With the program „Funding of the German-Ukrainian “Cores of Excellence (CoE) in Ukraine“ (see the call, in German), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is supporting the establishment of excellent joint German-Ukrainian research groups or small institutes (Cores of Excellence, CoE) in Ukraine to strengthen the sustainable bilateral research partnership between Germany and Ukraine.
- BMBF Press-releases (in German): No 128/2019, 4 November 2019 and No 201/2020, 8 December 2020
A total of 38 eligible applications were submitted. Following 12 concepts were selected for the concept phase funding (aiming at the development of a detailed economically feasible plan):
Humanities and Social Sciences (including agricultural economics)
Coordinator: Historisches Seminar, Fakultät für Geschichts- und Kunstwissenschaften, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), in cooperation with Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv
More: announcement and project website
Coordinator: Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), Halle, in partnership with Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA), National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine (NUBiP) in Kyiv, Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman (KNEU), Space Research Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the National Space Agency of Ukraine (SRI NASU-SSAU) in Kyiv, World Data Center for Geoinformatics and Sustainable Development of the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” (WDC-Ukraine), Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB), All-Ukrainian public organization “Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation” (UAC), IAK Agrar Consulting GmbH in Leipzig
More: IAMO News-feature; project website, more on the lead-in BMBF-funded project UaFoodTrade – Pilot project for the sustainable internationalization of Ukrainian research structures in the context of the globalization of the Ukrainian food sector (2017-2021)
- ReLoaD: Interdisciplinary research on decentralization and its impact on the democratic process in Ukraine
Coordinator: Institute for European Politics (IEP), Berlin, in cooperation with Kyiv School of Economics (KSE)
More: project website
Life Sciences
Coordinator: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK Gatersleben), in partnership with the Institute of Cell Biology and Genetic Engineering (ICBGE) of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU), Kyiv
- MAMM: Conception of a Transdisciplinary Ukrainian Excellence Core on Modern Analysis Methods for Molecular Medicine
Coordinator: University Hospital Münster, in cooperation with The Philipps University of Marburg and the Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Ivano-Frankivsk
Coordinator: Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research GmbH – Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), in partnership with “Explogen LLC” (EXG) in Lviv and Ivan Franko Lviv National University
IT/ Digitalization
- AIDA-TI: DE/UA Center of Excellence for AI-aided Big Data Analysis and Transport Infrastructures. Sub-project: AIDA-TI-HSA: AI-Aided Transport Infrastructures and Sub-project: AIDA-TI-UKON: Explainable AI and Big Data analytics
Coordinators: Anhalt University of Applied Sciences – FB6 – Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Engineering (EMW), the Future Internet Lab Anhalt (FILA) and the Data Analysis and Visualisation Research Group (DBVIS) at the University of Konstanz, in cooperation with the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” (KPI) and the Space Research Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the State Space Agency of Ukraine (SRI), Kyiv
Coordinator: Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation (IFF) in Magdeburg, in cooperation with the National Aerospace University “KhAI“, in Kharkiv
Nano- and Material Sciences
- GU-QuMAT: German-Ukrainian Lab for Quantum Materials
Coordinator: Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research (IFW-Dresden), in cooperation with Kyiv Academic University (KAU)
More: more on the lead-in BMBF-funded project “Topological order of electrons in solids: New materials, phenomena & application concepts” (UKRATOP)
- IRC-NANO: International Research Center for Advanced Functional Nanostructured Materials and Technologies. Sub-project “Scientific orientation of the core of excellence” and Sub-project “Concept and economic feasibility of the core of excellence”
Coordinators: Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS), Hermsdorf and Institute of Energy and Climate Research IEK-1 (Materials Synthesis and Processing), Forschungszentrum Jülich, in cooperation with the Frantsevich Institute for Problems of Materials Science of the NAS of Ukraine
Coordinator: Leibniz University Hannover, in cooperation with the Institute for Scintillation Materials (ISMA), Kharkiv
- PLASMA-SPINEnergy: Advanced plasma technology for materials and devices development for spin electronics and renewable energy research
Coordinator: Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Halle, in cooperation V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University
After a detailed and independent evaluation of the submitted concepts, the most promising projects will be selected to be funded for the implementation phase over further four years.