A special issue of the American Chemical Society journal – ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces – "Science in Ukraine: Achievements in Applied Materials" has been released.
This is not just another collection of scientific articles, but an attempt to capture the state of Ukrainian science under the conditions of full-scale war. The journal specializes in research at the intersection of materials science, chemistry, engineering, and biology – precisely those fields that form applied technologies. Historically, Ukrainian science has held leading positions in these areas: from metallurgy and electric welding to developments for the aerospace industry and semiconductor technologies. The full-scale invasion has significantly changed the conditions in which researchers work. Part of the infrastructure has been destroyed or damaged, thousands of scientists have left the country, others have joined the defense or were forced to suspend their work. Those who remained work in a state of constant uncertainty – between air raids, power outages, and limited access to equipment.
At the same time, the international scientific community responded quite quickly. Universities and research centers opened access to laboratories, special support programs appeared, and collaboration with Ukrainian scientists became more visible. It is at the intersection of these processes – internal resilience and external support – that this special issue was formed.
The special issue includes 22 articles selected from several dozen submitted works under strict rules. About 120 researchers from Ukrainian scientific institutions and universities participated in the project. A key requirement was that the authors had to be working in Ukraine during the preparation of the publications. This effectively recorded not only the scientific result but also the very fact of continuing research in a country at war. Some of the works were carried out in collaboration with foreign partners, including from the USA and European countries. In this sense, the special issue is also evidence of the integration of Ukrainian science into the global context, which, despite the war, has not only not stopped but in some cases even accelerated. Among the invited editors are Ukrainian scientists, including the first deputy general director of the NTK "Institute of Monocrystals" of the NAS of Ukraine, director of the Institute of Chemistry of Functional Materials of the NTK, academician of the NAS of Ukraine Valentyn Chebanov. According to him, the key task was not only to ensure a high scientific level of publications but also to show that the Ukrainian research system continues to function. "It is about recording the obvious: even under current conditions, Ukraine maintains an environment capable of producing world-class results," he notes.