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Seven ways the war in Ukraine is changing global science

Impacts on research are being felt more widely than just in Ukraine and Russia.
  1. Nisha Gaind
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    1. Aisling Irwin is a freelance journalist in Oxfordshire, UK.

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Soldiers help evacuees cross a destroyed bridge as they flee the city of Irpin during the invasion of Ukraine

Evacuees flee Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, in March. Credit: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty

In just five months, Russia’s war on Ukraine has killed thousands of people, displaced millions and ruptured global geopolitics and economics. It is marking science, too. The heaviest impacts are in Ukraine, where researchers have seen their institutions bombed and are facing upheaval and threats to their livelihoods. In Russia, scientists are contending with boycotts and sanctions in response to their country’s actions. More widely, the crisis has created economic and political rifts that have already affected research in physics, space, climate science, food security and energy. A prolonged conflict could foment a significant realignment of scientific-collaboration patterns.

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Nature 607, 440-443 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01960-0

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 27 July 2022: An earlier version of this feature erroneously stated that Russia had not paid its share of XFEL’s running costs.

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