Science Amid the Terror of War: Video Notes from Ukrainian Academics Under Russian Siege

Originally shared on April 29, 2022

Transcript:

Dear Colleagues,

As you all know, Russian troops stationed in the East of Ukraine, at the border with Belarus, and in Crimea invaded in 2014, bombed and invaded many residential areas of Ukraine on the evening of 24th of February. The unprecedented rate of invasion caused more than 10 million Ukrainians to relocate within Ukraine under very difficult conditions risking their lives and nearly 5 million Ukrainians flee the country, and the death of many civilians including children.

We know that, among the millions of Ukrainians whose lives have changed completely, who had to leave their homes and even their country because of Russian invasion, are thousands of Ukrainian academicians. Some of them had to leave their students and their own academic research struggling to stay alive. Some lost their lives. The idea to prepare these video notes was born with the aim of making the voices of our Ukrainian colleagues heard by our colleagues all over the world.

We gave life to this idea with Associate Professor Iryna Pokrovska and Professor İsmail Aydıngün. During this process many colleagues helped us. We thank all of them sincerely. We are especially grateful to our Ukrainian colleagues who took videos with their phones and sent them to us despite the difficult conditions they are in and the constant bombardment.

We would like to announce that we side with Ukraine, Ukrainians, and our Ukrainian colleagues, and we condemn the Russian invasion. We invite you to show solidarity with our colleagues through sharing these videos. Professor Ayşegül Aydıngün

– Prof. Dr. Ayşegül Aydıngün
Sosyoloji Bölümü/Department of Sociology
Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi
Middle East Technical University