Neutral ground

Inga Vesper reports on a Volkswagen Foundation programme trying to keep scientific channels open between Russia and Ukraine.

It started with a boycott. When Ukraine’s government heard that participation in the Volkswagen Foundation’s trilateral partnership programme would fund Ukrainian scientists to work with Russian colleagues, it clamped down. Government officials told local universities to reject the foundation’s call for partners and refuse to participate.

In fact, the government’s interference brought the programme nationwide attention. When the boycott was lifted after diplomatic discussions involving the German embassy, the programme received more than 200 applications. “We never expected this,” says Matthias Nöllenburg, the programme’s director. “It shows that there is a lot of potential, but very little fear.”