Activities during the preparation phase comprised developing MSCA4Ukraine’s visual identity and dissemination tools; broad publicity of the scheme; developing fellowship call documents and guidelines; establishing Advisory Board (strategic guidance), Internal Ethics Board and the role of an External Ethics Advisor (ethics guidance), expert evaluators’ pool and Selection Committee; preparing fellowship management systems; offering matchmaking and helpdesk services; evaluating and selecting applications; establishing new and fostering existing stakeholder networks in/between the EU and Ukraine; publication of results; signing of fellowship agreements with awardees.
Fellowship implementation and follow-up support for researchers started in March 2023. By now, 125 fellowships in 21 host countries across Europe are being implemented. In addition, by means of public events, networking meetings and visibility activities, including five videos introducing fellows, MSCA4Ukraine is disseminating project information to a broad international audience. The achievements of MSCA4Ukraine fellows are being showcased on a dedicated, periodically updated webpage. Continued helpdesk and support services respond to queries of fellows and host institutions and assist successful but unfunded researchers in identifying alternative funding. The website provides updated resources, including on funding opportunities, reintegration, policy reports, events and webinars. Ongoing engagement with EU, Ukrainian and international stakeholders fosters relations and helps prepare the reintegration of fellows in Ukraine after their fellowships. Furthermore, a series of career development training and networking initiatives are being offered to fellows and other researchers from Ukraine, on topics such as project development, research ethics and open access in science.
Main achievements comprise the swift deployment of a highly visibly fellowship scheme and other support measures for researchers from Ukraine; the great solidary from the scientific community, showcased by ca. 1,000 interest expressions to host researchers from Ukraine and the voluntary commitment of over 450 expert evaluators from over 45 countries; the large volume of high-quality applications, including 78 which scored above 85% but could not be funded due to budgetary constraints; support for unfunded applicant researchers from Ukraine, leading to the award of funding for an additional seven (7) researchers from Ukraine in Sweden (5), the Netherlands (1) and Estonia (1). Furthermore, intense efforts were invested in the preparations of a second call for project proposals, envisaged for mid-2024, by means of a funding extension of €10 million for MSCA4Ukraine.
Furthermore, in the second half of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, the MSCA4Ukraine Consortium implemented a second call for applications which, later in the first half of 2025, will lead to the award of an additional approximately 50 fellowships.
