Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science has approved updated requirements for competitive selection of research projects. The new rules set out how the state budget will select and fund fundamental and applied research in 2026.
Almost everything has changed: who can apply, how many points a project needs, how much winners receive, and what now counts as an academic integrity violation. A separate block of rules covers young scientists and teams in frontline regions.
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Accreditation and a minimum score
The first condition concerns eligibility itself. Starting 1 January 2027, only universities and research institutions that have passed state accreditation and received category A, B, or C in the relevant field will be able to receive competitive funding in that field. The requirement does not apply yet in 2026, but accreditation takes time, so institutions should prepare for it now.
The second condition concerns the quality of the application itself. MON is dropping formal scientometric indicators as the main criterion and introducing a pass mark instead: only projects that score at least 50 points in independent expert review will receive funding.
According to Deputy Minister of Education and Science Denys Kurbatov, “competitive funding should work as a tool for developing strong research teams” and supporting research that delivers a concrete result for the state. The ministry also makes a point of supporting young scientists and teams that keep working in frontline regions despite security risks.
Three tracks within the main competition
Universities and research institutions used to compete under one shared call. The updated rules now split the main competition into three separate tracks, each with its own funding logic.
Track 1: general research
This is the classic format, with no territorial or departmental restrictions: fundamental research, applied research, and R&D work across general thematic areas.
Track 2: frontline and border regions
Institutions in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Odesa, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions apply through a separate ranking list and receive additional funding. The track acknowledges that teams working under constant shelling risk compete under harder conditions than institutions further from the front.
Track 3: state-priority R&D
Central government bodies set the topics for this third track. The Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Health, and other agencies submit a list of priority thematic areas for 2026, and teams are then selected against those specific requests. Funding for these projects can increase by 50%.
A separate competition for young scientists continues alongside the main call, but with a bigger budget share: for the first time, it will receive up to 30% of MON’s total competitive funding. Only young scientists at institutions under MON’s authority can lead or carry out these projects.
Funding amounts and project duration
Projects under the new rules run for up to 24 months. That is usually enough time to take a study from concept to a result that can actually be implemented.
The maximum cost of a single project per year is UAH 1.2 million for theoretical research and UAH 1.5 million for experimental research. The gap makes sense, since lab work and equipment cost more than calculations on paper.
A new advantage has also appeared: confirmed co-financing from business, international programmes, or grants now improves a project’s chances of winning the competition.
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Who can apply | Universities and research institutions under MON (from 2027, conditional on category A, B, or C accreditation) |
| Project duration | Up to 24 months |
| Maximum cost per year | UAH 1.2M (theoretical) / UAH 1.5M (experimental) |
| Pass mark in expert review | At least 50 points |
| Young scientists competition | Up to 30% of MON’s total funds (for the first time) |
| State-priority tracks | Funding can increase by 50% |
| Frontline and border regions | Separate ranking list and additional funding |
| Project team | Up to 6 people; NAS Ukraine and outside institutions capped at 30% |
| Where to apply | National Electronic Scientific Information System |
| Official source | MON news, 15 June 2026 → |
Who can lead a project
A project leader must be a staff member of the institution in their primary place of employment. There is an additional condition: they must have spent at least six months of the past year in Ukraine. A leader who has spent most of the year abroad does not meet this requirement.
Roles are also capped. A researcher can lead only one project within this competition and serve as an executor on just one more. The core team cannot exceed 6 people including the leader, and the share of NAS Ukraine and other outside institutions in that team cannot exceed 30%.
Citizens of aggressor states cannot join the team, nor can anyone found to have violated academic integrity in the past three years.
Academic integrity and AI use
MON has spelled out AI rules for applications for the first time. If AI generated the actual content of a project, that counts as an academic integrity violation.
If a team used AI only as a supporting tool, that is allowed, but the application must disclose the purpose, the name of the tool, and the exact prompt used, word for word. Data fabrication, plagiarism, and predatory publishing practices remain grounds for rejecting an application.
How and when to apply
Applications go through the National Electronic Scientific Information System. Every application needs a cover letter and an extract from the academic council’s protocol, and teams from frontline regions also need a certificate from the State Border Guard Service. Co-financing confirmation is added when it exists.
Applications that do not match the competition’s theme, or arrive with an incomplete document package, get rejected at the preliminary review stage, before expert evaluation even starts.
MON has not yet announced specific calls under these rules. So far, the ministry has only defined how those calls will run once they open. The full requirements were published on 15 June 2026.
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