Opportunities for participation in the Horizon Europe Programme for medical field discussed at the Ministry of Health of Ukraine

On March 13, an information session on the opportunities for grant applications within Horizon Europe Cluster Health was held. The event was organised for Ukrainian medical universities, as well as representatives of leading healthcare institutions. Among the speakers were experts from Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine, NRFU.

Igor Taranov, Head of Horizon Europe Office in Ukraine, the National Research Foundation of Ukraine, and Olena Nikonchuk, Head of the Medical Science Sector at the Department of Medical Personnel, Education and Science at the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, opened the meeting. They welcomed the participants and mentioned that the first joint event was held at the Ministry of Health in March 2024.

During the session, Tayisiya Symochko, Leading Officer, who is responsible for the Cluster Health and the EU Mission Cancer, spoke about the specific aspects of calls in this area, which aspects of the Programme can be used to find these opportunities, and the new Work Programme for 2025, which is to be officially published in the nearest future.

Separately, the issue of European Partnerships as a component of Horizon Europe was discussed and why it is important for Ukraine to choose strategic areas for participation in certain Partnerships. The participants of the meeting took an active part in the Q&A session. Their questions were mainly focused on participation in calls, search for partners, and opportunities to start a consortium.

Mr Oleksandr Istomin, a paediatric haematologist at the the National Specialized Children’s Hospital “Ohmatdyt” and project manager, took a very active part in the discussion. He showed great interest in the Horizon Europe calls related to healthcare. For his part, Roman Kizyma, a paediatric oncologist and acting director general of the Clinical Centre for Children’s Medicine, shared his first experience of successful participation in the consortium and signing the first Grant agreement.