away to leave their research behind. [but] they don’t leave their ideas behind, “she said.” They take their children and families, if they can – they don’t have to stop and move their labs. “
We are potentially losing any discoveries we would make or would make in our careers. – Carly Kehoe, Associate Professor, St. Mary’s University
This can lead to lost potential, especially if someone is unable to continue working in a new environment.
“We are potentially losing any discoveries they would make or would make in their careers,” Kehou said.
Moving research
Aaron Barr hopes to mitigate these losses by helping relocate Ukrainian researchers – and their work – to Canada.
The CEO of Canadian Rockies Hemp Corp. in Bruderheim, Alta., has been affiliated with the Institute of Fine Arts, the Ukrainian National Academy of Agrarian Sciences, for about two years.
Aaron Barr is the CEO of Canadian Rockies Hemp Corporation in Bruderheim, Alta. (Sam Martin / CBC)
In addition to relocating staff, Bar said he is working with the institute to transport about 1,800 kilograms of specialized, pedigree seeds that agricultural scientists have developed in recent years.
The seeds are expected to arrive in Canada by the end of May; if they are not removed from the institute, Bar said, they are likely to break down. Most of the baskets for grain and seed production have been destroyed, he said.
“They had some of the seeds in their warehouses and these are the things we can take by truck from there to safety and then bring them here to Canada,” Bar said.
Vladislav Tkachenko, a spokesman for the institute, said it was unclear how long the war could last and officials did not want to risk losing the research they had put into the seeds.
“We do not know what the outcome of the war will be. That is why we are looking further and trying to find the best solution for our case,” he told CBC News in Dnipro, Ukraine.
Bar said he saw resilience from his colleagues in Ukraine.
“The staff who stayed there at the institute are determined to continue their recovery,” he said. “They will be stuck this year. They are doing everything possible to continue living their lives.
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