If you are from Ukraine: RSU Ready to Help Academic Staff and Their Families from Ukraine

In response to Russian military aggression in Ukraine, Riga Stradiņš University (RSU) stands in solidarity with the Ukrainian academic community by offering to shelter faculty members, PhD students, and their families. The University has surveyed its facilities and is ready and able to host up to 150 people from the war-torn country. At the same time, various RSU faculties are exploring additional ways in which to provide assistance.

RSU Rector Prof. Aigars Pētersons: ‘We are not powerless in this situation, and there are things we can and should do. We have partners and friends in Ukraine who need our help.

We are ready to shelter them and their families in our student hostels, which currently have a capacity of up to 150 beds. We are ready to host visiting researchers and guest lecturers and can offer them the opportunity to teach different courses in our programmes at both an undergraduate and postgraduate level, as well as to work in research.

Our hearts and minds are with our friends and colleagues in Ukraine.’

At the same time, RSU management wants to emphasise to its students, faculty, researchers, and administrative staff that the situation in Latvia is peaceful. Studies and research at RSU are continuing as normal. RSU's work has not been hampered and has not stopped.

Prof. Andris Sprūds, the Dean of the Faculty of European Studies, and an expert on international relations:

‘Latvia is a member of NATO, a collective defence organisation that guarantees our security. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the leaders of the Alliance's member states have repeatedly and unequivocally affirmed this. An attack on one country is an attack on the alliance as a whole.

NATO has already deployed support and continues to reinforce its military presence in Eastern European countries to bolster the security of all member states. This strengthens Latvian security during this challenging time. This has also been confirmed by senior Latvian officials.’

Various faculties at RSU are exploring opportunities to help their partners in Ukraine. For example, the Faculty of Law has an extensive cooperation with both the Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University and the National Scientific Centre of Ukraine “Hon. Prof. M.S. Bokarius Forensic Science Institute”. The faculty is ready to host visiting researchers and guest lecturers in the field of law and offer them the opportunity to teach various courses in the bachelor's and master's degree programmes at RSU, as well as to work in research. At the same time, they will in the nearest future seek the permission of the Latvian Council of Science to allocate grant funding to those Ukrainian scientists who decide to continue their research work in Latvia, because RSU is involved in the implementation of a Latvia-Ukraine bilateral cooperation programme.

If You are from Ukraine, please contact for additional information and support: Ieva Lejniece, e-mail ieva[pnkts]lejniecersu[pnkts]lv (ieva[dot]lejniece[at]rsu[dot]lv), phone +371 67062690.