The competition of Ukrainian-Latvian research projects for 2023-2024 begins

From June 6 to September 2, 2022, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the Latvian Council of Science announce a competition for joint Ukrainian-Latvian research projects for implementation in 2023-2024. 

Main directions:

• energy and energy efficiency;
• ecology and rational nature management, including marine research, in particular, research on the pollution of sea areas with chemicals and microplastics;
• new technologies for the prevention and treatment of the most common diseases; research in the field of biotechnology, bioengineering and genetics;
• new materials;
• social and human sciences.

The competition is open to any research groups of institutions of higher education, scientific institutions of both countries.

Filing an application

To participate in the competition, you must submit the following documents.

• Transmittal letter. Requirements: on the letterhead of the applicant institution, addressed to the Deputy Minister for European Integration Oleksiy Shkuratov, a text in free form indicating the name of the general project, the priority area, the names of the Ukrainian and Latvian scientific supervisors, a list of attachments. Be sure to note that research on the topic of the project is not funded from the state budget within the framework of other competitions.
• Application form for participation in the competition. Requirements: bilingual (filled in consecutively in Ukrainian and English in one file). Requirements for all items of the application are given in the application file.
• Confirmation letter from the Latvian partner-project leader. Requirements: on the letterhead of the partner institution, addressed to the name of the head of the applicant institution, text in free form indicating the name of the joint project, which must match the name of the project in the application form, the names and surnames of the Latvian and Ukrainian supervisor.
• The act of examination for the open publication of materials on the topic of the project. Requirements: the expert commission of the institution approves the conclusion, which indicates that the materials of the project proposal do not contain information prohibited for open publication, the text is in free form.
• CV of the Ukrainian and Latvian scientific supervisors of the project. Requirements: CV of a manager from Ukraine is issued in two languages ​​- Ukrainian and English, CV of a manager from Latvia – only in English is sufficient.
• Fill out a Google-questionnaire, to which it is obligatory to add a completed application in *.doc and *.pdf formats. It is better to fill out a Google questionnaire after preparing all the specified documents.

Due to the martial law, these documents are submitted by the participant of the competition in electronic form (scanned copies of the originals in *.pdf format) by e-mail: shevtsova@mon.gov.ua. All documents listed in the requirements are sent in one letter at a time with the corresponding title of the letter. The deadline for submission is September 2, 2022 (until 17:00).

The participant of the tender, recognized as the winner according to the results of the tender, is obliged to provide the original documents in paper form.

The organizers will only consider applications that are completed in accordance with the specified requirements and were sent on time. 

Selection stages:

• verification of documents for compliance with the requirements of the competition;
• submission of applications for scientific expertise;
• conducting scientific expertise in parallel in both countries;
• ranking the list of projects based on the results of scientific expertise of both parties;
• selection and approval of research projects for funding at a meeting of the Joint Ukrainian-Latvian Commission;
• posting information about the winners of the competition on the website of the Ministry of Education and Science.

Selection criteria:

• scientific compliance;
• scientific quality and innovative nature of the project;
• the ability and competence of temporary research teams to implement the project;
• the possibility of joint research and the adequacy of the scientific method;
• experience of participation in international projects and development of international cooperation;
• the quality of the infrastructure of the institutions involved in the project;
• participation in the project of young scientists (up to 35 years old);
• opportunities for practical use of project results.

Intellectual property

Scientists from the Ukrainian side, in particular project managers, must take all necessary measures to protect their scientific, technical and industrial values, as well as intellectual property rights. The main attention will be paid to ensuring that, within the framework of cooperation, an unplanned transfer of Ukrainian technologies to other countries does not take place.

Financing

The project proposal must be for 2 years. Funding is allocated each year separately. Appropriate contracts for the implementation of projects are concluded with contractors annually. The decision to extend funding for the next year is made after reviewing the report for the previous year of work.

The Ministry finances the expenses of Ukrainian scientists during a visit to the Republic of Latvia, namely: travel expenses, accommodation, daily allowances, the cost of a visa if necessary and the cost of a health insurance policy (the amount of daily expenses and the maximum amount of expenses for renting a dwelling per day are calculated in accordance with Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of 02.02.2011 (No. 98).

Financial support includes the salaries of Ukrainian participants in the research project. In addition, the contract for the performance (transfer) of research work between the MES and the project executing agency provides for items of expenditure for the purchase of materials and overhead costs to support the organization where the research project is being carried out.

Visits of Latvian colleagues are provided at the expense of the Latvian side.

Additional Information

One and the same person can be the supervisor of only one project proposal submitted for the competition.

Applicants from the Ukrainian side should make sure that their Latvian counterparts have submitted an appropriate application to the Latvian Council of Science.

Information about the winners of the competition will be published on the website of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine in the section “Science” → “European and Euro-Atlantic integration” → “Bilateral scientific competitions” → “Results of competitions”.

Only the winners of the competition will be informed by e-mail to the e-mail specified in the application about the next steps.. 

mon.gov.ua