A recent article published on the Cambridge University website outlined a number of programmes designed to support Ukrainian scholars and students who have been affected or displaced by Russia’s full-scale invasion of their country.

The announcements include the provision of scholarships and other funding opportunities for incoming students in the 2022-23 intake who have been impacted by the war. Cambridge intends to fund the studies of “upwards of 20 students” with the Rowan Williams Cambridge Studentship, a Cambridge Trust initiative set up to help students from areas of conflict. These scholarships, which will only be given to students who already have a conditional offer to study at Cambridge next year, will fully fund the students’ tuition, maintenance, travel and visa costs. Cambridge has also established a Ukrainian Conflict Student Hardship Fund to which anyone can donate; this will be used to support the 21 current students that the University has “identified as having been directly affected by the war.”

Additionally, ten Ukrainian students will be placed in Cambridge on six-week clinical placements as part of a “twinning agreement” between the School of Clinical Medicine and Kharkiv National Medical University. Accommodation for these students, who will arrive in the coming months, will be provided by University personnel or Cambridgeshire hospitals.

Pembroke College is also offering ten fully-funded scholarships to Ukrainian students for its Online Summer Research Programme, which offers students around the world intensive supervision-style teaching on individual research projects. Applicants for this programme must be enrolled in a Ukrainian university and must have been nominated by 31st May.

There are also initiatives in place to help Ukrainian academics. Cambridge has applied to the CARA (Council for At-Risk Academics) Researchers at Risk Fellowship Scheme on behalf of two Ukrainian scholars. Trinity College and Darwin College will fund and house these scholars and their dependents in Cambridge for up to two years. Cambridge is also attempting to introduce “non-residential scholarships” for up to 15 displaced Ukrainian academics; these will include “a stipend, formal links to Cambridge academics and remote access to resources that will enable them to continue academic study.”

Commenting on these initiatives, Professor Kamal Munir, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for University Community and Engagement, claimed he had been “heartened by the generosity displayed by colleagues across Cambridge” who had “worked tirelessly to put these programmes in place.”