↵

PAUSE’s special Emergency Fund for Scientists – Solidarity Ukraine

1 Mar 2022 | News

With the support of the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, the PAUSE program launches a special Emergency Fund for Ukrainian researchers in danger.

An 3-months emergency support is offered to voluntary institutions for the hosting of a Ukrainian researcher, and his or her family if necessary. The amount will be fixed and indexed to the number of people composing the family unit (single person, couple, family). This emergency hosting in France will enable the researcher to prepare an application, with his or her host institution, to later benefit from the PAUSE program’s support in the context of one of its annual calls for applications.

Hosting institutions’ eligibility

The following institutions are eligible to the PAUSE program:

A higher education and research institution;
An EESPIG-designated private higher education institution.

Scientists’ eligibility

To be eligible to the special fund PAUSE-Solidarity Ukraine, the scientists must :

Have the Ukrainian nationality;
Provide evidence of doctoral student, researcher or research fellow status;
Be no more than 65 years old during the application process.

All women are eligible to this program. However, regarding the military mobilisation in Ukraine, the mobilizable men between 18 and 60 years old who are in the Ukrainian territory are not eligible at this stage.

Implementation of the special call

Entry conditions in France:

The Ukrainians who have a biometric passport are exempt from the request of a short-term visa for France and the whole Schengen area. The Ukrainians who don’t have a biometric passport, or any other travel document, must go to one of the consular posts in a border state of Ukraine (Poland, Romania, Hungary…) in order for their situation to be assessed and to obtain a short-term visa or a pass. They will obtain a legal residency status for 90 days.

Stay conditions in France:

The following persons are eligible to the temporary protection :

Ukrainian nationals who were residing in Ukraine before 24 February 2022;
Non-Ukrainian nationals benefitting from protection (international or equivalent national protection) granted by the Ukrainian authorities before 24 February 2022;
Family members displaced from Ukraine after 24 February 2022 of a person falling under one of the two above cases.

The temporary protection offers to its beneficiaries the following rights in France :

The issuance of a temporary residence permit (APS) on French territory for a period of 6 months, bearing the mention “beneficiary of temporary protection”;
The payment of the asylum seeker's allowance (ADA) (cannot be combined with the PAUSE support);
Authorisation to have a professional activity;
Access to healthcare through medical care (PUMa and CSS);
Schooling for minor children;
Support in accessing housing (APL).

To apply for the temporary protection, the researchers must, once they are on the French territory follow the below process :

Go to the prefecture of the department where you live or are staying;
With the documents in your possession justifying your situation;
Accompanied by your family members (spouse and children).

Amount of the financial emergency support :

An 3-months emergency support is offered to voluntary institution wishing to host researchers, and their family if necessary. The amount of the 3-months fixed financial aid is 1.900 euros/month (5. 700 euros).

In addition to this fixed amount, the following support could be provided:

A family supplement of 200 euros/month for a 2-persons family, or of 500 euros/month for a family of more than two persons.
A maximum 100-euros housing subsidy allocated on a case-by-case basis to families without housing solution from the solidarity initiatives that exist on the French territory.

Payment conditions of the financial aid :

Thanks to the temporary protection, the Ukrainian researchers immediately receive a work permit.

We recommend the hosting institutions to pay the financial aid in a the form of a grant in order to enable the candidate to benefit of the entire aid for its installation in France. The payment of the financial aid to the institutions will be provided after the actual arrival of the beneficiary in his or her host institution.

This emergency welcome in France will enable the researcher to prepare an application, with his or her host institution, to later benefit from the PAUSE program’s support in the context of one of its annual calls for applications.

The documents to be provided to apply to this special call :

An application form must be filled online by the hosting institution, with the following documents :

A letter of commitment from the head of the institution committing to recruit, for a period of three months the researcher
A RIB of the institution that submitted the application;
A copy of the first two pages of the passport or, otherwise of the identity card of the artists of cultural professional, and from the members of his or her family if necessary;
A detailed CV of the researcher

PAUSE’s calls for applications

The maximum amount of the financial support offered to the establishment is 60% of the total budget proposed by the establishment. Therefore, the following funding levels have been created.

up to 20,000 euros for doctoral students and research assistants (category 1).
up to 40,000 euros for postdoctoral researchers, lecturers, and research engineers (category 2).
up to 60,000 euros for university professors and research supervisors (category 3).

Beyond the researcher’s salary, the budget can include a financial aid for the housing, such as French courses.

The hosting establishments also have the possibility to retroactively value the financial supports they would provide to the researcher between the end of the 3-months emergency fund and the beginning of a new contract co-financed by the PAUSE program, if the candidate is selected during a regular call for applications on the basis of the usual criteria (threat assessment and artistic level).

The next call for applications will open on September 2022. Intermediate evaluation sessions will be held if necessary.

Non-Ukrainian researchers affected by the war in Ukraine

Non-Ukrainian researchers in danger because of the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and especially the Russian and Byelorussian dissidents, are eligible to the PAUSE program’s calls for applications.

The PAUSE program is open to scientists from all geographical areas (outside the European Union) and disciplines, they must meet all of the following criteria :

Provide evidence of doctoral student (with a thesis in progress and interrupted due to an urgent situation), researcher, research fellow status in their country of origin;
Be in an urgent situation due to the security situation in their country of origin and/or persecution or fear of persecution based on their ethnicity, religion, political convictions, opinions, sexual orientation, or the content of their research and/or teaching. Economic emergency does not fall within the scope of the program;
Be forced into exile from their country of origin or have been in France for less than three years.

Voluntary institutions

If your institution wishes to host a scientist in danger, and if you don’t have any direct contact with a candidate, we invite you to contact the PAUSE program at the following mail address : pause@college-de-france.fr in order for us to put you in touch with a candidate who has no hosting institution and is looking for one.

Security and confidentiality

In order to be protected against any form of communication interception which could compromise the candidate’s safety, we recommend that institutions and candidates use secure messaging services for their communications. You must use end-to-end encrypted platforms, such as Olvid or Signal for phone calls, and ProtonMail of Tutanota for emails.