T-invariant, co-founder of Dissernet Andrey Rostovtsev and community project coordinator Larisa Melikhova continue their “Plagiarism Navigator”. Through individual cases of international academic plagiarism, we examine the global-scale imitation of scholarly activity. The sixth installment examines how translated academic fraud became a commercialized scheme for Russian and Ukrainian scholars.

The documentary Connected continues to screen at various venues worldwide. Last week, it was presented in Yerevan, Armenia, and at the Docaviv documentary film festival in Tel Aviv. The film chronicles the life and legacy of Dmitry Zimin — a legendary entrepreneur, founder of VympelCom, and philanthropist who established the Dynasty Foundation. How did the idea for this film take shape? What inspired its creation? In an interview with T-invariant, the film’s director, Vera Krichevskaya, shared details about the project and her encounters with a man whose life became a symbol of technological revolution and educational mission in Russia.

On May 19, the Commission on Combating Pseudoscience of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) issued a statement urging the exclusion of homeopathic drugs from mandatory clinical guidelines. It seemed like a routine step in the defense of scientific integrity, yet a document drafted in February waited three and a half months for publication. The reason lies in a fierce struggle within the RAS and beyond, where the homeopathic industry, backed by influential figures in the State Duma (Russia’s lower house of parliament) and top officials within the RAS, is mounting an offensive. From censorship to political insinuations about “NATO conspiracies,” T-invariant uncovers how pseudoscience is encroaching on science in Russia.

Harvard University refused to obey the Trump administration and sued the officials. Why is the whole world watching this conflict? What is being demanded of the university? What is Harvard defending? What role did DEI policy and anti-Semitism play in the attack on academic freedom? T-invariant talked to Eugene Shakhnovich, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University.

In 2015, the archives of the Max Planck Society—one of Germany’s and the world’s leading scientific organizations—revealed human brain specimens illegally obtained in the 1940s. In 2020, documents exposed how the Kiel Institute for the World Economy aided the Wehrmacht’s conquest of Europe. Then, in 2022, Humboldt University published a study detailing how its own researchers had helped plan war crimes. Why, eight decades after WWII and the fall of the Nazi regime, does German academia continue to unearth such horrors? Can one be complicit in crimes without pulling a trigger—simply by optimizing war economies, promoting pseudoscience, or mass-producing politically expedient research—all while claiming that “science is apolitical”? These questions are explored in an investigative report by Natalia Supyan, PhD in Economics and German studies specialist.

Fellows of the prestigious Fulbright program faced big problems after the program’s sponsors (IIE and Cultural Vistas) were recognized as undesirable organizations in Russia in March 2024. T-invariant reported on this in detail last summer. What is happening today with young scientists from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine?

Russian scientists currently in Sweden are increasingly being denied permanent residence permits. And along with the refusal – a ban on entering the Schengen zone for a significant period of time. T-invariant talked to scientists who have been or could be affected by this measure and tried to understand what exactly worries the Swedish Migration Service.

Alexei Soldatov, a well-known scientist and entrepreneur, one of the founders of Runet, who was convicted in a case of abuse of power, has been sentenced to Ryazan region. In an interview with T-invariant, his son Andrei Soldatov, editor-in-chief of the website “Agentura.ru”, told what may be behind his father’s case, what FSB supervisors at large enterprises and universities are really doing, and why in Russia, despite the large number of convicted scientists and representatives of the IT-sphere, there are no sharashki 2.0.

T-invariant continues its project in which Russian scientists and academics, speaking anonymously, share how their lives and work have changed amid the war and the ever-tightening grip of state control. In this installment, a Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences from the Volga Federal District discusses staffing issues, funding challenges in Russian science, and the widespread detachment from the war.