Every day, the correspondents’ club describes how the same current event is illustrated in two countries.
The war in Ukraine has an impact on Russian scientific research. In some countries, such as Germany and Switzerland, scientific partnerships with Russia and Belarus have been suspended.
In Germany, cooperation work with Russian researchers suspended
The German Ministry of Education and Research stopped all cooperative work with Russian and Belarusian researchers from the very first days of the war in Ukraine. All research programs funded or co-funded by Russia are suspended, scholarships granted to German researchers in Russia are frozen, bilateral conferences are canceled, exchanges of materials prohibited. These prohibitions concern both public institutes and universities, hospitals and other institutions financed by the State. At the same time, Germany is opening its doors to Russian and Belarusian researchers threatened by Vladimir Putin’s regime, as well as, of course, to Ukrainian researchers.
The most affected sectors are space and space research, and also high-energy physics, a normally apoliticized sector, and where cooperation with Russia has never experienced a break, even during the Cold War.
In Switzerland, the European Organization for Nuclear Research closes its doors in Moscow
In Switzerland, in Geneva, CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research), decided to cut ties with Russia from the start of the conflict, by suspending it from its observer status. Russian and Belarusian scientists working at CERN can stay in Switzerland until 2024. But they can no longer publish scientific articles with the name of their institution if it is Russian or Belarusian. Without publication; no visibility, no recognition and therefore no funding.
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However, there are nearly a thousand scientists from Russia who work in one way or another with CERN and who rub shoulders with Ukrainian researchers, even if few researchers are pro-Putin and pro-war. Russia is the second most represented country at CERN after the United States.
Even though it is located in Switzerland, CERN is a European organization, hence its quick and firm reaction to Russia. Switzerland is officially neutral. Swiss universities issued a statement saying that science should not be used to support the war in Ukraine, but that Russian scientists should not be collectively punished. As long as Russian researchers do not make waves, there is no reason to cancel their contracts.