The Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia (WCEE), a member of the International Institute, is pleased to announce the WCEE Scholars at Risk Fellowship in support of Ukrainian scholars who are not currently able to safely conduct their research in Ukraine because of the ongoing war.

WCEE Scholars at Risk Fellows have been matched with faculty partners at the University of Michigan in fields similar to their own. The awards support one-year research visits from September 2022 through August 2023. They include round-trip airfare for fellows and dependents, visa support, health insurance, and salary.

WCEE opened a competition for awards from mid-March to mid-April and received 79 applications. Initial plans were to grant up to three awards, but successful fundraising efforts across the U-M campus and contributions from individual donors secured enough funds to support seven fellows.

Geneviève Zubrzycki, WCEE director and professor of sociology, led the effort to establish the fellowship. “We started thinking about a fellowship for Ukrainian scholars in the very first days following the Russian invasion, and quickly set up a call for applications and review process. Time was of the essence, and our first fellow arrived in March just after the war began,” Zubrzycki said. “When we decided to create this program, we knew that WCEE could do something to help a small number of Ukrainian academics. The applications were all deeply impressive, and this opportunity will have a great impact on the selected fellows and their families, and also on Ukraine once they return home.”

Most of the fellows arrived in Ann Arbor in late August, where they have been welcomed and embraced by people who were previously strangers. WCEE International Education Coordinator Birgitta Kohler notes, “It has been overwhelming to see the support these fellows are receiving from the U-M and Ann Arbor community. The news of the war has been so shocking and powerful that people are reaching out to offer everything from clothing to trauma counseling. The fellows and their families are happy to be here; to be able to pursue their research and for their children to attend school.”

Scholars at Risk Fellows

Oksana Chabanyuk, Associate Professor of Architecture, Kharkiv National University of Civil Engineering and Architecture (Kharkiv)

Daryna Dvornichenko, Assistant Professor, Research Institute of Informatics and Law, National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv)

Yurii Kaparulin, Associate Professor, Department of National, International Law and Law Enforcement, Kherson State University (Kherson)

Iryna Sikorska, Associate Professor of Sociology, Donetsk State University of Management in Mariupol (Mariupol)

Katerina Sirinyok-Dolgaryova, Associate Professor of Journalism and Vice Dean of International Affairs, Zaporizhzhia National University (Zaporizhzhia)

Anna Taranenko, Senior Lecturer of International Relations, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Kyiv)

Kseniya Yurtayeva, Associate Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology, Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs (Kharkiv)

The Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia is grateful to the generous individual donors who contributed to this fellowship and to the following U-M units who are hosting fellows and made financial contributions: Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, Copernicus Center for Polish Studies, Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies, A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Jean and Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, Department of History, and International Institute. Additional information about the program and biographies of the fellows can be found at: ii.umich.edu/wcee/ukraine/scholars-at-risk.


Contact: Rachel Brichta | rfacey@umich.edu

The Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia (WCEE) supports faculty and student research, teaching, collaboration, and public engagement in studying the institutions, cultures, and histories of these regions. WCEE is comprised of the Center for European Studies (CES); Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (CREES); and Copernicus Center for Polish Studies (CCPS); and works in association with the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies (WCED) at the University of Michigan International Institute. For more information, visit ii.umich.edu/wcee.