Networked Resilience at a Distance - How the Scientific Diaspora Sustains Ukrainian Higher Education in Wartime - and Why Military Education Remains Disconnected

Sep 13, 2026

In the first year of the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian science lost over a third of research funding and thousands of researchers, yet internationally co-authored university publications rose to nearly one third of total output. The article resolves this paradox through the infrastructure of personal networks formed by displaced scholars and examines why military education stays outside these networks. Methods include bibliometric mapping, network analysis, diaspora initiative materials, surveys, interviews, and expert inquiry in military education, revealing dual presence and mirrored connectivity barriers. It proposes wartime internationalisation at a distance to expand open connections.

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Introduction

Ukrainian science during the first year of war

Paradox: funding and researcher loss vs rising international co-authorship

Explanation: personal networks and dual presence

Study field: Ukrainian Science Diaspora and related networks

The exception: military education and disconnected internationalisation

Networked resilience at a distance: how thescientiﬁc diaspora sustains Ukrainian higher education in wartime — and why military education remains disconnected Svitlana Bondarenko National Defence University of Ukraine Andrii Hupalo National Defence University of Ukraine Vitalii Anisimov International Humanitarian University Anzhela Gelbak Donetsk State University of Internal Affairs Natalia Tsumarieva Donetsk State University of Internal Affairs Oksana Lapa National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine Article Keywords: scientiﬁc diaspora, networked resilience, internationalisation at a distance, military education, wartime immobility, social network analysis, displaced scholars, Ukraine Posted Date: July 8th, 2026 DOI: [https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-10267011/v1](https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-10267011/v1) License: 􀁱 􀅏 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Read Full License Additional Declarations: No competing interests reported. Networked resilience at a distance: how the scientific diaspora sustains Ukrainian higher education in wartime—and why military education remains disconnected Abstract In the first year of the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian science lost more than a third of its funding and thousands of researchers—yet the share of internationally co-authored university publications rose to nearly a third of total output. This article explains the paradox through the quiet infrastructure of personal networks built by displaced scholars, and asks why one segment of the system—military education — remains outside it. The study combines bibliometric mapping of a 12,101-record Scopus corpus (2012–2026), network analysis of the field's term structure, secondary analysis of the Ukrainian Science Diaspora initiative's published materials—a public registry of 447 scholars and 18 organisations, surveys of 300 diaspora members and 30 university representatives, a corpus of 34 published in-depth interviews, and mentoring programme statistics—and the general sections of an expert survey in military education (n = 12) . The network proves feminised, young in emigration terms and massively dual-present: a third of participants work for Ukrainian institutions remotely; every second mentoring pair converts into a measurable outcome; and the barriers named by the diaspora and by universities mirror each other—both sides see missing connective tissue rather than each other. The military gap is constitutive in nature: secrecy regimes preclude open networks for the classified core. Yet the non-classified band along that boundary remains almost empty despite the absence of security obstacles. The article proposes networked internationalisation under wartime immobility as an extension of internationalisation at a distance, and outlines a design for populating the open band. Keywords: scientific diaspora; networked resilience; internationalisation at a distance; military education; wartime immobility; social network analysis; displaced scholars; Ukraine 1. Introduction Ukrainian science should no longer exist—at least if one believes its balance sheet. In the first year of the full-scale invasion, gross expenditure on research and development fell by more than a third (UNESCO 2024) . Over one thousand four hundred scholars exchanged a Ukrainian affiliation for a foreign one within the first eighteen months of the war alone (Ganguli and Waldinger 2024; CWTS 2026); millions of Ukrainians found themselves abroad, among them a disproportionate share of highly educated women, since men aged 18–60 are barred from leaving. Shelled campuses, relocated universities, teaching from bomb shelters (Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine 2024; Zayachuk 2024; for a review of displacement and higher education see Denisova-Schmidt and Marmilova 2026)—all of this should have added up to a story of collapse. Instead, the share of internationall

FAQs

What paradox does the article address about Ukrainian higher education during wartime?

Despite large reductions in research funding and researcher mobility in the first year of the invasion, the share of internationally co-authored university publications rose to nearly a third. The article treats this divergence as the central paradox to explain.

How does the study explain why connections remain in Ukrainian science?

It argues that displaced scholars maintain Ukrainian science through personal networks and mechanisms such as dual affiliations, remote teaching, joint applications, and mentoring from abroad. These channels restore competence, reputation, and access without requiring return of the individuals.

Why is military education described as disconnected from the networked resilience mechanism?

The article finds the military segment remains outside the digital and personal network infrastructure. Secrecy regimes block open networks for the classified core, and the non-classified band near the boundary remains largely empty despite lacking security obstacles.

Sep 13, 2026

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