Sociostructural Challenges of the Kharkiv Academy: Migration, Mobilization, and Gender in Times of War

Kharkiv is a city with a population of over a million people, which is located on the border with the aggressor country. At the same time, Kharkiv is a city of students and scientists, with one of the largest number of higher education institutions and scientific institutes. The full-scale phase of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 caused incredible damage to the academy in terms of destroyed buildings, destroyed scientific equipment, libraries, etc. The key role is played by people - scientists, and students, who actually do science. Being under constant shelling, and power cuts, many cannot work, many leave their living place to save their families. If we talk about the male part of the population, many employees go to defend our country voluntarily, here we should not forget about the structural and financial constraints that the war brought. But the academy lives continues to provide education, continues its research, and gives hope for the future of the city, and with it science and the country. However, the question arises: at the expense of what resources this movement continues, how the academy preserve its human capital despite its difficult regional location and, as a consequence, unequal conditions with other institutions of higher education and scientific institutions of Ukraine which are located in safer territory and what other socio-structural challenges face. The paper is based on the results of semi-structured interviews with representatives of the Kharkiv academy and expert interviews with the management and administration of scientific and higher education institutions. The research raises such issues as the migration of scientists and affiliation with more than one higher education institution, as well as examines gender dimension of the specificities of mobilization in relation to the academic community.