Migration Trajectories of Ukrainian Scholars Abroad: Forced Academic Mobility

ABSTRACT The article deals with the topic of the forced migration of Ukrainian academics who left their homeland after the onset of Russia's full‐scale aggression on 24th February 2022. It is based on the results of a qualitative study of scholars who settled in different foreign destinations and examines their migration trajectories from both a spatial and temporal perspective as well as from the point of view of individual decision making. Combining forced migration research with existing scholarship on academic mobility, it tracks scholars’ long journeys to their places of asylum, distinguishing two principal academic trajectories undertaken by Ukrainian academics: continuing to work remotely for Ukrainian institutions and seeking academic positions abroad. The article demonstrates that the most common life strategy of displaced Ukrainian researchers involves the maintenance of dense transnational networks—principally professional links with Ukrainian universities—while simultaneously looking for opportunities abroad. This dual strategy has led to distinct outcomes compared to previously studied cases of forced migration of academics.