Building Capacity in the Ukrainian R&I Ecosystem Webinar Series

25>25 Nov. 2025

Since the outbreak of war in February 2022, Science Europe and its members have taken actions to support the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (NRFU) and the Ukrainian research ecosystem. As part of these efforts, NRFU and Science Europe are organising a series of three online workshops between September 2025 and February 2026 to tackle core topics that are priority areas for the Ukrainian research ecosystem.

About the Webinars

Science Europe and the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (NFRU) are organising a series of joint webinars dedicated to relevant issues for supporting the scientific community and research ecosystem of Ukraine, as well as strengthening the capacity for managing scientific projects in the context of post-war recovery. This initiative aims to increase opportunities for Ukrainian researchers in the international scientific arena and facilitate the exchange of experiences with European colleagues.

The three planned online workshops will address priority areas identified by the National Research Foundation of Ukraine:

  • Ensuring a good balance between bottom-up calls, mainly for basic research projects, and top-down calls for applied research projects.
  • Developing and implementing effective monitoring tools within the project life-cycle and beyond with an emphasis on the (potential) impact of the project.
  • Practices and policies that integrate Open Science principles into both evaluation procedures and project implementation.

All three webinars are scheduled to take place from 10.00–11.30 CET (11.00–12.30 EET). The language of the workshops is English, with simultaneous translation into Ukrainian provided for participants.

Webinar 1: Balancing bottom-up and top-down research funding

The first webinar of the series took place on 19 September 2025. It dealt with ensuring a good balance between bottom-up calls, mainly for fundamental research projects, and top-down calls for applied research projects.

Programme

10.00–10.10 Welcome and Introductory Remarks

  • Lidia Borrell-Damián, Secretary General, Science Europe
  • Olga Polotska, Executive Director of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (NRFU)

10.10–11.20 Panel discussion

Moderator: Laure Ognois, Head of International Affairs, Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)

  • Chiara Dezzi Bardeschi, Head of UNESCO Antenna in Ukraine
  • Anu Noorma, Director General, Estonian Research Council (ETAG), Governing Board Member of Science Europe
  • Anna di Ciaccio, Director of the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), Governing Board Member of Science Europe
  • Marika Edoff, Secretary General for Engineering Sciences, former Member of the Board, Swedish Research Council (VR)
  • Nicoleta Dumitrache, Head of Department, Financing development and innovation projects, Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI)

11.20–11.30 Conclusions and next steps

  • Laure Ognois, Head of International Affairs, Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
  • Olga Polotska, Executive Director of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (NRFU)

Webinar Schedule

  1. 2025
  2. 19 SeptemberBalancing bottom-up and top-down research funding
  3. 25 NovemberDeveloping and implementing monitoring tools for R&D projects
  4. 2026
  5. 20 FebruaryOpen Science policies and practices of research funding organisations