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What can a supervisor do to support research students whose country is at war? More specifically, are there evidence-based practices for openly supporting the wellbeing of students who work in the same research group (and possibly collaborate on the same project) but come from countries that are actively fighting a war against each other?

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    Would this be beyond the counseling resources the institution makes available? Are these students requesting additional support from you, or are you anticipating they will? Commented 10 hours ago
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    I don't know that such situations are common enough, or that different conflicts or individuals are similar enough, that there even could be such evidence-based (at least in the sense of statistically supported) practices. Anyway, it seems that you'll have very different situations to handle if both students disagree with the war and are collaborating on something unrelated (e.g., analysis of graph algorithms), or if one of them loudly supports the invasion of the other's home country. Are you asking about a hypothetical situation, or do you have something more concrete in mind? Commented 9 hours ago
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    @Anyon: It's common enough that it has occurred twice in my group in the last 3 years. Commented 7 hours ago

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Not evidence but anecdotal, with at least 3 conflicts:

I experienced that from the side line as a PhD student. The best thing the group leader did was to be strict with one thing: Do not live the conflicts of your home here. That was openly said in front of the whole group. It doesn't mean not to talk about it. It means to accept that the other person has the same rights here. I saw it as a step towards seeing the humanity in "the other".

So my advice is to sternly demand that no conflict is fought in your institution and that they need to get along professionally. And if necessary enforce that, with the tools the local labor law or other applying jurisdiction is giving you.

I would not accommodate requests like "I don't work with persons from...". That does not help at all and makes you part of it.

If someone is loudly advocating conflict, that is something I would also address and stop. But mostly it's the best way in my eyes to be sympathetic when people want to talk but also make clear that you are not part of the conflict or taking sides.

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  • After all, as we see currently in the U.S. and elsewhere, government actions do not reflect the intentions of the people. Commented 6 hours ago
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    Which people are you thinking of? Commented 2 hours ago

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