Development of Ukraine’s transnational access to European research infrastructures in the social sciences and humanities discussed at a webinar

On October 1, representatives of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine took part in a webinar “Ukraine: Developing Transnational Access to European Research Infrastructures in the Social Sciences and Humanities”. The event was dedicated to the participation of Ukraine, which has been an associated country in Horizon Europe since 2022, in European research infrastructures in the social sciences and humanities (SSH), as well as the support of European initiatives for research communities in Ukraine and the development of research infrastructure in their areas.

Olga Polotska, Executive Director of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine, delivered a welcoming speech in which she emphasised the importance of this webinar for the national research sector. She emphasised the importance of increasing access to research infrastructures for Ukrainian participants and the support provided by the European Union in the condition of the ongoing war.

The second working part, dedicated to support of Ukrainian participation in European research infrastructures, was opened by Igor Taranov, Head of Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine, NRFU. The Head of the Office presented information on supporting Ukraine’s participation in European research infrastructures. In particular, his presentation focused on how the national research infrastructure is supported through Horizon Europe.

For his part, Frederik Sondergaard, Association Policy Officer of Horizon Europe, DG RTD, EC, spoke in detail about the support for Ukraine in the area of research and innovation, which is actively provided by the European Union. In his report, the EC representative emphasised the work of the Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine as a center of experts in Horizon Europe, which is constantly working to raise public awareness of the Programme’s opportunities for Ukrainian researchers and innovators.

Events of this format, which discuss EU support for Ukraine in the field of research and innovation and consider specific examples of cooperation through participation in relevant projects for researchers based in Ukraine, are of particular importance for Ukraine.

The participants had the opportunity not only to discuss the challenges they face in their work, but also to establish cooperation between researchers, policy makers and funders in the area of science, research and innovation, and to develop specific support mechanisms, through national and European actors. Finally, Ukrainian researchers expressed their vision of what support Ukrainian participants and institutions need for capacity building.

The event was organized by the ESFRI (the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) Strategic Working Group on Social Sciences and Humanities in cooperation with the Social Sciences & Humanities Open Cloud (SSHOC), the National Research Foundation of Ukraine, and the NRFU’s Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine.

In total, more than 110 participants joined, including Ukrainian researchers, representatives of various European research infrastructures, the ESFRI Strategic Working Group, SSHOC, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the National Research Foundation of Ukraine, Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine, and the European Commission.

Information.

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) called upon research infrastructures to establish support measures forthe Ukrainian research community. Among these measures were facilitating access and providing training as described in a report by ESFRI. The ESFRI SWG SSH organised a half‐day webinar on Scientific Data about Society in Ukraine, which gathered important actors from the community. Ideas forfuture collaborations were collected, forinstance, more supportfortransnational access to research infrastructures throughHorizon Europe. The Eurizon‐Project offered grants to enable Ukrainian researchers to continue their work through projects in collaboration with European research infrastructures and institutes. Ukraine also invests in developing research infrastructure, for instance through a recent call of the NRFU. The European Commission launched a call in Horizon Europe on assessing the state of research infrastructures in Ukraine.