Rise of the budget for our esteemed Fellowship program "Remote Research Grants for Ukrainian Researchers"

We are delighted to share the wonderful news that our funding agency, the European Research Executive Agency (REA), confirmed the rise of the budget for our esteemed Fellowship program, "Remote Research Grants for Ukrainian Researchers." The initial 1.5 million Euros allocation has been augmented to 4.5 million Euros, demonstrating a profound commitment to supporting Ukrainian researchers.

This substantial increase enables us to extend the support to approximately 60 research projects, a threefold expansion from our initial projection of around 20 projects, benefiting around 300 researchers and technical staff in Ukraine for an average period of 12 months. Such an unprecedented boost in funding was made possible by the generous response of REA to the overwhelming amount of applications from the Ukrainian scientific community. With over 780 applications received, it is evident that despite the dramatic impacts of the war on the life and work of Ukrainian researchers, they remain extremely active and committed in their pursuit of excellent science.

In addition to the exciting news of the expanded budget, we are glad to announce that the onboarding process of the 18 research projects selected in the first evaluation shift of the fellowship was completed. These teams from all-over Ukraine (Kyiv, Lviv, Odessa, Chernivtsi, Kharkiv and other regions) have officially commenced their projects yesterday, February 1st 2024, paving the way for subsequent teams that will be selected in the upcoming evaluation shifts.

The extensive efforts invested in the selection process involve the generous contributions of over 450 scientists worldwide, who are lending their expertise for comprehensive reviews. This meticulous evaluation process is ongoing and will continue until all applications undergo scrutiny by two independent experts. Therefore, we kindly urge applicant teams to abstain from seeking project updates until March 2024 when the official announcement of all selected teams will be made.

We need to acknowledge also that, despite the budget increase,  given the notably high scientific quality of the submitted applications, regrettably we won´t be able to fund a considerable number of excellent projects.

The EURIZON fellowship secretariat expresses deep gratitude to all applicants for their trust and patience throughout this process. We deeply appreciate the dedication and excellence demonstrated by all applicants and assure them that the evaluation process is conducted with the utmost care and consideration.