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Funding from Horizon Europe and US philanthropic organisations has near and long-term support objectives
The European Commission and US-based philanthropic organisations have separately committed additional funding to support Ukrainian research amid the ongoing war.
On 18 April, the Commission announced that it had allocated an extra €10 million to the MSCA4Ukraine fellowship scheme, which launched in September 2022 with an initial €25m and has already supported 125 researchers.
The extra funding from the Horizon Europe programme will support at least 50 researchers who have been forced to leave Ukraine due to Russia’s invasion and missile bombardment, the Commission said, adding that the next call will open in May.
It will fund training and career development, as well as providing funding for host organisations. “Selected researchers will be able to start a new project or continue their previous work to pursue their research in any subject of their choosing,” explained the Commission.
American support
A day earlier, the US National Academy of Sciences announced that it was launching a new fund both to provide near-term support to Ukrainian researchers within and outside the country, and to help rebuild Ukrainian science and technology for the long term.
The fund is launching with about $8m (€7.5m) from the Simons Foundation and with commitments from the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation and other philanthropic organisations in the US, with an aim of raising at least $15m for three years of operations, the academy said.
Academy president Marcia McNutt said that the fund will “help ensure that Ukrainian science and technology will provide a foundation for Ukraine’s growth and development for decades to come”.
The academy will manage the fund, but will appoint an external oversight board of science and innovation experts to help steer it.