How to Support Ukrainian Researchers Right Now

Many media organizations have published articles explaining how to help Ukraine, from providing for refugees, donating needed supplies, contributing to fundraising efforts, and reaching out to those in positions of power, e.g., corporations and government officials. (Here’s one offering a substantial list of ways you can do your part.)

Here at GreenBook, we expanded the question of how to help to a different one, centering on our industry: In what ways might researchers and research innovators act in service to the Ukrainian research community? 

Here are a few ideas to stimulate your brain and inspire action.

1) Do your research to get informed

Gathering information is what researchers do. We recognize the inherent value in the knowledge and insights we gain when we set out to explore a topic.

We believe learning is empowering. By setting out to learn about consumers, users, and customers, we can represent them and their voices in our conversations. The same applies in this context: we can support Ukrainian researchers – living in our own communities and elsewhere – by learning about their country’s history, their culture, and the events leading up to this conflict.

In practicality, this might look like an Internet trip launched with a Google search. It might involve reading books or watching videos. (I turn to the Kyiv Independent, as I’m a fan of editorial independence.)

But as someone who spent years in qualitative research, perhaps the best thing to do is visit your local Ukrainian association and talk to citizens. Ask them about their experiences. Ask what they’d like you to discover about their country. Let them see you care about what they are fighting for. Your desire to learn is an act of care.

2) Connect with Ukrainian researchers, shifting from sympathy to empathy

Imagine your basic human needs are unmet. Within weeks, you lack shelter, warmth, and security. You can’t sleep out of fear, you can’t eat because of scarcity. Law and order and stability are no longer present in your everyday life.

Then, consider how much we’ve focused on the need for empathy in market research, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. 

Sure, you are sympathetic to what Ukrainians are going through (sympathy means feeling sorry for them, deeply sorry). But true empathy, feeling with people, requires a connection. And that connection? It works to ease their pain as you take some of it on. Let’s make those needed connections to get us to empathy.

Perhaps you already know a Ukraine based researcher; this is a good time to let them know you are thinking of them. If you don’t, you still have options. The following large and well-known research companies have offices and/or employees in Ukraine. Look through your LinkedIn connections to see who you know at each of these organizations. Message them to discover if there’s a way you can support their colleagues overseas.

• Kantar
• Ipsos
• GfK

3) Offer jobs, or freelance work, to Ukrainian researchers and research firms

There are wonderful job opportunities being shared online for thousands of people left now struggling without income. As researchers, we have a unique opportunity to recruit talent from around the world via this site, Hire for Ukraine, started by a former engineering manager for Airbnb.

Through the ESOMAR Foundation, I learned about a platform called AdAid.ue, connecting Ukrainian advertising professionals with potential employers. And yet another, Remote Ukraine, with 6,000 registered users and 1,200+ jobs posted. However, with such volatility and ambiguity, many Ukrainians are finding work on freelance talent sites; this Forbes article lists many more freelance sites you can look to.

Another way to help professional researchers in Ukraine? Look to LinkedIn. First, tune into the posts in your own newsfeed and read, really read, the ones that reference Ukraine.

• Tiffany Hays, Founder and CEO of FUEL and The Focus Room, recently made a plea for support of the efforts of a fellow research colleague that received a tremendous response. 
• Alyona Medelyan, Co-Founder and CEO of Thematic, recently shared a post with ways to help and links to sources for financial contributions.
• Gary Laben, CEO at Dynata, recently shared open positions and encouraged Ukraine researchers to apply.
• Liza Litovchenko, CEO of Ukraine based Pro-Consulting Market Research, recently shared to many groups/pages her plea on behalf of her 18 employees. 

If you aren’t connected to people in this way, you can also conduct a Boolean search on LinkedIn with hashtags, for example, typing in both #mrx AND #Ukraine. From there, scroll through posts from industry peers during the last few weeks and see what resonates.

4) Take the 1% pledge

If you are in leadership, listen up; if you are not in leadership, speak up: Each company in the research ecosystem has the opportunity to lead by example in support of Ukrainian researchers. Show, don’t tell, your employees your values by taking action. 

Pledge 1% makes that easy for you. Your company takes a pledge to act to the tune of 1%: donate 1% of your equity or profit to organizations helping Ukraine, volunteer 1% of your team’s time (for them to put towards personal fundraising efforts or donation drives), and/or contribute 1% of your product (coordinate a shipment of your goods, if applicable, or find a related use for your services).

Marc Benioff, Chair and CEO of Salesforce is a Pledge 1% Champion. So are Scott Farquhar, CEO of Atlassian and Jeremy Stoppelman, Co-founder and CEO of Yelp. Isn’t that company your company wants to keep? 

Need some ideas? It was through the Pledge 1% website that I learned about two unique possibilities for the vendors in our space:

•  #techtotherescue: this organization is seeking digital helpers for those coordinating humanitarian aid efforts.
• Goodera: this organization has options you can work on as a company (e.g., putting together art kits, personal care packages, even recording video messages).

So let’s do this…let’s see how many research firms we can get represented on this list of those saying, “We’ve Pledged 1%.”

5) Help the helpers: Other Eastern European researchers need you, too

Last year, a Romanian colleague of mine told me she was worried about their proximity to Russia and how any act of aggression toward Ukraine would affect Romania. When Putin advanced on Ukraine, she was among the first people I reached out to with a message of support.

Eastern European countries previously ruled by communist regimes are not only neighbors to this war, they are on the front lines of all that is happening. And they are working hard to support refugees and those fleeing from war. 

So, how might we assist them as they offer a hand to Ukraine? By factoring those countries into all the aforementioned suggestions:

• Research the history and culture of Ukraine’s neighboring countries.
• Reach out to colleagues throughout Eastern Europe to help them trust they are a part of our amazing community.
• Offer freelance work or full-time positions to colleagues in those countries.
• Think expansively and inclusively in your 1% Pledge plans.

As a GreenBook Blog reader, you already focus on the future of insights. Together, let’s look toward the future of Ukraine and its neighbors.

Let’s do what we can and then some to make a difference.