The Ministry of Education and Science creates new institutions for the development of applied and marine research
The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine is initiating the creation of two new structures designed to reform the scientific industry and strengthen its connection with the real sector of the economy. These are the launch of the Agency for Applied Research and the Marine Research Center.
The new Agency should become a platform that unites the interests of business and the scientific community, while the Marine Center will focus on the study of the Black and Mediterranean Seas, as well as the World Ocean.
“Business will form technical tasks, the state will provide co-financing, and scientists will work on specific projects needed by the market”, — emphasized Denis Kurbatov.
100 million hryvnias have already been allocated to finance the first ten such projects. In the future, this process will be fully coordinated by the Agency for Applied Research. It is expected that the regulatory framework for its work will be ready in April, and in May the competitive selection of specialists for the team of the new institution will begin.
“We will definitely hold a competition this year, after which we will form a team and launch an Agency that will methodically deal with this process,” the Deputy Minister noted.
A separate strategic direction will be the creation of a Marine Center by merging the National Antarctic Science Center and the Ukrainian Scientific Center for Marine Ecology in Odessa. Denys Kurbatov emphasized that due to the war, Ukraine lost many institutions in the occupied territories of Crimea and the Sea of Azov, so there was an urgent need to create a single powerful institute modeled after Germany or Denmark.
“Now, in fact, no one is seriously engaged in marine research in Ukraine, so we have begun the creation of a single national marine research center,” the official emphasized.
In addition, work is underway to reorganize the existing scientific infrastructure. In particular, the future fate of the Institute of Physical-Organic Chemistry and Coal Chemistry of the NAS of Ukraine must be determined by September 1, 2026. The relevant ministry assures that in the event of reorganization, all researchers will retain their positions and continue to work within the updated structure.
Such steps are aimed at preserving human resources and making Ukrainian science more competitive.
