Unfolding emergencies such as those in Myanmar and the Tigray region of Ethiopia, and protracted crisis in countries like Afghanistan, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen, mean that today 1 in 95 people (1 in 159 in 2010) is forcibly displaced owing to war, conflict, violence, persecution and socio-political instability, as well as climate change. Countries that once had well-established science communities and thriving research ecosystems have seen these dismantled by conflict and violence. In some cases, countries in the earlier stages of developing their research ecosystems face the almost complete eradication of the science capacity that they were in the process of building.
Among those fleeing their country are scientists*, doctors, engineers and others with advanced technical training. The number of displaced and refugee scientists is unknown, but probably in the thousands and possibly exceeding 10,000. Even when they find refuge in a new country, the insecurity often continues, due to their precarious status.
As highlighted by the 2021 UNESCO Science Report chapter “The integration of refugee and displaced scientists creates a win–win situation", the international community must ensure that those scholars’ skills and training do not go to waste and that they preserve and develop their expertise, both for their sakes, and for the benefit of their home and host countries. These individuals represent invaluable assets for the entire global scientific community and this loss of scientific knowledge, systems and data has grave implications for national and international science.
As it stands, opportunities for refugee and displaced scientists are still few and fragmented, mostly in the global North, with limited duration and great inconsistency among hosting countries and limited engagement by the scientific community. Additionally, research on these issues is currently scant.