About 2,500 scientists left Russia since start of full-scale war

Novaya Gazeta Evropa, a Russian news outlet, has estimated that at least 2,500 scientists have left Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Source: Novaya Gazeta.Evropa

Quote: "Almost immediately after the start of the full-scale war, leading scientists began to leave Russia. There are different ways to estimate the scale of the brain drain – by tracking location changes on social media profiles, comparing lists of university staff before and after the war, or analysing publication activity.

Depending on the method, different estimates for the number of scientists who have cut ties with Russia can be obtained, ranging from several hundred to thousands."

Details: According to conservative estimates, 2,500 scientists have left Russia.

It became known in November that the Russian Ministry of Education requested lists of employees participating in international scientific events from institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

It is not known for certain how many scientists left Russia after 24 February 2022, with estimates varying widely.

For example, the Proekt (Project) media outlet was one of the first to identify 28 prominent scientists and professors who left Russia after the start of war. A former HSE staff member estimated the loss at about 30% of the 855 staff members known outside Russia with publications in international journals. A recent study counted 270 scholars who left, based on lists of staff before and after the war on university websites.

If the analysis takes into account not only scholars who have changed their listed workplace from a Russian to a foreign one, but also those who have resigned from a Russian organisation, added a new country to an online profile with no mention of an employer, or deleted records of employment in Russia, the number of scientists who have left the country is even higher. Under these metrics, approximately 900 people fell into this category in 2022-2023.

Thus, according to conservative estimates, 2,500 scientists have left Russia.

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