Scientists in time of war

We are living in a time of unprecedented human migration. Wars, civil conflicts and political turmoil are to blame for many of these movements, with an acute impact recently in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen. Millions have arrived in neighbouring nations, and in Europe and North America, where they are often perceived as generally poor and unskilled, incapable of enriching their new host societies. In fact, Iraq, Syria and other countries had strong science and engineering institutions before recent wars and conflicts. And clearly, the trained personnel of such institutions have been affected as much as the rest of the population. When conflict emerges, when it transforms to pervasive violence and war, all must make a choice: weighing the risks of remaining at home against the upheaval of taking flight. In countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, as well as in many countries of Europe, governments and organisations have mounted difficult but admirable efforts to support refugees and others displaced by war. But there has been little recognition of refugee and displaced scientists, neither of their potential nor of their needs. The oversight has troubling implications, because this highly-trained cadre of professionals has great value. Tailored policies and initiatives to support them are essential. How many displaced scientists are there? The cohort is actually quite broad and diverse: highly educated and trained men and women, including not just scientists, but social scientists, engineers, doctors and medical personnel, university faculty, advanced students and others who fit within the scope of sciencerelated disciplines. But measuring the scientific exodus is a difficult challenge, and we don’t currently have a count. [See article “The Unknown Number” on page 9.] However, consider the following rough estimate: According to the 2015 UNESCO Science Report, Iraq several years ago had 426 researchers per 1 million population. Given that there were some 4 million Iraqi refugees around the world at the peak of the crisis in Iraq, this equates to more than 1,600 displaced scientists at the time. No doubt there are other ways to estimate the scale of this migration of scientific talent, but in just the past decade it clearly numbers in the thousands, perhaps tens of thousands. And that presents an urgent challenge: Unless integrated in new host countries as practicing scientists or allowed to continue their studies as students, the exodus of this valuable talent represents a loss to both the country of origin and the global scientific community.