The Australian Academy of Science congratulates the 21 grant recipients from the first round of the Ukraine-Australia Research Fund, announced today. Just over A$330,000 has been awarded from the fund to assist Ukrainian researchers impacted by the war with Russia. The fund supports two activities, each offering practical support to enable the continuation of research and technology activities by Ukrainian scientists.
Activity 1 – Short-term visits to Australia: This activity supports Ukrainian researchers to participate in short-term visits to Australia to engage in project research at a host institution, or to participate in a conference and site visit program.
Activity 1 has awarded 12 applicants a total of A$210,000, which will support 14 Ukrainian visitors. The Australian hosts, visiting Ukrainians, and their institutions are:
| Host institute | Australian host | Visiting researcher | Visitor institute |
| CSIRO and the Australian Oilseed Federation | Dr John Kirkegaard | Maryna Dzuh
Svitlana Omelchuk |
Ukrainian Scientific Institute of Plant Breeding |
| Flinders University | A/Prof Sergiy Shelyag | Prof Yuriy Rapoport | University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn |
| Prof Sophie Leterme | Ruslana Mihas | Institute of Marine Biology, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine | |
| Monash University | Prof Ulrik Egede | Dr Maryna Borysova | Weizmann Institute of Science |
| RMIT University | Dr Iryna Heiets | Prof Tamara Oleshko | National Aviation University, Ukraine |
| University of Queensland | Dr Andrii Kostryzhev | Valentyna Vavrukh
Dr Tetiana Tepla |
Lviv Polytechnic National University, Ukraine |
| Professor Mary Fletcher | Dr Mykola Tupychak | Ivan Franko National University of Lviv | |
| University of Newcastle | Professor Hubert Hondermarck | Dr Nataliya Finiuk | Institute of Cell Biology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine |
| Associate Professor Thomas Honeyands | Oleksii Merkulov | Iron and Steel Institute of ZI Nekrasov, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine | |
| University of New South Wales Sydney | Dr Elena Atroschenko | Tetiana Horelikova | Zaporizhzhya National University in Ukraine |
| University of Sydney | Dr Slade Matthews | Dr Anna Shayakhmetova | Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology of National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine |
| University of Wollongong | Professor Alexey Pan | Prof Tetiana Prikhna | The Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona |
Activity 2 – Facility access: Under this activity, Ukrainian researchers will access leading infrastructure capabilities in Australia, such as supercomputing facilities, microscopy and microanalysis, and telescopes. Ukrainian researchers will be able to send their samples to facilities for analysis, including those enabled under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), with the results returned to the Ukrainian research institute.
Funding covers the cost of sending samples between Ukraine and the Australian facility, the cost of instrument access, and of testing and analysing the samples. This activity will keep Ukrainian researchers productive and publishing at their own institutes in Ukraine while also engaging in international collaborations. Activity 2 has seen nine applications to access NCRIS facilities approved. The total amount awarded was just over A$120,000.
The collaborating NCRIS facilities, Ukrainian awardees, and their institutes are:
All applications were evaluated by an assessment committee comprised of Academy Fellows and relevant subject matter experts. The final decision on approvals and allocations was made by the Ukraine-Australia Research Fund Working Group, chaired by Academy President Professor Chennupati Jagadish AC PresAA FREng FTSE.
Successful applications from the second round are expected to be announced later this year.
The Academy thanks the not-for-profit Breakthrough Prize Foundation for their funding support of this program, the Australian institutes and researchers hosting Ukrainian visitors, the NCRIS facilities and Directors Group for their ongoing contributions to the program, and the Ukrainian participants.
This press release was provided by The Australian Academy of Sciences, for further information contact: Dan Wheelahan | M 0488 766 010 | E media@science.org.au
The Australian Academy of Science provides independent, authoritative and influential scientific advice, promotes international scientific engagement, builds public awareness and understanding of science, and champions, celebrates and supports excellence in Australian science.
October 9, 2023
