A new support measure – International Multilateral Partnerships for Resilient Education and Science System in Ukraine (IMPRESS-U) was opened 07.08.2023

The Estonian Research Council, in cooperation with the U.S. National Science Foundation, announces a new support measure – International Multilateral Partnerships for Resilient Education and Science System in Ukraine (IMPRESS-U).

The goal of this jointly funded initiative is to:

  • support excellence in science and engineering research, education and innovation through international collaboration and
  • promote the integration of Ukrainian scientists into the international research community.

Funders are:

Each proposal must engage researchers from 3 countries: the U.S., Ukraine and at least one other country involved in this initiative.

Applications can be submitted from all scientific fields, but priority will be given to projects that propose:

  • creative ways for enhancing efficiency and resiliency of international partnerships;
  • efficient concepts to prepare research workforce;
  • efficient and significant contributions to build a modern, state-of-the-art research/education/innovation ecosystem in Ukraine.

Types of projects:

  1. Supplements: international supplements to existing awards
  2. EAGERs: EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research to support exploratory work in its early stages on untested, but potentially transformative, research ideas or approaches.

The duration of the projects is 24 months, at the end of the project it is possible to request an extension of the project by one year (without additional funding). The application is continuous and will continue until the necessary parties have enough funding.

NSF is responsible for the application environment, evaluation organisation and reporting. All documents submitted to NSF are shared with other funders, and funding decisions are made jointly by all funders.

U.S. researchers submit international collaborative (full) proposals to NSF first. The rules of both NSF and other funders (related to the given project) must be followed when preparing the application.

ETAG requirements for Estonian participants:

  • ETAG support in this initiative is a total of 400,000 euros, from which up to 4 grants can be allocated (maximum 100,000 EUR each).
  • The beneficiary (host institution) must be a positively evaluated research and development institution that is a legal entity registered in Estonia.
  • The ETAG grant covers research costs (personnel, travel and other project-related costs), subcontracting (up to 15% of the requested total budget) and indirect costs (up to 15% of the requested personnel costs). NB! Scholarships and infrastructure costs are not eligible.
  • Within 1 week after submitting a full proposal to NSF, Estonian applicants (Principal Investigators of the Estonian sub-project) must submit an overview of their proposed budget to ETAG (vtk@etag.ee) on the corresponding budget form, attaching a copy of the full application.
  • In case of a positive funding decision, ETAG concludes a trilateral grant agreement with the Estonian host institution and the Principal Investigator of the Estonian sub-project.
  • ETAG finances the Estonian sub-project in the form of 2 advance payments, to be made to the host institution (after signing the grant agreement and after approving the 1st year activity and financial report).

ETAG Budget Form for Estonian participants
National Eligibility Criteria for Estonian participants

It is expected that joint funding will be provided in such a way that each country funds their own researchers. Researchers affiliated exclusively with Ukrainian institutions may be supported by private donors and foundations through the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (in accordance with National Research Foundation of Ukraine eligibility rules). (It is mandatory that a researcher working in a Ukrainian research institution and residing in Ukraine must also participate in each project.)

Weekly office hours (optional) to ask your questions directly Program Directors will be offered, see below details.
Time: Every Thursday, 17:30-18:30 (EEST) / 10:30 – 11:30 (AM Eastern)
Zoom link: https://nsf.zoomgov.com/j/1619512224?pwd=Zi9aNTJsK1ZlUzNsbDlQUzBlR05UUT09
Meeting ID: 161 951 2224, Passcode: 829361

 

The IMPRESS-U partner search can be found here: https://www2.ncn.gov.pl/partners/impressu/

Information on the website of the Estonian Research Council: https://etag.ee/en/funding/partnership-funding/partnership-funding-ukraine/

More information can be found at the NSF website: https://www.nsf.gov/od/oise/IntlCollaborations/Ukraine.jsp

Contact person at NSF: Dr. Maija M. Kukla, Program Director – IMPRESS-U@nsf.gov

Contact persons at ETAG:
Margit Suuroja (margit.suuroja@etag.ee)
Katrin Piller (katrin.piller@etag.ee)

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