On 19 September 2025, the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (NRFU) and Science Europe held the first webinar in their joint series “Building Capacity in the Ukrainian Research and Innovation Ecosystem.” The event focused on ensuring a good balance between bottom-up calls, mainly for fundamental research projects, and top-down programmes that address applied research projects. Both approaches were recognised as essential to a coherent and sustainable research system.

The outcomes of the event are presented in a dedicated Webinar Report, which outlines the key challenges and opportunities for strengthening national research systems.

The Report on the results of the first in the Series of Science Europe–NRFU Webinars: “Balancing bottom-up and top-down research funding” (pdf) 19 September 2025 р.

Key conclusions include:

• Flexibility and Freedom to propose the best methodologies and approaches to achieve the intended objectives.
• Stable and predictable funding policies to enable research of the highest quality.
• Support for Early-Career Researchers as a priority for building future capacity and innovative, high-risk projects.
• International collaboration to enhance excellence and global competitiveness.
• Transparent peer review and fair evaluation procedures to strengthen trust in the research system.

Leading international experts and representatives of research organisations took part in the event, sharing their countries’ experiences, discussing key challenges and opportunities for the development of national research systems, and exploring practical approaches to combining bottom-up calls with top-down funding.

• Chiara Dezzi Bardeschi, Head of UNESCO Antenna in Ukraine, presented key points of UNESCO Action Plan to Support Ukraine’s Scientific Ecosystem in the Context of War and Post-War Recovery;
• Anu Noorma, Director General of the Estonian Research Council (ETAG), Governing Board Member of Science Europe, shared Estonia’s experience and the path of development of the country’s research system;
• Anna di Ciaccio, Director of the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), Governing Board Member of Science Europe, spoke about Italy’s achievements in the field of research;
• Marika Edoff, Secretary General for Engineering Sciences, former Member of the Board, Swedish Research Council (VR), outlined the role of the Council in the development of research in Sweden;
• Nicoleta Dumitrache, Head of Department, Financing Development and Innovation Projects, Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI), highlighted the agency’s activities and its key programmes.

The event gathered over 350 registered participants, demonstrating the high interest of the research community in the webinar topic.

The full webinar recording is available on the official NRFU YouTube channel:

• In English:

• In Ukrainian (simultaneous interpretation):

We would like to remind you that the Science Europe–NRFU webinar series will continue with two upcoming events:

• November 25, 2025 – “Developing and implementing monitoring tools for R&D projects”
• February 20, 2026 – “Open Science policies and practices of research funding organisations”

Stay updated via the official channels of Science Europe and the National Research Foundation of Ukraine.