European Commission to support 49 researchers through MSCA4Ukraine
PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers who fled the war in Ukraine will carry out their projects in 15 countries, whilst maintaining close links with their research communities in Ukraine.
The European Commission has announced that the MSCA4Ukraine fellowship scheme, part of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), will support additional 49 displaced researchers from Ukraine.
2 doctoral candidates and 47 postdoctoral researchers will continue their research in academia, businesses, research centres and public institutions based in the EU and countries associated to Horizon Europe.
Funded researchers will be based in 15 different countries.
A bar chart showing the number of researchers hosted in each host country. The top 5 countries are Germany with 15 researchers, Poland with 6, the United Kingdom with 5, Austria and France with 4 each.
The scheme allows organisations to host these researchers for a period between six months and two years, with most fellows awarded two-year fellowships.
When conditions permit, the scheme will also enable selected researchers to re-establish themselves in Ukraine to help rebuild and safeguard the country’s research and innovation capacity.
Available support will allow them to maintain links with their research and innovation communities, carry out research placements and develop new projects.
Projects in all disciplines
Selected researchers will work on top-notch projects spanning all scientific disciplines.
This pie chart shows the projects by scientific disciplines. The top disciplines are social sciences and humanities with 36.7% and life sciences with 20.4%.
A full breakdown of the shortlisted projects, including their scope, organisations and countries involved is available on the MSCA4Ukraine’s website.
The scheme will support career development opportunities and training activities for selected researchers, focusing on developing research-related and key transferable skills and competences.
About MSCA4Ukraine
First started in September 2022, MSCA4Ukraine is part of the EU’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the need for action to support displaced researchers from Ukraine and enable them to continue their work in the EU, helping to safeguard Ukraine's research and innovation system, and the freedom of scientific research at large.
Since its creation, the MSCA4Ukraine scheme has supported 174 displaced researchers from Ukraine with a budget of 35 million euros. Initially, 125 researchers received funding, and an additional 49 will now benefit from the scheme.
The scheme includes specific support for organisations, allowing them to host researchers for a period between eight months and two years, and provides them with
- training
- skills and career development opportunities
- excellent employment conditions
- excellent supervision
The scheme provides family allowances to help selected researchers with family responsibilities, and a special needs allowance to support those with disabilities and facilitate their participation.
The initiative, run in the context of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), is implemented by an experienced consortium supporting researchers at risk, led by Scholars at Risk Europe (hosted at Maynooth University, Ireland) together with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany, and the European University Association. These organisations are also involved in the MSCA-funded project in support of researchers at risk InspirEurope+.
Helping their country from abroad
Although supported researchers are free to pursue any research subject, a significant number of the fellows chose to work on issues that would support their country during the reconstruction phase.
Read our most recent interview with MSCA4Ukraine fellow, Oksana Khymych, who is researching the needs of innovative entrepreneurship in crisis conditions.
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