Ukraine

Political framework for bilateral cooperation in education and research

Cooperation between Germany and Ukraine is based on the intergovernmental agreement on scientific and technological cooperation, which was concluded between the Federal Republic of Germany and the USSR and came into force in 1987, and on the “Joint Declaration of the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology of the Federal Republic of Germany and the State Committee for Science and Technology of Ukraine on Scientific and Technological Relations”, which was signed in 1993.

Following the latest presidential elections and the appointment of the new Ukrainian government in the spring of 2010, the State Agency for Science, Innovation and Information was introduced into the administrative structure of the R&D sector as a new public authority. As a result, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine lost its previously central role in governmental R&D policy; in the field of education however it remains the most important executive organ for preparing and implementing state policy in Ukraine.

Against this background, the BMBF’s partners at government level in Kiev since July 2010 have been both the State Agency for Science, Innovation and Information and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Ukraine. The 8th conference (since 1997) of the joint German-Ukrainian scientific working group took place in November 2009 in Kiev.

Key areas of bilateral cooperation

 The key topics of the cooperation are in the fields of

• Nanophysics/nanotechnology including nanobiotechnology,
• Health research including medical technology,
• Physical and chemical technologies,
• Environment and sustainability.

Cooperation partners on the German side are traditionally universities and institutions in the Helmholtz Association, the Max Planck Society, the Leibniz Association and the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft; Ukrainian partners are mainly the institutes of the National Academy of Sciences and the higher education institutions. The number of companies participating on both sides is also increasing.

Current examples of German-Ukrainian cooperation

In the fields of nanophysics and nanotechnology the International Bureau, supported by the BMBF, has intensified relations in recent years through cooperation projects as well as several bilateral workshops and expert conferences. Subsequently, in November 2009 the National Taras Shevchenko University Kiev and the R. E. Kavetsky Institute of Experimental Pathology, Oncology and Radiobiology of the National Academy of Sciences on the Ukrainian side and TU Ilmenau on the German side signed an agreement on founding a Ukrainian-German nanobiotechnology research and education centre. In September 2010, the third Ukrainian-German Symposium on Nanotechnology was held successfully in Beregovo (Ukraine) with over 150 attendees.

In the field of health research the collaboration supported by the BMBF is concerned for example with determining the incidence of HIV infections by establishing an appropriate patient cohort in the Ukraine, and with apoptotic cells and autoimmunity.

In the field of physical and chemical technologies, the German-Ukrainian workshop “Plasma and Electron Beam Technologies for Protective Coatings” was held in June 2010 at the E. O. Paton Electric Welding Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kiev and attended by approximately 90 international experts – some from German and Ukrainian businesses – with the aim of intensifying collaboration in this area with support from the BMBF through the International Bureau.

In marine research, German research vessels (FS METEOR, FS POSEIDON, FS MERIAN) regularly undertake research expeditions into the Black Sea, which offers unique opportunities e.g. for research into gas hydrates and palaeoclimate. The scientific teams on these expeditions usually also include Ukrainian researchers. Collaboration in this area of research is to be expanded further.

Highlights of bilateral cooperation

The “Days of German Science and Research in Ukraine 2009” came to a close with a number of outstanding events in November/December 2009. A particular highlight was the extremely well attended BMBF information session “Forschung in Deutschland: Partner für die Zukunft” (Research in Germany: Partners for the Future) held on 24 November 2009 at the National Technical University of Ukraine “Kiev Polytechnic Institute” (NTUU “KPI”) in Kiev, where representatives of German research and funding organisations provided an overview of the German research landscape and the possibilities and conditions for intensifying German-Ukrainian collaboration. Attendees included over 160 leading representatives of Ukrainian institutions, over half of them from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and more than one third from Ukrainian universities.

In May 2010, Germany’s most modern research vessel “Maria S. Merian” docked in the harbour of Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula. At a very well attended press conference on board, Ukrainian journalists, including representatives of national TV stations, were informed about the current research activities in the Black Sea. In addition, German and Ukrainian researchers presented their research areas and equipment at an all-day scientific workshop initiated by the BMBF and supported by the International Bureau, creating a basis for expanded and new future cooperations.

Funding for collaborations with Ukraine

On behalf of the BMBF, the International Bureau offers German universities, non-university institutions and small and medium-sized enterprises grants, especially for exploratory measures and the preparation of bilateral projects in science and research. As a rule, analogous measures offered by the Ukrainian partners are supported by the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science. Since 1993, a total of over 200 measures of this kind have been sponsored by the International Bureau. The Ukrainian partners were generally supported through analogous measures by the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science.

During the eighth meeting of the joint German-Ukrainian scientific working group, the BMBF and the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science signed a Memorandum of Understanding on jointly providing funding for collaborations in science, technology and innovation on the basis of regular calls for proposals on both sides.

In continuation of the BMBF support for advisory services on research and technology cooperation provided in Ukraine in 2009, a contact person for research cooperations has been working in Kiev on behalf of the BMBF since early 2010. This contact person supports the BMBF and the International Bureau in shaping German-Ukrainian scientific and technological cooperation by providing information and advice and by participating in organising events in Ukraine, by maintaining cooperation-related contacts with German and Ukrainian points of contact in public authorities and research institutions in the country, and by providing information on Ukrainian science and innovation systems and their current development.