Ukrainian Refugees Research Articles

The influx of refugees from Ukraine and changes in Polish educational policy: A case study of the National External Examinations System

AbstractDue to Russia's full‐scale invasion of Ukraine, 144,000 Ukrainian children enrolled in Polish schools for the 2022/2023 school year. Ukrainian schoolchildren, akin to Polish students, have the right to take the eighth grade exam and the matriculation exam, enabling further free education. Faced with the significant influx of school‐age refugee children into the examination system, we examined Polish national exam sheets to assess changes in the existence and content of elements related to Ukraine and Russia. Our analysis includes a review of formal procedures related to the examination system, along with a comparative analysis of examination sheets from selected subjects used in 2021 and 2023. We also conducted interviews with coordinators at the Central Examination Board. Our findings indicate that some affirmative actions were taken. Additionally, most analysed sheets demonstrated changes in the portrayal of Russia and Ukraine towards an absence of images with positive or neutral connotations with Russia. Context and implicationsRationale for this study: The sudden and substantial influx of refugees from Ukraine presents an interesting case study regarding its impact of refugees on the national examination system. Ukrainian refugees, widely perceived in Poland as wronged by the aggressing state, offer an interesting avenue to explore the interplay between agency and structure in shaping the changes of image of Russia and Ukraine in Polish examination materials. The substantial influx of refugees presents a compelling case for examining the adaptation of state educational policies in response to refugee populations. Such studies are relatively rare, especially when we examine the influence of refugees on the state examination system.Why the new findings matter: Studies on refugee children within state education systems, particularly in the context of examination frameworks, are relatively rare. However, they are crucial for understanding the opportunities and barriers that affect refugee children's access to subsequent stages of education. Our research reveals intriguing affirmative policies aimed at facilitating refugees' integration into the examination system of another country. Additionally, it demonstrates how, due to agency dynamics, changes in the examination sheets occur, leading to enhancements in representing the refugees' country of origin while diminishing information about the aggressor country which can play a role in decreasing potential for PTSD syndrome among refugees.Implications for policy‐makers and general public: The findings of this study hold potential relevance for policymakers in other countries, as they illuminate potential adjustments to exam sheets in national external examinations. The paper enables an assessment of the impact of changes to the examination system on the well‐being of refugees and their subsequent adaptation to the host country. Moreover, the study elucidates the potential shifts in the portrayal of both the aggressor state and the affected state in scenarios where a substantial number of refugees participate in the examination system.

Bricolentrepreneuring: A comparative phenomenological study of Ukrainian refugees’ entrepreneurial bricolage practices in the UK and Romania

ABSTRACT Uncertainty, discrimination, and socioeconomic marginalization in host countries lead many refugees to entrepreneurial bricolage. Understanding their bricolage practices is crucial to designing policies and programmes to support refugee entrepreneurship, yet little is known about how refugees enact bricolage practices where institutional support is lacking, resources are constrained and where they contend with war trauma due to displacement. In the first study of its kind, we use interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) and draw on the concept of ‘bricolage’ to investigate Ukrainian refugee practices in the UK and Romania. Our findings affirm the importance of understanding the contexts which shape these refugees’ practices. Importantly, they draw much-deserved attention to how the war trauma that refugees carry with them influences their bricolentrepreneuring journeys. We state our theoretical contributions and explore the implications for effective policy making to support ‘entrepreneurship at the margins’.

Attitudes of rural Polish population towards Ukrainian migrants

Over the two years, the sentiment and attitudes of Poles towards those who came from Ukraine have evolved. The coexistence of Poles and Ukrainians presents a substantial challenge marked by history, culture, and religion. The aim of the article is to present the attitudes of Poles towards supporting people from Ukraine who came to Poland against the backdrop of the integration of the two nations. The authors attempted to identify factors shaping Poles' attitudes towards migrants from Ukraine in a study titled ‘National Identity of Poles in Light of Migration of Ukrainian Nationals: Prevention of Social Conflicts’. The CATI survey was conducted in March 2023. The independent variables considered relevant under the research design are sex, age, education, and type of residence (village or small town). The authors proposed that the historical and cultural diversity of Poland may affect the current attitudes of Poles towards Ukrainians. Despite the long time since the Ukrainian aggression against Poles, the trauma may still influence relationships. The statistical analysis offers the following conclusions: women demonstrated a less favorable attitude towards Ukrainian refugees than men; young respondents aged 25–34 declared the most negative attitudes; people with higher education declared the most positive attitudes; residents of municipalities where the number of Ukrainians grew assumed less favorable attitudes; the respondents indicated three potential causes of problems for Polish-Ukrainian relationships: mindset differences, historical resentments, and cultural differences. They found religious differences to be much less of a potential problem. The results demonstrate the need to educate Polish society, especially in the eastern region bordering Ukraine. Moreover, residents of rural municipalities where the Ukrainian population grew exhibit more critical attitudes. This suggests a passive approach by municipal authorities to integrating these individuals. The present study should be considered a pilot that needs to be complemented with further in-depth qualitative analyses.

Life's trajectory: aid, support and humanitarian efforts for Ukrainian refugees

ABSTRACT The Russian invasion of Ukraine sparked Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II, challenging host nations to rapidly develop support systems for millions displaced by conflict. This study explores the life trajectory concept – encompassing personal growth, historical context, timing, and social relationships – to analyze the efforts of Slovak citizens and NGOs in supporting refugees. Using a qualitative design, the research combined walking interviews with 11 Ukrainian refugees and focus group discussions with 12 Slovak NGO representatives. Descriptive statistics highlighted refugee numbers, aid distribution, and programme effectiveness, while thematic analysis identified key contrasts: (1) Fluctuating needs versus the prioritization of basic necessities, (2) Limited social support versus refugee resilience, (3) Cultural integration versus a persistent longing for home, (4) Language education versus the demand for work-integrated learning, and (5) Donor generosity versus logistical challenges. The findings underscore the dynamic interplay between refugees' evolving needs and the support provided, offering actionable insights for policymakers, humanitarian organizations, and support services. By addressing both immediate and long-term challenges, stakeholders can enhance aid effectiveness for Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia and across Europe.

How Small Municipalities Contribute to Robust Crisis Governance—Experiences From Two Recent Large-scale Crises in Czechia

This article explores how small municipalities in Czechia adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic and Ukrainian refugee crisis, and thus contributed to governance robustness. Through 24 semi-structured interviews with mayors, we examine local challenges and responses, revealing how these crises exposed weaknesses in public administration, particularly in decision-making, coordination, and communication at the outset. Mayors played key roles, making swift, independent decisions to meet urgent needs, often bypassing standard municipal procedures. Community engagement such as volunteer networks and collaboration with local organizations proved essential in managing both crises, and horizontal cooperation with neighboring municipalities and regional authorities bolstered their response capacity. The findings underscore the importance of strong local leadership, adaptability, and multi-level governance in handling complex crises while highlighting systemic challenges in national-level crisis coordination. This research emphasizes the critical role of small municipalities in maintaining the robustness of local governance during large-scale crises, especially in their beginnings.

Attitudes of Ukrainian refugees in Austria: gender roles, democracy, and confidence in international institutions

The perception of cultural differences between refugee populations and host societies is central to political debates on integration. This study examines cultural values within the context of the Ukrainian refugee flows to Austria, following the Russian war of aggression. Previous research has shown that Ukrainian refugees represent a self-selected group in terms of their socioeconomic profile. However, there is limited evidence on whether and how their beliefs differ from those in their home society and align with those in their host society. Our research addresses this gap by offering a comparative analysis of two value dimensions: (1) gender roles, and (2) political attitudes. We utilize three large-scale data sources for our analyses to compare Ukrainian arrivals in Austria with the Austrian and Ukrainian resident populations. These sources include a rapid-response survey among Ukrainian arrivals in Austria conducted in 2022, and the most recent waves of the World Values Survey (WVS Ukraine 2020) and the European Values Study (EVS Austria 2018). Our results reveal a complex pattern. The gender role attitudes of Ukrainian arrivals deviate from both their home and host societies. Ukrainian refugees tend to hold more liberal gender role attitudes than the Ukrainian resident population and more traditional gender role attitudes than the Austrian resident population. When controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, the differences with the home country decrease, whereas the differences with the host country increase. This suggests that the selection of refugees in terms of education or age accounts for their in-between position in gender roles. Regarding beliefs in democracy, Ukrainian arrivals tend to align more closely with their home country than their host country. However, they indicate much more confidence in the EU than their compatriots and the Austrian resident population. The differences in attitudes towards democracy and confidence in international institutions remain stable even after accounting for sociodemographic characteristics, indicating that these differences are not due to socioeconomic self-selection processes. Finally, we find that Ukrainian arrivals from Kyiv stand out in both value dimensions, as they tend to hold less traditional gender role attitudes and have a more positive evaluation of democracy compared to those from other regions of Ukraine.

Hearing the voices of Ukrainian refugee women in Italy to enhance empowerment interventions.

The 2022 Russian invasion displaced millions of Ukrainians, many of whom sought refuge in Italy. War refugees face heightened mental-health risks but can also activate resilience and empowerment. This study employed the Transtheoretical Model of Empowerment and Resilience (Brodsky & Cattaneo, 2013) to explore resilience and empowerment processes implemented by Ukrainian refugee women in Italy to cope with war-related challenges and living in a new country. Twenty Ukrainian refugee women completed questionnaires and participated in semi-structured interviews. Results indicated perceived psychological distress following traumatic war experiences. Utilizing individual and shared resources, respondents enacted resilience processes stemming from the context of risk in their home country and the receiving country but not empowerment actions. However, some mentioned empowerment goals, such as changes in the formal support system for refugees and creating a network of Ukrainian refugees for mutual support. Results highlighted how some participants held individual characteristics of relative privilege, which could be crucial for transitioning from resilience to empowerment. The study suggests that facilitating this transition may require tailored interventions for the specific needs of Ukrainian refugee women and community-based interventions for promoting access to shared opportunities with the local community and other migrants.

Language teachers’ attitudes to working with multilingual refugee learners: Do teacher Openness to Experience, Intercultural Sensitivity and plurilingualism matter?

This article aims to explore second language (L2) teachers’ attitudes to working with multilingual refugee learners in the context of a sudden shift towards an increasingly multilingual environment caused by the influx of Ukrainian refugee children in 2022 to Polish schools. The teachers have been prepared to teach predominantly monolingual classes and have not obtained any training to meet the needs of migrant and multilingual learners; thus, they had to rely on their personal resources facing this suddenly increasingly multilingual and multicultural environment. A cross-sectional survey study was designed to identify how attitudes of teachers of English and Polish as a foreign language ( n = 70) developed towards teaching multilingual refugee learners and to what extent these correlated with teacher Openness to Experience, Intercultural Sensitivity and teachers’ plurilingualism. The quantitative analysis reveals mixed attitudes overall, despite generally positive attitudes to working with Ukrainian refugee learners, and correlating positively with Openness to Experience and plurilingualism, but not Intercultural Sensitivity. These might derive from the complexity of the teaching experience, which goes beyond mere language teaching, and for which the teachers have not received sufficient preparation.

The effect of Ukrainian refugees on the local labour markets: the case of Czechia

Following the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine on 24th February 2022, over a quarter of the Ukrainian population became displaced. Czechia emerged as a key destination, granting temporary protection to approximately 433,000 Ukrainians by the end of 2022, thus sheltering the highest per capita number of Ukrainian refugees worldwide. The swift enactment of the ‘Lex Ukraine Act’ granted the refugees unrestricted access to the labour market. This led to a notable increase in the number of legally employed Ukrainians and expanded Czechia’s workforce. Using individual micro-level data from 16 waves of the Labour Force Sample Survey (LFSS), collected between the 1st quarter of 2019 and the 4th quarter of 2022, we examine the short-term impact of the influx of the Ukrainian refugees into the workforce on the labour market outcomes of locals in Czechia. Incorporating several empirical strategies, including a two-way fixed effects model (TWFE), extensions to the canonical difference-in-differences (DiD) estimator, and matching on selective characteristics of individuals/districts and pre-treatment trends, we find consistent evidence that the influx of refugees had no economically meaningful impact on employment, unemployment, or inactivity rates within the local population, regardless of gender, educational level, or industry. Most importantly, we find consistent evidence of an increase in weekly working hours among local females in treated districts. This increase is primarily driven by workers with secondary education employed in the most affected sectors.

Lower levels of positive affect and insomnia are associated with elevated allostatic load among Ukrainian refugees.

Lower levels of positive affect and insomnia are associated with elevated allostatic load among Ukrainian refugees.

Semiotics and framing of Ukrainian refugees in Spanish political discourse: a linguistic and cognitive analysis

ABSTRACT This study analyzes how four major Spanish political parties use semiotic resources on Twitter to portray Ukrainian refugees, employing corpus linguistics and cognitive framing. Drawing on Saussure’s semiology, Van Dijk’s discourse theory, Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis, and Lakoff’s framing theory, we examine how words function as signs that frame ideological positions. Partido Popular (PP) emphasizes individual liberty and national identity, PSOE highlights diplomacy and humanitarianism, Unidas Podemos (UP) assigns blame to specific countries while showing solidarity with Ukraine, and VOX advocates strict refugee policies with an anti-communist stance. This detailed linguistic and semiotic analysis reveals how the parties’ language choices, informed by cognitive and semiotic frames, reflect underlying power structures and ideological biases, offering important insights into the dynamics of political discourse around refugees, and how language shapes public perception.

Selective solidarity? Patterns of support for refugees in Germany

ABSTRACT The widespread solidarity and civil society support for refugees from Ukraine in various European countries have been broadly praised. Yet also a risk of selective solidarity has been articulated. Against this background, this research note explores patterns of solidarity with Ukrainian refugees compared to refugees from other countries, drawing from a population survey fielded in November and December 2022 in Germany. We assess two types of supports: the willingness to take on mentorships and to privately host refugees. We furthermore analyze patterns in the overall population and among refugee supporters. Our data show a preference for supporting refugees from Ukraine in the overall population but not among refugee supporters.

Integration of Ukrainian refugee teachers in Ireland?

This study explores the experiences of Ukrainian teachers enrolled on a refugee teacher bridging programme in Ireland. Utilising hybrid learning over a four-month period, the programme aimed to provide professional learning opportunities about the specifics of the Irish education system including emphasis on history and structure, regulation of teacher registration, curriculum and assessment and teacher identify in the Irish context. The study reports findings based on data generated utilising a qualitative questionnaire administered online to 50 participants. The findings reveal that these teachers are highly experienced, have been very successful in the initial stages of registering with the Irish Teaching Council, which will allow them to work as teachers in Ireland, and they have been successful in finding employment. Additional analysis, however, questions the stability of these initial positive steps, highlighting that further stages in the registration process, in addition to a reduction in teaching roles in support of Ukrainian pupils, mean that many of these teachers will face increased difficulty in maintaining their positions as teachers in Ireland.

Via Crucis of the Body: Clarice Lispector visits advertising

ABSTRACT If anyone could write a story about a 77-year-old lady dreaming of shagging a pop star, it was Clarice Lispector. The Ukrainian refugee immigrated to Brazil as her Jewish family fled in the wake of the Russian Revolution. She is one of the most enigmatic writers of the twentieth century and her modernist prose is highly introspective and autobiographical. In this paper, I draw on two of her later collections, Where Were You at Night and The Via Crucis of the Body, both published in 1974, to outline several modes of ‘meno representation’, which offer alternatives to pathological perceptions of the menopause transition, and which can be adopted in advertising and marketing communications. Through feminist literary criticism of her stories, which focus in part on the lives of ageing women, I contribute to cultural strategy by suggesting new forms of meno representations in advertising.

Thriving or sinking? The emplacement process of Ukrainian refugees in depopulating, peripheral areas in the Netherlands

Thriving or sinking? The emplacement process of Ukrainian refugees in depopulating, peripheral areas in the Netherlands

Navigating dual crises: mental health of Czech health care workers during the Ukrainian refugee influx and COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Background: European health care workers recently experienced serious challenges to their mental health. Following the extremely stressful experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine caused a humanitarian influx of refugees in need of social and healthcare. We aimed to explore: (1) how working with refugees has affected the mental well-being of health care workers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) the nature of health care workers’ emotional strain related to the refugee situation and the war in Ukraine. Methods: We used a combination of quantitative regression analyses and qualitative content analysis to assess data collected by an online questionnaire in 2022. The study included 1121 health care workers from the Czech arm of the international HEROES Study. Results: Quantitative findings did not indicate that working with Ukrainian refugees was reliably associated with a greater occurrence of symptoms of depression, anxiety, distress, or burnout. Qualitative analysis revealed five categories of emotional strain: impacts on working conditions, emotional reactions to refugees and the war, comparisons with the COVID-19 pandemic, and coping strategies. Conclusions: This study highlights the resilience of health care workers but also points to the need for ongoing support to address the complex emotional challenges they face during health crises.

Building Bridges or Forging Bonds? Exploring the Role of Social Capital in the Reception of Ukrainian Refugees in Italy

ABSTRACTIn the immediate aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine, over 6 million Ukrainians fled their country to various European countries, including Italy. Various entities in the country, ranging from third‐sector organizations to private citizens, expressed their interest in hosting these refugees, with significant subnational heterogeneity. What influenced this varying willingness to be hosts? We aim to provide some preliminary answers to this question by investigating the role of social capital in this heterogeneous response, using a quantitative framework. Our results, obtained through a set of regressions using Fractional Probit estimators, suggest that bonding social capital is associated with greater willingness to host, whereas the opposite is true for bridging social capital. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Perspectives on creating an integrated Ukrainian refugee response in Romania

This Open Space feature introduces us to the profound challenges that arise when providing human and humanitarian support to Ukrainian refugee children in Romania. Limited resources, the support for Ukrainian refugees by the general public in Romania, and the need to offer diverse programmes to meet diverse needs are just some of the obstacles to overcome. It shows us how Terre des hommes Romania promotes the latest insights from recent research, supporting families in protecting children and the meaningful participation of children in the decisions that concern them.

Children’s well-being in times of war: analysing the importance of family through home, objects and relationships

In 2022, Russian forces invaded Ukraine, resulting in one of the largest refugee crises in Europe. Switzerland took in around 60,000 Ukrainian refugees, many of whom were children. Drawing on qualitative interviews with Ukrainian refugee children (aged 8–14) who participated in the WoKidS (Children’s Well-being in German-Speaking Switzerland) project, we reconstruct the importance of family for their subjective well-being by addressing three interrelated aspects: home, objects and relationships. We argue that, despite experiencing adverse situations, refugee children are active participants in the processes of homemaking and the promotion of family co-presence and care across borders. Furthermore, the children’s perspectives expand our understanding of (transnational) families and (transnational) care, showing that well-being is relational and challenging the notion of family as ‘left behind’.

Evacuating Patients With Pediatric Cancer From Ukraine: Impact on Medical Care Capacity in Poland.

Soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, an initiative was organized to evacuate Ukrainian children with cancer, most initially to Poland. This study assessed the impact of this rapid increase in clinical need on the Polish system of pediatric cancer care. This multicenter longitudinal approach was performed among all 19 Polish Pediatric Oncology Centers (PPOCs). We compared PPOC capacity before the invasion with that during the first 11 weeks after the invasion, using three ratios: patients to physicians (PtP), patients to nurses (PtN), and patients to beds (PtB). In addition, we used national data from an ongoing leukemia clinical trial to assess differences between the two study periods in the time required to comply with protocol-indicated medical procedures requiring general anesthesia. During the study period, 237 Ukrainian refugee children with cancer were treated in PPOCs; 60% of them arrived during the first 21 days of the war. The relative increase in patients varied significantly among the PPOCs, ranging from 42% to 460%. The average PtP, PtN, and PtB ratios increased significantly by 85%, 131%, and 105%, respectively. The portion of patients experiencing a delay in obtaining medical procedures requiring general anesthesia increased from 15% before the war to 18.2% (P = .043). Because of the large number of Ukrainian children with cancer were evacuated to Poland, capacity of PPOCs was reduced, affecting cancer care for all patients. Maintaining standards of pediatric oncology care in Poland would not be possible without further patient referral to medical facilities around the world by international humanitarian collaborative action.