SAR honors “the scholars of Ukraine” with 2024 Courage to Think Award

On Wednesday, June 26th, SAR presented the 2024 Courage to Think Award to ‘the scholars of Ukraine,’ recognizing their “courage, resilience, and unwavering commitment to their teaching, research, students, and higher education institutions, despite the existential threat posed by war.” The presentation took place at the Courage to Think Award Dinner at the SAR 2024 Global Congress, held in partnership with European Humanities University (EHU) in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The award was received by Dr. Kateryna Horiunova of Mariupol State University (MSU), symbolically representing all of the scholars of Ukraine, inside and outside of the country, who are working to maintain Ukraine’s higher education teaching and research sector. MSU has been operating from Kyiv since the destruction and fall of the city of Mariupol in February 2022, after having been displaced previously by the first Russian invasion in 2014. The award was presented by SAR Board Members Dr. Lisa Anderson and Dr. Jonathan Fanton. 

Highlights from SAR’s Courage to Think Award Dinner

European Humanities University, a beacon of academic freedom

The evening began with remarks by Dr. Horton Beebe-Center, of the EHU General Assembly of Part-Owners, who described EHU’s history as a university in exile. EHU was founded 1992 in Minsk, Belarus, to provide a haven for free thought and academic inquiry in the post-Soviet era. However, in 2004, due to political pressure from the Belarusian government, EHU was forced into exile and subsequently relocated to Vilnius, Lithuania, where it continues to thrive as a beacon of academic freedom. “Indeed, it’s not too far of a stretch to imagine, sometimes throughout the tumultuous events in this city, the region, over the past three centuries, that more than one scholar at risk sought refuge right here, and the very place we gathered this evening, a link to what we are doing once again, right here in the 21st century.”

 

“Our students. . . responded by showing up.” Dr. Ian Bickford, president of the American University of Afghanistan

In a keynote address, Dr. Ian Bickford, the president of American University of Afghanistan highlighted the importance of higher education in Afghanistan, and the consequences faced by students and professors following the Taliban takeover in 2021. “No media account quite captured the chaos and uncertainty of the moment, coupled with the patience and the courage of our students and colleagues, who waited for hours on convoys of buses that never in the end reached the airport.” Dr. Bickford noted how, with thanks to his colleagues, classes resumed online in the fall semester of 2021, just two weeks after the fall of Kabul. “Our students, not knowing whether they will be persecuted for their education, responded by showing up.”

 

“To be an educator during the large scale war, is an act of resistance” – Oleksandra Matviichuk, human rights lawyer and Head of the Centre for Civil Liberties

Oleksandra Matviichuk, a human rights lawyer, spoke through a pre-recorded video on documenting war crimes committed by Russia against Ukraine since 2014. She emphasized that the people of Ukraine are “not just victims of Russian aggression” but also “fighters for freedom and human dignity.”

“This is a war between two systems, authoritarianism and democracy. Russia, like every authoritarian regime, denies people in their rights and freedom and sees people like objects of its control. Authoritarian regimes always need poorly educated people to make this task easier. And that is why, in this war with Russia, Ukrainian educators are making enormous efforts for continuing educational activities. They’re fighting for a chance to create a peaceful and democratic future, which we all want for us and for our children. To be an educator during the large scale war, is an act of resistance.”

The opportunity for “brilliant research” the University of Groningen – Ross Chayka, MSCA4Ukraine Fellow in organizational psychology

Ross Chakya described his research studying the stress factors faced by researchers and relevant coping strategies as an MSCA4Ukraine fellow at the University of Groningen. “It’s hard to do research in Ukraine when you go to a shelter every night and cannot sleep well; [there are] power outages and other stress markers,” he said. The MSCA4Ukraine program, funded under the EU’s Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions, provides support to displaced researchers from Ukraine to continue their research in host countries. Learn more >>

“I had to see how to survive” – Kateryna Osadcha Norwegian University of Science and Technology 

Dr. Kateryna Osadcha, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, described her first-hand experience hearing explosions, and the sound of fighter jets, marking the start of full scale war in Ukraine. “I couldn’t read a single scientific article in maybe six months because I had to see how to survive.” Now at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Dr. Osadcha has been working at the Centre for Excellent IT Education as a researcher at NTNU. “During that time, I got new experience working in the international team, participated in many seminars, conferences, workshops, in the field of computer science,” she said, thanking SAR and her new colleagues at NTNU for their support. With gratitude, she also shared her hope for the future: “I hope that this support [for Ukrainian] scholars will soon be unnecessary.” 

SAR honors ‘the scholars of Ukraine’ with its 2024 Courage to Think Award

The evening culminated in the presentation of SAR’s “Courage to Think Award” which is given by SAR to individuals, groups, or institutions that have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to protecting scholars and promoting academic freedom, whether through their professional work, private or community service, often in the face of personal risk.

The award was presented by SAR Board Members Dr. Lisa Anderson and Dr. Jonathan Fanton to Dr. Kateryna Horiunova of Mariupol State University (MSU), symbolically representing all of the scholars of Ukraine, inside and outside of the country, who are working to maintain Ukraine’s higher education teaching and research sector.

According to Ukrainian government data, at least 59 universities have been damaged, and nine completely destroyed, as a result of Russia’s shelling of civilian infrastructure in the last several years. Yet scholarly responsibilities have increased after Russia’s invasion, with the scholars of Ukraine playing a crucial role in shaping public engagement and discourse in the country and abroad. 

“They have advocated for remote fellowships for Ukrainian scholars unable to find refuge abroad, collected data about the damage to the research infrastructure, and connected fellow scholars with the assistance programs like ours,” said Dr. Anderson, in her remarks. “They’ve also published special issues about Russia’s war on Ukraine, and fostered public engagement efforts attending conferences in Europe and North America.”

In her acceptance of the award, on behalf of all of the scholars of Ukraine, Dr. Horiunova said:

This award is for all academics who, thanks to the numerous programs and SAR initiatives, are able to continue their careers, [and] provide their families and themselves with safe living conditions in universities all over the world. However, this award is [also] for those who from the first minutes of full scale war in my country in Ukraine have put a hold on their research, their careers, and have decided to defend the independence and freedom of Ukraine, of Europe, and to defend the right to be for the next generations.

The following day of the SAR Global Congress featured a panel on “‘Lessons from Ukraine” – see the recording here. SAR thanks all speakers and attendees of the SAR 2024 Global Congress and Courage to Think Award Dinner for their time, contributions to vital discussions, and commitment to furthering academic freedom worldwide.