Ukrainian academy president seeks to protect science as war escalates

KYIV, UKRAINE— In a dramatic escalation of the war in Ukraine, dozens of Russian missiles and kamikaze drones rained down on civilian targets across the country on 10 October, killing 19 and wounding scores more. Several academic institutions came under fire in the attack. One rocket slammed into Kyiv’s Shevchenko Park, blowing out windows at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv’s science library, its Institute of Philology, the National Museum of Natural History, and the Ministry of Education and Science. Also damaged in the blast was the headquarters of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU). Fortunately, most staff were working remotely that day, and the few in the building at the time were unharmed. For NASU President Anatoly Zagorodny, 71, repairing the headquarters is the latest entry on a long to-do list. At the top is maintaining a scientific pulse in NASU’s 160 institutes and 38 R&D enterprises as the war drains Ukraine’s budget. That includes keeping up salary payments to some 27,000 academy staff. Elite researchers who’ve stuck it out in Ukraine are about to get a shot in the arm: The U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) are finalizing details of a new program for 2023 that will invite proposals from teams of Polish scientists and colleagues in Ukraine. As Russia steps up attacks on civilian infrastructure, Zagorodny, a theoretical physicist, must also contend with elec...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news