Ihor Lyman , Maria Moskovko
This White Paper highlights the status of addressing the problems of research infrastructure (RI) destroyed as a result of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The targeted destruction of this type of infrastructure indicates the enemy's strategy and tactics to damage the prospects for the development of science, innovation, and the economy of Ukraine. Therefore, it is essential to ensure the protection and preservation of DI during the war, as well as the documentation and assessment of the damage caused to record Russian crimes and prepare estimates necessary for the reconstruction of Ukraine and the recovery of reparations from the aggressor country.
The white paper fulfills three tasks:
1) Systematizes information on methodologies for calculating damages based on data obtained directly from the affected institutions;
2) Provides practical recommendations based on the experience of affected institutions in calculating losses, recovery needs, and fundraising;
3) Provide feedback between the affected institutions and the interagency working group to prepare a report on the damage caused to the science sector in Ukraine as a result of Russian aggression. The essential methods of collecting data from the affected institutions were a questionnaire using Google Forms and in-depth semi-structured interviews.
The reader will be familiarized with the problem of the conventionality of the figures of institutions' losses and the imperfect methods of their calculation. Calculating the funds needed for reconstruction is even more complicated due to the lack of methodologies for such calculations and the ambiguity of answers to the questions: should everything damaged and destroyed be restored? In what form should it be fixed? When should the reconstruction begin? With what funds and under what conditions? What are the prospects for using the restored information? The problematic nature of fundraising activities of institutions with damaged and destroyed information sources is primarily due to the specifics of their funding as budgetary institutions and the need for traditions and practices of systematic fundraising from other sources, including donors. This White Paper will be helpful to Ukrainian and foreign researchers and analysts studying the issue of damaged research infrastructure and to those who are practically shaping Ukraine's recovery and development policy.