ARC Talk: Yuliya Byelikova, TU Dresden, Between Stay and Return: High-Skilled Ukrainian Women in Germany

Between Stay and Return: High-Skilled Ukrainian Women in Germany

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has produced a highly feminised and exceptionally educated displacement to Europe. This talk introduces the concept of high-skilled forced migration to make sense of how Ukrainian professional women in Germany navigate life trajectories that are neither straightforward “integration” nor simple “return.” Drawing on qualitative focus group discussions with highly skilled Ukrainian refugee women in Germany, I examine how professional realisation, emotional belonging, and gendered care responsibilities interact to shape return (im)mobility decisions under conditions of prolonged war and legal temporariness.

The findings show that mobility orientations emerge at the intersection of structural opportunity conditions (e.g., language requirements, credential recognition, labour-market segmentation, and the uncertainty embedded in temporary protection) and emotionally mediated attachments to both Ukraine and Germany. While some participants remain return-oriented, others become stay-oriented as they seek stability and refuse repeated displacement. A third, increasingly salient outcome is transnational flexibility: maintaining work, care, and belonging across borders, and keeping future options open as an adaptive strategy rather than indecision.

By bridging refugee studies and high-skilled migration research, the talk highlights emotions as a mechanism of agency and shows why policies targeting refugee professionals must go beyond employment access to include pathways for professional continuity and recognition.

Hybrid Talk: https://arc.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/public-with-recording/
Meeting-ID: 690 9837 6016
Passcode: 369579