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 between the Federal Republic of Germany and the USSR, which 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. The eighth meeting of the German-Ukrainian working group for scientific and technological cooperation took place in Kyiv in November 2009. The State Agency for Science, Innovation and Informatization of the Ukrainian Ministry of Education, Science, Youth and Sports is now the central partner institution of the BMBF, following a reorganization which was completed in 2011.  

Key areas of German-Ukrainian cooperation

Cooperation with Ukraine focuses on the areas of:

• Nanophysics/nanotechnology, including nanobiotechnology
• Physical and chemical technologies
• Marine research
• Health research, including medical technology
• The environment and sustainability

The cooperation partners on the German side have traditionally been universities and institutions of the Fraunhofer Society, the Helmholtz Association, the Max Planck Society and the Leibniz Association. The main Ukrainian partners are universities and institutes of the National Academy of Sciences. The number of commercial companies involved in cooperation activities is increasing on both sides.

Special bilateral cooperation activities

The "Days of German Science and Research in Ukraine 2009" culminated in a series of outstanding events in November and December 2009. One of the highlights was the BMBF's information event "Research in Germany: Partners for the Future", which took place at the National Technical University of Ukraine, the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, on 24 November 2009. Representatives of German research and funding organizations gave an overview of the German research landscape and provided information about the opportunities and general conditions for intensifying German-Ukrainian cooperation. Among the participants were more than 160 leading representatives of Ukrainian institutions, more than half of them from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and more than a third from Ukrainian universities.

On 23 November 2009, an agreement on the establishment of a Ukrainian-German nanobiotechnology research and education centre was concluded between the Technical University of Ilmenau on the German side and the National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv and the R. E. Kavetsky Institute of Experimental Pathology, Oncology and Radiobiology of the National Academy of Sciences on the Ukrainian side. The initiation phase had been supported by the BMBF, among others.

In the field of physical and chemical technologies, the very successful German-Ukrainian workshop "Plasma and Electron Beam Technologies for Protective Coatings" was held with support from the BMBF in June 2010 at the E. O. Paton Electric Welding Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv and attended by approximately 60 international experts - including representatives of German and Ukrainian businesses - with the aim of intensifying collaboration in this area.

In May 2010, Germany's most modern research vessel, the 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 a scientific workshop initiated by the BMBF, creating a basis for expanded and new collaborations in the field of marine research.

With a pilot measure to determine the spread of HIV infections by establishing a Ukrainian patient cohort, the BMBF is strengthening the research and innovation capacity of the BMBF's HIV/AIDS competence network. This also gives the German side access to a valuable data pool that complements its own investigations. To this end, a cooperation agreement between the University of Bochum and the Ukrainian Centre for AIDS Prevention was signed in autumn 2010.

Funding for collaborations with Ukraine

On behalf of the BMBF, the International Bureau provides German universities, non-university institutions and small and medium-sized enterprises with grants, especially for exploratory measuresand for the preparation of bilateral projects in the areas of science and research. The most recent call for proposals agreed with the Ukrainian side was published in 2010. The Ukrainian project partners are funded by the Ukrainian State Agency for Science, Innovation and Informatization.

A contact person for research collaborations has been working in Kyiv on behalf of the BMBF since the beginning of 2010 to help the BMBF in planning and implementing research and technology cooperation with Ukraine. He gathers and evaluates information on science and innovation potential and current relevant developments in Ukraine, maintains contact with relevant German and Ukrainian authorities and research institutions, advises German stakeholders, and is involved in organizing events in Ukraine.