Home>Sciences Po and the war in Ukraine

24 February 2026

Sciences Po and the war in Ukraine

Three years ago, on 24 February 2022, Russia's invasion of Ukraine shook Europe and the world.

From the very first days of the conflict, Sciences Po mobilised to support students, researchers, and teachers affected by the war:

Since February 2022, 92 Ukrainian students have been studying on the different Sciences Po campuses, principally the Dijon, Paris, Reims and Nancy Campuses. They come from our partner universities: the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA), Taras Shevchenko University and the Kyiv School of Economics.

The European Commission, through its Erasmus+ programme, made it possible for our institution to welcome those students by providing near 350,000 euros of scholarships.

These courses have been given on a voluntary basis by our permanent and adjunction professors from autumn 2023, at the request of our partner, the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA). The courses are offered in English and cover different disciplines of the social sciences, depending on the partner's academic needs.

We would like to thank the professors for their commitment: Benjamin Abtan, Pauline Ades Mevel, Jean-Christophe Bocle, Patrick Brousse, Franck Ceddaha, Gilles Favarel-Garrigues, Cyprien Fluzin, Hélène Juillard, Guillaume Labbez, Jacques Le Cacheux, Christine Lemaitre, Tomasz Orlowski, Sophie Rochefort Guillouet, Daphné Rousseau, Catherine Wihtol de Wenden, Olivier Sueur, Agis Papageorgiou  and Guy Halfteck.

Since the Russian invasion, Sciences Po has expanded its partnership network in Ukraine with the signing of exchange partnership agreements with Taras Shevchenko University (2022), the Kyiv School of Economics (2024) and more recently with the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv (2026).

As a founding member of CIVICA, the European University of Social Sciences. Sciences Po is a participant in the “CIVICA for Ukraine” project, launched in December 2022, with five Ukrainian universities: Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), Kyiv National Economic University (KNEU), National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA), Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv (UCU), and Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University (Vasyl' Stus DonNU).

“CIVICA for Ukraine” provides a framework for cooperation whose aim is to protect Ukraine's academic potential and support its higher education in view of an increased collaboration with EU universities after the war. This initiative allows the students and faculty members at Ukrainian partner universities to access the activities of the CIVICA alliance at all degree levels (Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD). It also has a research component.

Courses on Ukraine are offered at both Bachelor’s and Master’s levels, delivered by permanent faculty members specializing in the post‑Soviet region and Ukraine in particular, as well as by practitioners.

At the start of the 2024 academic year, Dmytro Kuleba, former Ukrainian Foreign Minister, joined Sciences Po as an Adjunct Professor and Harvard University as a Senior Fellow.

Since January 2025, Dmytro Kuleba has been teaching a course on wartime diplomacy at the Sciences Po Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) to students enrolled in the Master International Security and the Master International Governance & Diplomacy.

Moreover, Sciences Po regularly hosts public conferences on Ukraine. In March 2026, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Sciences Po for a Grande Conférence, during which he addressed students and engaged in an exceptional exchange with them. In February 2026, Sciences Po organized a high-level panel entitled “The War on Ukraine: What Needs to Change?”, featuring Oleksandra Matviichuk, 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and Dmytro Kuleba, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Adjunct Professor at PSIA. Other dimensions of the war were also explored in subsequent events, such as the conference “How to Facilitate Recovery and Reconstruction in Ukraine? The Role of European Development Banks”, held in February 2026. 

In November 2025, Sciences Po has joined the Global Coalition of Ukrainian Studies, together with other higher education institutions in France. The coalition, initiated by the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, aims to encourage student and faculty mobility in order to promote Ukrainian studies abroad and the study of Ukraine more broadly, with a view to countering Russia’s reappropriation of the history of Ukraine and the post‑Soviet area. 

(credits: Shutterstock / Golub Oleksii)