Academic Emigrants
Russian Scientists in the US after 2022
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7168515 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ирина Дежина (0000-0002-3402-3433), Irina Dezhina (Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 87-110 |
| Publication date | 2025-12-25 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sociological Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1562-2495 • E-ISSN: 1684-1581 |
| Publisher | Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FCTAS RAS) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.19181/socjour.2025.31.4.5 |
| OpenAlex | W7117234091 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 28 |
The article analyzes the employment experiences, adaptation and career prospects of scientists who left Russia for the United States after 2022. The study is based on 32 semi-structured interviews conducted in 2024. Unlike earlier post-Soviet waves of scientific emigration, this new wave of “brain drain” was mostly unplanned, with many scientists leaving without job offers from abroad. These people not being refugees in the traditional sense, as in they were without officially confirmed status, meant that they were not entitled to support from special programs. This further complicated their search for jobs. Most had successful careers at leading Russian universities and had maintained contacts abroad. These connections did help them in finding academic positions, but in most cases only temporarily. Due to previous experience, professional adaptation proved to be relatively uncomplicated. In the longer term, career prospects are constrained by the job market, which is particularly unfavorable for middle-aged and senior immigrant scientists, who were the majority interviewed. For many the most realistic path forward would be cycling through temporary positions or exiting academia altogether. Relocating to other countries, especially those in the CIS, could provide stable opportunities, as work experience in the US is valued there. Views of returning to Russia or collaborating with former colleagues who stayed there were divided, without a common perspective
Career path · Immigration · Refugee · COVID-19, Geopolitics, Technology, Migration · International Science and Diplomacy · Regional Socio-Economic Development Trends
Forced Migration
Knowledge migrants” or “economic migrants”? Patterns of academic mobility and migration from Southern Europe to Mexico
Understanding Russia’s Brain Drain in the 2010s
Pity the Exiled
The Birth of a 'Discipline
Scientific Brain Drain and Human Capital Formation After the End of the Soviet Union
Migration trajectories and transnational support within and beyond Europe
Embeddedness and Immigration
Social Mobility via academic mobility
A Life Course Approach to High-skilled Migration
Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |