Being born as a scientist in the Middle East, and especially in Iran, is a legacy of obstacles to your education, your mobility, and often your sense of belonging before publishing your first paper.
For many students, the obstacles start early. Access to higher education depends on geography, religion, ethnicity or family background. Some research topics are limited. Background checks are routine. Resources are unequal.
These obstacles do not crush ambitions. Many of the motivated students I have seen from the region have worked tirelessly to overcome obstacles that will motivate others. A significant number succeed in gaining admission to leading universities abroad, often ranking among the strongest in their group.
But leaving does not mean leaving politics.
Students from Iran and other parts of the Middle East often undergo additional security screening when applying for visas or research permits in Western countries. Even when governments recognize the vulnerability of marginalized groups, the bureaucratic process can be long and uncertain. Delays disrupt research schedules, funding and family life.
For a graduate student on a fixed assignment, uncertainty is not liberating. That’s rent, tuition, and a one-degree tech hour.
Once outside, the challenges grow rather than disappearing entirely. Family, friends and history draw students back to their countries of origin. Political unrest, internet shutdowns, military escalation or mass protests erupt across the continent.
During times of crisis, many students feel a moral responsibility to provide financial and emotional support to their loved ones. They spend hours every day checking news, supporting movements on social media, translating information, sending money and making phone calls at odd hours.
Research suffers. Sleep hurts. Concentration suffers. All labs feel the effect when a member is under severe stress.
Political manipulation and misinformation can deepen divisions in diaspora communities, fueling heated conflicts that students are already under pressure from.
I have lived through several such periods as a graduate student and now as a professor. Today I receive daily messages from students – via email, on social media or during meetings – asking for advice. My advice is simple, although not easy to follow: help where you can, avoid dirty discussions and focus on your research and your long-term goals.
This tension between a civic conscience and a scientific focus is what I see as a form of geographic discrimination. Events beyond one’s control can disrupt Internet access, travel, funding, and collaboration, affecting thousands of scientists around the world simply because they were born.
The current conflict involving Iran, Israel and the United States illustrates this. Universities and schools are closed. Conferences and workshops have been postponed or cancelled. Labs are subject to disruptions, whether due to direct damage, security restrictions or staff and student displacement.
Even when military operations are defined as targets, research institutions and surrounding civilian infrastructure are not immune from shock.
The recent attack near civilian educational facilities in Iran, which claimed the lives of 160 students, and the earlier attack on the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel are reminders that scientific ecosystems are fragile. Rebuilding the infrastructure takes years. Rebuilding trust and feeling safe can take a long time.
The long-term cost isn’t just measured in destroyed buildings or delayed experiments. This is measured in lost collaborations, abandoned projects and the quiet exit of talented young people who decide that stability is more important than prestige.
Science thrives on openness, mobility and sustained focus. War weakens all three.
When we talk about geopolitical conflict, we often focus on borders, strategies, and power. We are talking less about investigative teams being recruited by forces completely beyond their control.
If we value scientific progress, we must understand how deeply it depends on the human beings who drive it. For many scientists of the Middle East, war is not a distant topic. It is an intervention that they follow in the laboratory and in the quiet hours when research calls for clarity of mind.
Protecting science in times of conflict also means protecting them.
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