Dr Dmytro Rassokhin can continue his research from Mariupol thanks to an EFDS scholarship with the support of HTWK Leipzig
Dr Dmytro Rassokhin would actually now be Dean of Studies at the Faculty of Engineering and Language Qualification at Priazovsky State Technical University in Mariupol, Ukraine. He only took up the post in September 2021.
He had already been working at the Technical University in Mariupol since his studies. Dmytro Rassokhin completed his Bachelor's degree in "Engineering Mechanics" with honours in 2010, his Master's degree in "Engineering Technology" in 2011 and began his dissertation in the same year. He received his doctorate in engineering at the end of 2015 with a dissertation on "Improving the quality of locally micro-alloyed metal under slag shells" at the National Metallurgical Academy of Ukraine in Dnipropetrovsk. Dmytro Rassokhin remained loyal to Mariupol Technical University and has worked as a research assistant and lecturer at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Metal Welding since 2015. He taught on topics such as equipment reliability and mathematical modelling and conducted research into the calculation and modelling (SolidWorks, ANSYS) of complex systems such as the restoration of equipment and machine elements. Rassokhin's research group also developed composite materials with the aim of increasing resistance to wear. In September 2021, he also took on the role of Dean of Studies at the Faculty of Engineering and Language Qualifications.
However, the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army on 24 February 2022 not only brought his academic career to an abrupt end. An odyssey began for Dr Rassokhin, husband and young father of a small daughter. The months-long siege and brutal conquest of Mariupol claimed thousands of civilian victims and will go down in the history books as a war crime. The city, more than 90 per cent of whose buildings were destroyed, has been officially occupied by Russia since May 2022. It has been almost impossible for civilians to escape since the war began in February 2022. Mariupol was under fire from the very beginning and even negotiated evacuation routes were rigorously attacked.
Fortunately, the young Rassokhin family made it out of Mariupol and arrived in Leipzig in May 2022. Having barely arrived in Germany, Dr Rassokhin took the initiative to apply for a research position at HTWK Leipzig and was immediately listened to and supported.
Due to his teaching and research activities in the field of composite materials, the Faculty of Engineering was the right place for him to go and his application ended up with Prof Robert Böhm, holder of the Chair of Lightweight Construction with Composite Materials. Thanks to support from the Forschungs- und Transferzentrum Leipzig e.V., Prof. Böhm was able to take Dr Rassokhin on as a research assistant in his research group at HTWK Leipzig for an initial six months. Prof Böhm and his team then explored further funding opportunities together with Dmytro Rassokhin.
In March 2022, the European Union, among others, set up special funds to award scholarships for researchers displaced by the war in Ukraine. Many German research facilities and institutions have also set up their own aid programmes for refugees.
Prof Böhm's team applied for an EFDS* scholarship for Rassokhin in Berlin from ALLEA, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities. This EU fund is intended to enable academic institutions to host researchers so that they can continue their own research work in a safe environment. The positive decision from Berlin came shortly before Christmas.
Thanks to this EFDS grant, Dr Dmytro Rassokhin has been working as a guest researcher in Prof Böhm's team since January 2023 and can continue his own research into the development and improvement of composite materials as a protective coating for cavitation-damaged parts at HTWK Leipzig.
"As an open-minded university, it is natural for us to support Dr Dmytro Rassokhin in this situation and to enable him to continue his research work at HTWK Leipzig. The cooperation with Dr Rassokhin is excellent and our research department also benefits directly from his work," emphasises Prof. Robert Böhm.
*European Fund for Displaced Scientists
Information on the EFDS scholarship: https://allea.org/efds-funding-line-1/?cn-reloaded=1
Further information on the siege of Mariupol 2022: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belagerung_von_Mariupol
