The Horizon Europe Policy Support Facility on Ukraine highlights the need to streamline processes in order to strengthen the country’s research infrastructures.
In 2024, the Horizon Europe Policy Support Facility (PSF) launched a new activity to provide expertise and recommendations to Ukraine on research infrastructures. The final report of this activity provides concrete recommendations across four areas: governance and management, funding systems, Open Science (OS), and international cooperation. The idea behind the PSF is to support the Member States and Associated Countries by providing good practice, independent high-level expertise and guidance. Ukraine’s Research and Innovation sector suffered significant losses during the war. These also include its research infrastructures (RIs): as of spring 2025, 180 institutions and nearly 1’700 buildings and structures have been damaged, according to Ukrainian authorities. More than 550 sites need repairs, and over 120 require full reconstruction. While the current situation obviously determines the results of the report, the experts nevertheless try to consider the prospect of Ukrainian RIs beyond the war.
Ukraine’s R&I system suffers from underinvestment and fragmentation and the war has significantly worsened the situation. Loss of personnel due to emigration, military service, or casualties further undermines research capacity. Nevertheless, the authors consider it essential to prepare for the post-war period on a governance and management level because a clear framework will ensure that investments can flow into the repair and redevelopment of RIs. Given the highly decentralised RI governance system, the report strongly recommends streamlining governance at the national level. The experts also recommend establishing a national roadmap process to guide future RI development. This process should align with the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) and involve a systematic mapping of existing and damaged RIs. To strengthen RI management, the report advises giving research infrastructures more autonomy in decision-making to better meet their specific needs. It also stresses the importance of skilled staff and suggests a national training programme to build these skills.
The report highlights that the funding system for RIs in Ukraine is overly complex, with unclear mandates across numerous bodies. Simplifying and clarifying these structures would improve transparency, trust, and the research environment. The creation of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (NRFU) in 2018 is a positive step in the right direction, according to the authors. Since funding is fragmented across more than 20 executive bodies, better national coordination of major investments is needed. The report therefore proposes a transparent, stakeholder-inclusive process for coordinating RI priorities. Funding has been limited and worsened by the war, making resource pooling essential. This requires clear mandates, legal frameworks, and flexible funding to support consortia and resource sharing nationwide. Simplifying procurement and financial rules is also recommended to increase efficiency.
Open Science (OS) is another key area addressed by the PSF. Ukraine has integrated OS into its regulatory framework, most notably through the National Open Science Plan adopted in October 2022. This plan, developed in the context of EU integration and Horizon Europe association, sets goals such as ensuring open access to research results, improving research assessment, and building OS competencies. The PSF experts regard the plan as a vital framework and recommend that adherence to it be used as a key criterion in research funding and evaluations. They also call for an effective monitoring system to track its implementation. As Ukraine develops its infrastructure, it should furthermore make use of European e-infrastructure services like the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) to foster open science.
The report’s final section addresses international cooperation and research infrastructures. Researcher mobility in Ukraine is currently mostly limited to Ukrainian researchers visiting partner institutions abroad, as safety concerns prevent incoming visits from foreign experts. Brain-drain remains a significant challenge, with many researchers relocating abroad and unlikely to return during the conflict. Well-designed mobility and return incentive programmes could help mitigate this by fostering circular migration. To maintain research continuity during and after the war, the report further recommends developing support tools to facilitate access to EU research infrastructures, participation in scientific events, equipment donations, access to publications, and the use of computing centres abroad.
The report highlights Ukraine’s involvement in EU framework programmes and the dedicated Horizon Europe support measures for Ukrainian researchers, such as MSCA4Ukraine, ERC4Ukraine, and Horizon4Ukraine, urging full use of these opportunities. It also emphasises the EU’s Ukraine Facility as a crucial resource to advance R&I reforms and support research infrastructure repair both during and after the war.
At this point, Ukraine’s collaboration with Switzerland can also be highlighted as a further example of its ongoing engagement in international research cooperation. In 2023, the NRFU and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) launched a call for Ukrainian-Swiss Joint Research Proposals. More recently, a delegation visit served to further strengthening collaboration. The visit, which took place in Switzerland at the end of April, forms part of a broader effort to deepen the partnership between the SNSF and the NRFU. Both organisations look forward to the outcomes of the 20 projects funded under the joint call, involving more than 80 researchers in Ukraine.