Virtual Ukraine Institute for Advanced Study (VUIAS)

The Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, in close cooperation with partner institutes from Ukraine, Europe, and the United States, has launched an initiative to support Ukrainian scholars in their effort to found a Ukraine Institute for Advanced Study (UIAS) in Kyiv. Full-scale institutional activities in Ukraine will only be possible once the war is over, but a preliminary virtual institution, VUIAS, has begun its operations in September 2023. The project is supported by the Volkswagen Foundation until 2029 with funding of around 2 Million Euros.

The goals of the institution are manifold: VUIAS will mobilize support for scholarship under conditions of war and contribute to rebuilding Ukrainian academia once the war is over. By connecting Ukrainian scholars in and outside Ukraine, VUIAS will more strongly integrate Ukrainian scholars into the international academic landscape and broaden and deepen knowledge on Ukraine within global academia. It will also help combat the brain drain caused by war and displacement. The founding phase of the institute will be overseen by offices in Kyiv and Berlin. As long as the Russian attack on Ukraine continues, academic events are to take place in virtual and hybrid form. VUIAS provides two kinds of fellowships to scholars from all disciplines: VUIAS Fellowships abroad, which are funded and hosted by some of the world’s leading Institutes for Advanced Study in Europe and the United States, and VUIAS Fellowships in Ukraine, which are granted by the Wissenschaftskolleg to scholars who work at universities and research institutions in Ukraine. Every year about 30 Fellows can be funded. They are free to develop their own chosen projects and to grow in a variety of interdisciplinary work formats, both virtual and hybrid. Besides the fellowship and research funds, VUIAS offers them a regular colloquium, library support, and coachings on a variety of topics from academic publishing to the use of AI. The ultimate goal is to establish a real Ukraine Institute for Advanced Study in Kyiv as soon as Russia’s war of aggression comes to an end.