ECerS Statement

March 2022

Dear members of the Ceramic community,

Europe is currently facing hard times with the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by the Federation of Russia; this situation is terrible and we would like to express our heartfelt support to all Ukrainians.

The European Ceramic Society truly believes that peace and international collaboration is what should be happening now and in the future and we strongly condemn the attitude of the Russian army and its leadership.

We have no doubt that most Russian scientists are against what is happening and we would like to ask them to raise their voices and do what they can to try to stop the present conflict – though we fully appreciate the very difficult position in which they find themselves. We know also that some of our colleagues from the Eastern countries are highly involved in helping Ukrainian refugees and we would like to bring some support too.

The European Ceramic Society and its foundation, the JECS Trust, would like to be able to help our Ukrainian colleagues that are sadly obliged to leave their country and employment. Although only a small gesture, we are pleased to offer a zero-fee ECerS individual membership to Ukrainian ceramic scientists and students for the next 2 years. We are also envisaging the provision of specific support from the JECS Trust to assist as much as we can. To understand better what is needed and to work out what we can do within the frame of our statutes for Ukrainian ceramists, we ask that you contact the ECerS secretariat (email: info@ecers.org) and tell us what could help you at this time.

Hoping for peace as soon as possible,

Best regards

Dr F. Cambier - President of ECerS
Prof J. Binner - Chair of the JECS Trust