From Best Trainings to New Contests: NCP Research Infrastructures Hosted a Webinar for Researchers

On June 11, representatives of NCP Research Infrastructures, based at Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic National University, held an informational webinar dedicated to best trainings for Ukrainian organizations participating in Horizon Europe projects in this field. The event brought together representatives of higher education institutions and research organizations interested in collaborating with European partners.

In the first part of the webinar, Myroslava Shchetinina, a leading expert of NCP Research Infrastructures, presented the dynamics of Ukraine’s participation in Research Infrastructures program: compared to Horizon 2020, the number of Ukrainian organizations has increased significantly, and the success rate of submitted applications reached approximately 33–35%, which is a high result for the competitive European environment. The speaker also noted a change in the structure of participants: the share of higher and secondary education institutions and research organizations has increased significantly, indicating the increasingly active involvement of universities and scientific institutions in European projects. Examples of successful cooperation include POLARIN project, through which the Ukrainian Antarctic station Akademik Vernadsky is being integrated into a global network for monitoring climate, ice cover, and oceanic changes, as well as ARTEMIS project, in which an Odesa-based company has contributed to the create digital twins of architectural landmarks for the innovative protection of Ukraine’s and Europe’s cultural heritage.

In the second part of the webinar, NCP lead expert Natalia Solidor presented the roadmap for Horizon Europe program’s Research Infrastructures calls for proposals for 2026. Special emphasis was placed on priority support for Ukrainian participants: the program provides for simplified access to calls for proposals, priority selection when scientific achievements are equal, extended research visits, as well as additional training and support. The speaker specifically highlighted the HORIZON-INFRA-2026-DEV-01-05 contest, which is dedicated directly to Ukraine and aims to use research infrastructures as accelerators for our country’s integration into the European Research Area.

The webinar concluded with a question-and-answer session, during which participants discussed with NCP experts how to identify relevant calls for proposals and other aspects of participating in Horizon Europe program. Ukrainian researchers’ interest in European programs is growing, and they are always ready for full-fledged cooperation within the European Research Area. We hope that the information provided will help participants successfully implement their own project ideas, and that the number of successful Ukrainian applications in the 2026 calls will only continue to grow!

NCP Research Infrastructures invites all interested parties to participate in Horizon Europe program calls and is ready to provide expert advisory support at all stages of project preparation and implementation: https://zp.edu.ua/ncp-infrastructure/