Highlights of the Euraxess Seminar for Scientists in Exile

Why an Initiative for Scientists in Exile?

The Program: A Holistic Approach

Acknowledgments

Participant Testimonials

Contact

By Tania Suvorova

Why an Initiative for Scientists in Exile?

The current geopolitical situation has forced many talented researchers to leave their home countries. These scientists face unique challenges in their professional reconstruction within a new cultural environment, including validation of skills acquired in their countries of origin, navigation of European recruitment systems, and adaptation to local professional codes.

At the European level, numerous reception programs exist for these researchers, such as the PAUSE Program (France), the Philipp Schwartz Initiative (Germany), the Scholars at Risk network (International), MSCA4Ukraine (European scale), the Gerda Henkel Foundation (Germany), the CSIC Scientific Cooperation Program with Ukraine (Spain), the Volkswagen Foundation Support Program (Germany), Academy in Exile (Germany), and the Hamburg Program for Researchers at Risk (Germany). These support programs often offer temporary research contracts, allowing researchers to settle in a European country and continue their scientific activities while strengthening the international dimension of the host institution.

In continuity with these initiatives, this seminar is part of the European Union's Horizon Europe program, within the ERA TALENT project, illustrating European commitment to more sustainable professional integration of scientific talents in exile. Thus, actors working on this theme — ABG, Euraxess and its Science4Refugees Hub (a network of Euraxess centers specialized in welcoming researchers in exile) — have joined forces to strengthen European actions and open doors to the socio-economic sector.

Strategic partners and collaborations

ABG, recognized for its expertise in supporting PhDs towards employment, has been accompanying researchers in exile settled in France since 2018 through the PAUSE program on career development issues. Thanks to its international experience, it also offers support resources for researchers in exile settled in other European countries.

Euraxess is a European Commission initiative created to facilitate international mobility and career development for researchers in Europe. It provides an online platform that centralizes scientific job offers and funding opportunities, as well as practical information for settling in a new country: administrative procedures, housing, social security, schooling, etc.

Within this system, Science4Refugees is a specific initiative dedicated to researchers in exile or refugees. It aims to facilitate their integration into European institutions by connecting researchers and employers, offering adapted resources (training, career advice, information on research opportunities) and promoting inclusive practices in universities and research centers.

The Program: A Holistic Approach

Professional Project Development: Participants worked on designing a personalized professional project, exploring opportunities in the European job market.

Networking and Communication: Sessions covered developing an effective personal pitch, professional networking strategies, and understanding European multicultural environments.

Recruitment Processes: Particular attention was paid to the specificities of hiring procedures outside academia and adapting applications to different European national markets.

ABG's pedagogical team mobilized three career advisors, all former researchers with backgrounds in physics, biology, and management, each bringing valuable international expertise. This peer-to-peer approach ensures empathetic understanding of academic challenges while offering practical job market expertise.

The content was particularly adapted to participants' geographical aspirations. Analysis of expressed preferences revealed that the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the Netherlands constitute the main destinations of professional interest.

Participant profiles reveal the geographical and disciplinary diversity of this scientific community in exile. Germany and France represented the main host destinations, followed by Belgium, Spain, Austria, and other European countries.

Disciplinary diversity is equally remarkable with participants from natural and physical sciences, social sciences and humanities, demonstrating that scientific exile crosses all disciplines.

The event included a 100% online round table, open to the wider public, dedicated to PhD careers outside the academic world in different international environments.

Check our YouTube channel to watch more than an hour of rich and inspiring exchanges, with five speakers who made their PhD a springboard to strategic, operational, or scientific positions in the private sector.

Acknowledgments

ABG warmly thanks the speakers who took the time to share their experience of transitioning to non-academic careers:

• Sandra NEVOUX, PhD – Strategy & Data Consultant at Veltys
• Otello Maria Roscioni, PhD – Scientific Consultant at Goldbeck Consulting / Director at MaterialX
• Om Kulkarni, PhD – Bioinformatics & IT Lead at the Bavarian Natural History Collections
• Paula Victoria Fontanilla Ramirez, PhD – Global Stakeholder Engagement, Scientific Communications, & Claims at Opella

Participant Testimonials

Key Learning Outcomes:

• Possible career reorientation: Understanding that a career outside academia is viable
• Importance of networking: "Networking, networking, networking!"
• Skills valorization: Translating doctoral experience into language accessible to the market
• Diversity of opportunities: Discovering a wider range of professional possibilities

The Psychological Impact

Beyond practical tools, the seminar provided crucial psychological support: