Norway provides NOK 67 million to researchers in Ukraine

"International collaboration is crucial for Ukrainian researchers and research communities. When the war ends, research will be crucial to building up the country. Norway is a close supporter of Ukraine, including in research, and we are now linking Norwegian and Ukrainian research communities even more closely together,' says Minister of Research and Higher Education Sigrun Aasland.

Close collaboration with Ukraine

The National Research Foundation of Ukraine (NRFU) and the Research Council of Norway have collaborated closely on the call for proposals to ensure that it benefits as many Ukrainian researchers as possible. The call was open to all topics, and many applications were received.

"On behalf of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine and the Ukrainian research community, I sincerely thank the Research Council of Norway for its solidarity and support during wartime—this initiative is both a vital lifeline for our researchers and a powerful sign of trust in the future of Ukrainian science,"  says Olga Polotska, Executive Director of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine.

"Through this initiative, we are helping to maintain and further develop Ukrainian research, and lay the foundation for international cooperation that will be crucial for Ukraine's future. It is very important for us to collaborate with Ukraine and contribute to strengthening research in an extremely difficult time," says Mari Sundli Tveit, Chief Executive of the Research Council of Norway.

Some of the projects that receive funding

• The University of Stavanger and Lviv Polytechnic National University will jointly develop new, sustainable sodium batteries using advanced nanotechnology. The Ukrainian expertise will help improve the efficiency of batteries, with the potential for wide application in Europe.
• The University of Bergen and Ukrainian researchers will collaborate to strengthen the security of artificial intelligence and cryptography. AI and cryptography are two powerful paradigms that shape the digital world.
• The University of Oslo, together with Ukrainian research communities, will develop new solutions for recycling CO2 from industrial processes into fuels and chemicals. The project will contribute fundamental insights to future machine learning studies in catalyst design.
• The Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies will, together with Ukrainian partners, link Norwegian and Ukrainian data on work, health and migration-related stress, and provide insight into the challenges Ukrainian refugee women face in the Norwegian labour market. This provides a basis for policies that can support integration in Norway and reconstruction in Ukraine.
• The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), together with Ukrainian partners, will investigate how Russian ideology is produced and imposed on people in occupied territories, and provide insight into the resistance and realities behind the propaganda.