The Ukraine-Australia Research Fund

The Australian Academy of Science (the Academy) has partnered with the Breakthrough Prize Foundation to deliver a program to support Ukrainian researchers in eligible fields of science who have been impacted by the war with Russia. The donation is being used to establish two different activities, each designed to offer practical support to enable the continuation of research and technology activities by Ukrainian scientists.

Activity 1 – Short-term visits

The first activity (Activity 1) will support Ukrainian researchers to participate in short-term visits to Australia to engage in project research at a host institution, or to participate in a conference and site visit program. The Australian host organisation is responsible for applying for the funding and administering the grant to cover the direct costs to support the visit. Funded short-term visits are designed to enable ongoing research activities to continue and provide opportunities for long-term collaborations between Australian and Ukrainian researchers, and the greater international scientific communities.

Details on the eligibility criteria, application, assessment, and terms of the award can be found on the Activity 1 web page.

Activity 2 – Facility access

The second activity (Activity 2) provides practical support to research being undertaken in Ukraine that has been impacted by the current war. Under this activity, Ukrainian researchers can access leading infrastructure capabilities in Australia, such as supercomputing facilities, microscopy and microanalysis, and telescopes. Ukrainian researchers will be able to send their samples to National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) facilities for analysis, with the results returned to the Ukrainian research institute. Funding will cover the cost of sending samples between Ukraine and the Australian testing facility, and the cost of testing and analysing the samples. This activity will keep Ukrainian researchers productive and publishing at their own institutes in Ukraine while also engaging in international collaborations.

Details on the eligibility criteria, application, assessment, and terms of the award can be found on the Activity 2 web page.