Deadline for proposal submission of the EU partnership LUKE (Linking Ukraine to the European Research Area)

Following an updated timeline, the LUKE Joint Call will be launched on 27 February 2026, bringing together funding parties across Europe to support research and innovation collaboration with Ukraine.

Applications can be submitted until 15 May. The planned project start date is January 2027, with projects ending between December 2028 and February 2029. The call is funded by 13 research funding organisations from 11 countries. Each country funds its own researchers, and the consortium budget is composed of the individual budgets of the participating partners. Applications are submitted via the PT-Outline portal, which will open on 27 February 2026.

Each LUKE consortium must include participants from at least three countries – Ukraine is mandatory, plus two additional countries from among the participating countries (Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Germany, Finland, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Ukraine).

Estonian participants are funded by ETAG (Estonian Research Council), and the funding amount depends on the role of the Estonian partner in the project: as a regular partner, the requested budget may be up to EUR 150,000, and as a lead partner (coordinator) up to EUR 300,000. If more than one Estonian partner participates in a single project, the respective budget (EUR 150,000 / EUR 300,000) is shared between them. ETAG supports projects with Estonian participation in this call with a total amount of 450,000 euros.
Eligibility requirements for Estonian participants can be found here.

4. Social sciences and humanities: social reconciliation, sustainable societal development, and human capital recovery

More detailed information and descriptions of the call topics are available on the LUKE website.
See also the pre-announcement of the call opening (23 December 2025) on the ETAG website.