Abstract (English)

This paper explores how Romania—a semi-peripheral, post-socialist state—responded to the arrival of displaced Ukrainian scholars following the 2022 Russian invasion. Drawing on in-depth interviews with academics and institutional representatives, it examines how geopolitical proximity, institutional flexibility, and donor-driven initiatives shaped both short-term inclusion and long-term precarity. While Romanian institutions were often praised for their warmth and speed of response, they lacked sustainable strategies for professional integration, particularly within a higher education system already marked by project-based funding and systemic underinvestment.

The study offers a dual analysis: first, of how migration intersects with academic freedom, precarity, and epistemic (in)justice; and second, of how displaced scholars themselves perceive and navigate their in-between status—as temporary guests, strategic migrants, or future colleagues. Their experiences illuminate tensions between gratitude and marginalization, between visibility during crisis and long-term academic recognition.

Resumen (Español)

This paper explores how Romania—a semi-peripheral, post-socialist state—responded to the arrival of displaced Ukrainian scholars following the 2022 Russian invasion. Drawing on in-depth interviews with academics and institutional representatives, it examines how geopolitical proximity, institutional flexibility, and donor-driven initiatives shaped both short-term inclusion and long-term precarity. While Romanian institutions were often praised for their warmth and speed of response, they lacked sustainable strategies for professional integration, particularly within a higher education system already marked by project-based funding and systemic underinvestment.

The study offers a dual analysis: first, of how migration intersects with academic freedom, precarity, and epistemic (in)justice; and second, of how displaced scholars themselves perceive and navigate their in-between status—as temporary guests, strategic migrants, or future colleagues. Their experiences illuminate tensions between gratitude and marginalization, between visibility during crisis and long-term academic recognition.

By contrasting the experiences of displaced scholars with those of precarious Romanian academics, the paper reveals a layered geography of inequality within European academia, one shaped by mobility regimes, institutional hierarchies, and the commodification of crisis knowledge. Ultimately, it argues that understanding academic displacement requires not just protection mechanisms, but a critical engagement with how migration reshapes knowledge production, authority, and belonging