Yesterday, Ukraine celebrated her independence day. Eurodoc would like to take the opportunity to give a shout-out to our Ukrainian member organisation: The Young Scientist Council has over the course of the still ongoing war tirelessly advocated for the improvement of the conditions of early career researchers in Ukraine and has reminded all of us of the importance of rebuilding a strong higher education and research sector in Ukraine – a fundamental responsibility for all of us who care about the future of European democracies. YSC – we thank you for your contributions to the community of Eurodoc and your tireless work for the Ukrainian and the European higher education and research sector.
Higher education and research are key for democratic societies. Doctoral education, doctoral candidates, and early career researchers in turn play a crucial role in higher education and research: Early career researchers are its future. They are the ones who will continue to teach, educate, and conduct research in the decades to come – they are the infrastructure of the higher education sector.
All of our member organisations argue for high-quality doctoral education, for sustainable conditions for doctoral candidates and other early career researchers. We do so, because these are fundamental for creating a sustainable higher education and research sector, which in turn provides one of the prerequisites for healthy democracies.
The work done by YSC and others in Ukraine allows us to begin to understand the challenges all Ukrainians face. Ourselves coming from the higher education and research sector, Eurodoc’s focus is particularly on our colleagues and the research and higher education sector – and the challenges faced to maintain high-quality education and research, but also for developing and evolving the sector to meet future challenges. The more impressive are such forward looking projects as OPTIMA and Open4UA!
If this sounds all too abstract, we are together with YSC working on an exciting campaign where early career researchers in Ukraine tell their stories, making the challenges tangible in their impact on the humans.
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List of authors
This article was written by the board of Eurodoc 2024/2025:
- Pil Maria Saugmann,
- Nicola Dengo,
- Manca Lunder
- Hannah Schoch
- Karl Kilbo Edlund
- Norbert Benscze
- Magali Weissgerber