EIFL has joined the Open Science for Ukrainian Higher Education System (Open4UA) Erasmus+ project, which aims to reform the higher education system by prioritising open science to advance the growth of Ukraine’s knowledge-driven economy for the post-war recovery. 

The three-year project will: 

• Foster national open science reform by supporting legislative amendments based on national consensus and EU best practices; 
• Advance research assessment reform by implementing the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) principles in the policies and practices of national funders, and prioritizing open science during assessment of researchers and institutions and in evaluation of research projects;
• Foster institutional open science developments and advance research assessment reform in higher education institutions (HEIs) by providing HEIs with toolkits and best practices in open science and research assessment. 

In addition, the O4UA project will support displaced HEIs ((HEIs that have been forced to move their operations because of the destruction of property and dangers resulting from the Russian invasion); refugees (Ukrainians who have taken refuge in other countries) and internally displaced members of Ukrainian academia, taking into account their specific needs during the development of open science and research assessment reform policies, and other project activities. 

The project is coordinated by Lviv Polytechnic National University, with partners, Amsterdam University Medical Centre; Berdyansk State Pedagogical University (relocated to Zaporizhzhia city); Delft University of Technology; EIFL; European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc); I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University; Institute of Open Science and Innovation; Mariupol State University (relocated to Kyiv); Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine; National Research Foundation of Ukraine; National Technical University of Ukraine ‘Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute’; NGO ‘Innovative University’; Université libre de Bruxelles; University of Ljubljana, and Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University. Associated partners are the Central Technical Library at the University of Ljubljana; Dutch Research Council (NWO); the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of Slovenia, and the Ukrainian Library Association.

Timeline

November 2023 to October 2026 

Activities

EIFL’s main contribution will be to contribute to policy development: 

• Co-create recommendations for national open science and research assessment reform; implementation of CoARA principles in Ukrainian funders’ policies and practices; and integration of open science principles in the assessment of Ukrainian HEIs; 
• Support open science and research assessment reform, and pilot open science and research assessment toolkits in Ukrainian HEIs; 
• Organize a national forum on open science and research assessment reform in Kyiv; and
• Promote project activities and outputs.

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