FUCHS Group’s Post

So important to adopt as competitive system in Ukraine so it can break free of of the inherited Soviet system. Given Ukraine's ability to adapt and innovate, this should be natural evolution.

💬 Despite the wide uptake of competitive grants in Western nations, the Soviet science system took a different approach. In Ukraine, the old top-down structure borrowed from those days remained intact until 2014, with reform efforts hindered by weak government institutions and entrenched political interests. However, this system is not suitable for the transition to the 21st century knowledge economy, in which innovation is a key driver. 👨🎓 Gerson S. Sher, Doctor of Politics, Program Coordinator at the National Science Foundation, Founding President, CRDF Global (retired), administrator of state non-profit organizations in the USA and Member of the Board of International Counselors of the NRFU explains why adopting of the practice of funding science in Ukraine through competitive grants is the key to helping the scientific community the science community in that war-torn nation in his article for Physics: Why are Competitive Grants Important —Especially in Ukraine? 📲 Go to the article: https://lnkd.in/dMKBFkT7

https://lnkd.in/eVdXGYkX Read the full two-page article here, talking about the scholarship, my studies and a glimpse of my life.

Educational Interventions Can Matter!

Today we honor one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known. I have already seen several great posts with his insightful quotes or his famous "I Have a Dream" speech—one of the best orations ever spoken, in my opinion. Equally powerful is his Nobel Peace Prize lecture on December 11th, 1964 (not to be confused with his also wonderful Nobel acceptance speech the day before), and it's one of the best texts I have ever read. It would behoove all of us to digest Dr. King's words and heed his message (link to the entire text is below). I encourage all of you to read the full lecture; but at a minimum, I think the three passages below capture the essence of Dr. King's message. Have a wonderful day. ____________________ "Old systems of exploitation and oppression are passing away, and out of the womb of a frail world new systems of justice and equality are being born. Doors of opportunity are gradually being opened to those at the bottom of society.... So in a real sense this is a great time to be alive. Therefore, I am not yet discouraged about the future." "Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones. Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding: it seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers." "Nonviolence has also meant that my people in the agonizing struggles of recent years have taken suffering upon themselves instead of inflicting it on others. It has meant, as I said, that we are no longer afraid and cowed. But in some substantial degree it has meant that we do not want to instill fear in others or into the society of which we are a part. The movement does not seek to liberate Negroes at the expense of the humiliation and enslavement of whites. It seeks no victory over anyone. It seeks to liberate American society and to share in the self-liberation of all the people."

We are seeing more foundations and philanthropic entities accelerate their actions in #diasporaengagement across different terrains, particularly in the US. Why? Many reasons for this but one critical one is that they know that #diaspora is a powerful ally in bringing systemic change in the communities they operate in locally and globally. This is a new form of diaspora diplomacy when you unpack the role of philanthropy as diplomacy. This will be an important driver of scale in diaspora engagement. Onwards. https://lnkd.in/eYD4mmeB

Two easy lessons for University Presidents. If you are going to demur so as to avoid offending ANY of your donor base, you need to know if the act of demurring itself will offend ANY your donor base. When asked whether calls for genocide violate university policy, the answer is always "Yes", not "It depends". https://lnkd.in/eCzy4UhP

We are proud to be a part of the Stanford U.S.-Russia Forum (SURF) organized by Stanford Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. A joint conference in Prague featured research projects from Stanford and Charles University students. Recently they were published. 📄 One notable paper, "Encounter of Pro- and Anti-War Ideologies in Russian Children’s Literature (2021–2024)," explores the role of fiction and non-fiction for young audiences in present-day Russia, specifically in the conceptualization of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Access the paper https://lnkd.in/dyPt8xUk Genesis of the Project One of the authors shared how the project idea originated: "One autumn day, I came across the cover of a children's book: an elderly war veteran with medals stands on a green lawn, alongside a boy and a girl. They are all smiling happily. In the background, there’s a tank, a line of soldiers, and a warplane. The book was titled 'Conversations about War. An Encyclopedia for Kids'. It didn’t surprise me that the book aimed to tell kids about war—I grew up in post-Soviet Russia, where discussions about the Great Patriotic War were a central element of our moral education. However, I couldn’t understand why everyone on the cover was smiling so nonchalantly. The tone of the war discussions in the books from my childhood was always one of sorrow and loss, with the main theme being 'never again'. The cover I was looking at clearly showed that the pathos had changed. At that time, my colleagues at SURF and I were brainstorming project topics, and I suggested studying how war is depicted in contemporary Russian children's literature. We discovered two opposing trends: the normalization and glorification of war in state-sponsored texts, and a general pacifist tone, portraying all war participants as victims, in opposition-authored works." The SURF Experience For the author, SURF was a profoundly valuable and enlightening experience: "Our group comprised individuals with diverse professional backgrounds, from philology to political science, allowing us to transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries in our analysis. It also helped that we had both Russians and Americans among us; our varied life experiences led us to ask different questions."