The National Research Foundation of Ukraine (NRFU) announces the launch of the LUKE Joint Call (hereinafter – the Call), which is implemented within the project “Linking Ukraine to the European Research Area – Joint Funding and Capacity Building Platform for Enhanced Research and Innovation Cooperation (LUKE)” under the European Union Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon Europe.

The Call aims to foster sustainable long-term partnerships in research, development and/or innovation among EU Member States and Associated Countries, including Ukraine, which acts as the central partner country.

Thematic areas of the Call:

1. Energy: Sustainable and renewable energy and energy security
2. Cybersecurity: Cyber resilience of critical infrastructures and adaptive cybersecurity systems
3. Medical and health research: Telemedicine, biomedical research
Sub-topic 3.1: Adoption of telemedicine for remote healthcare solutions
Sub-topic 3.2: Innovative research on cellular signaling pathways for biomedical applications
4. Social sciences and humanities: Social reconciliation, sustainable social development, and human capital restoration

• Duration of projects selected under the Call: up to 2 years
• Opening date and time for submission of proposals for the Call: 27 February 2026
• Deadline for submission of proposals: 15 May 2026, 23:59 CET / 16 May 2026, 00:59 EET
• Indicative project start date: January – March 2027
• Indicative project completion date: December 2028
• Official announcement of the Call on the LUKE webpage:  https://horizon-europe.org.ua/en/luke/joint-call/

The competetive selection is conducted in accordance with the LUKE Implementation Agreement, concluded on 29 January 2026.

The terms and conditions of the Call, including the timing and venue, eligibility requirements for applicants, PIs and project team members, evaluation criteria and scoring system, details of the scientific and scientific-technical review and final decision-making process, grounds for rejection of proposals on formal grounds, as well as the indicative total budget of the Call, are set out in the LUKE Terms of Reference (ToR).

The National Rules of the funding parties (hereinafter – the National Rules), as an integral part of the Terms of Reference (see Annex A to the ToR), define more specific and practical procedures for the competitive selection process.

The provisions of the NRFU National Rules apply directly to the NRFU selection procedure and exclusively to Ukrainian partners intending to implement a project with grant support from the NRFU. Each project consortium may involve no more than one Ukrainian legal entity (project consortium partner) to be funded by the NRFU.

Ukrainian participants applying for NRFU grant support must comply with the NRFU National Rules to ensure that project authors/implementers, as well as Call participants, meet the formal eligibility requirements, thereby preventing rejection of the project consortium as a whole.

Projects to be carried out with the support of the NRFU may be basic/applied research (developments) projects only.

Applications and supporting documents for participation in the Call shall be submitted through the online submission system PT-Outline: https://ptoutline.eu/app/LUKE

Technical information on the use of the online submission system is available at: LUKE Joint Call: Guide for Applicants.

List and templates of documents to be submitted by the Ukrainian partner (Call participant) together with the application

1. Consent of each project author to the implementation of the project (in Ukrainian, in accordance with the approved template) (for the PI) (for other authors);
2. Consent of the Ukrainian partner to the implementation of the project signed by the head of the legal entity (the fact of the absence of information constituting a state secret in the proposal materials must be indicated in this consent) (in Ukrainian, in accordance with the approved template) (download);
3. Certificate from the place of work of the PI with a mandatory indication that he/she works at the main place of work in the legal entity that is Ukrainian partner (in Ukrainian, in accordance with the recommended template).
   NOTE: the certificate must contain the phrase ‘AT THE MAIN PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT’ (download);
4. Statement signed by the head of the partner institution (organization, enterprise) regarding the participant’s compliance with paragraph 5 of the criteria for assessing the admissibility of state aid to business entities for research, technical developments and innovation activities, approved by the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 118 of February 7, 2018 – download;
5. Every researcher’s CV (project author) (in English, using the approved template – download);
6. Terms of Reference for conducting the research (in Ukrainian, using the approved template – download);
7. Work plan (in Ukrainian, using the approved template – download);
8. Amount of funding by individual cost items with economic justification of the estimated project cost (in Ukrainian, using the approved template – download).

Documents to be submitted in hard copy (originals certified by signatures and seals) to the NRFU together with the signed National Agreement (Grant Agreement) by the winning Ukrainian partner:

1. Consent of each project author to the implementation of the project (in Ukrainian, in accordance with the approved template) (for the PI) (for other authors);
2. Consent of support staff (if involved) to participate in the project (in Ukrainian, using the approved template – download);
3. Consent of the Ukrainian partner to the implementation of the project signed by the head of the legal entity (the fact of the absence of information constituting a state secret in the proposal materials must be indicated in this consent) (in Ukrainian, in accordance with the approved template) (download);
4. Certificate from the place of work of the PI with a mandatory indication that he/she works at the main place of work in the legal entity that is Ukrainian partner (in Ukrainian, in accordance with the recommended template).
   NOTE: the certificate must contain the phrase ‘AT THE MAIN PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT’ (download);
5. Statement signed by the head of the partner institution (organization, enterprise) regarding the participant’s compliance with paragraph 5 of the criteria for assessing the admissibility of state aid to business entities for research, technical developments and innovation activities, approved by the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 118 of February 7, 2018 – download;
6. Every researcher’s CV (project author) (in English, using the approved template – download);
7. Terms of Reference for conducting the research (in Ukrainian, using the approved template – download);
8. Work plan (in Ukrainian, using the approved template – download);
9. Amount of funding by individual cost items with economic justification of the estimated project cost (in Ukrainian, using the approved template – download).

For reference:

• The indicative form of the National Contract (Grant Agreement) to be concluded between the NRFU and grantee – download;
• Methodological recommendations for Planning the Estimated Cost of the Project for the Implementation of Research (Developments) at the Expense of the Grant Support of the NRFU’ (to the terms and conditions of the LUKE Joint Call) – download.

NRFU contact person regarding the LUKE Joint Call: Tetiana Beregova, beregovatd@nrfu.org.ua