At the beginning of the year, the Scientific Council of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (NRFU) announced the ranked lists of the winning research projects selected for grant funding. Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute ranked first among Ukrainian higher education institutions in the number of projects that will receive state funding.
The National Research Foundation of Ukraine competitions were aimed at selecting projects for collaborative research grants to support cutting-edge fundamental research. These projects focus on addressing pressing scientific challenges through the joint efforts of leading and early-career researchers in response to contemporary challenges and the needs of Ukrainian society. The initiative seeks to strengthen Ukraine's global competitiveness, enhance the country's research capacity, and promote its integration into the international research community.
A total of 137 projects out of 318 that successfully passed scientific and scientific-technical evaluation were selected for funding under the Frontier Science in Ukraine 2026–2028 competition. Among the winners are five projects from Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute:
- Heat Transfer Processes in the Evaporative Cooling of High-Power Electronic Components for Specialized Equipment (Principal Investigator: Professor Volodymyr Kravets, Institute of Nuclear and Thermal Energy);
- Diffusion-Based Formation of Nanoscale Antiferromagnetic Mnₓ(Pd, Pt, Ir) Materials with Enhanced Thermal Stability and Exchange Interaction Effects in Functional Structures Based on Them (Principal Investigator: Professor Ihor Vladymyrskyi, Yevhen O. Paton Institute of Materials Science and Welding);
- Adaptive Stochastic Optimization Methods for Solving Machine Learning, Statistical Estimation, and Dynamic Systems Control Problems under Adversarial Conditions and Uncertainty (Principal Investigator: Professor Volodymyr Norkin, Department of Applied Mathematics, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, and the Institute of Cybernetics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine);
- Protection of Human Rights in Addressing the Consequences of the War in Ukraine: Towards the Establishment of the Legal Values of the European Union (Principal Investigator: Associate Professor Olha Holovko, Faculty of Sociology and Law);
- Scientific Principles for Developing Heat Exchange Systems Based on Steel Tubes with Welded U-Shaped Aluminum Fins for Dry Cooling Towers and Waste Heat Recovery Units (Principal Investigator: Professor Yevhen Pysmennyi, Institute of Nuclear and Thermal Energy).
Under the Science for Strengthening the Defense Capability and National Security of Ukraine competition, the following projects from Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute were selected for funding:
- Information and Communication Technologies (Principal Investigator: Professor Serhii Naida, Faculty of Electronics);
- New Substances and Materials (Principal Investigator: Professor Yurii Bohomol, Yevhen O. Paton Institute of Materials Science and Welding);
- Information and Communication Technologies (Principal Investigator: Professor Yurii Hordiienko, Faculty of Informatics and Computer Engineering);
- New Substances and Materials (Principal Investigator: Professor Ihor Vladymyrskyi, Yevhen O. Paton Institute of Materials Science and Welding);
- New Substances and Materials (Principal Investigator: Associate Professor Oleksii Myroniuk, Faculty of Chemical Technology).
At the beginning of January, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine approved the lists of winners of both the Young Scientists Research Projects Competition and the Main Competition for Fundamental and Applied Research. According to the Ministry, these competitions were conducted under new rules established by the updated Regulations on Competitive Project Selection. The research topics were closely aligned with the priority areas of the WINWIN Strategy for the Digital Development of Innovation in Ukraine through 2030 and focused on strengthening Ukraine's defense capabilities and technological sovereignty. Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute was once again among the country's leading universities, securing funding for 11 projects under the Main Competition and 9 projects under the Young Scientists Competition—the highest number among all higher education institutions in Ukraine.
The following fundamental and applied research projects will be carried out at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute from 2026 with funding from the State Budget of Ukraine:
- Next-Generation Copernicus Services: An Intelligent Digital Twin for Forest Cover Analysis in Ukraine (Principal Investigator: Professor Andrii Shelestov, Institute of Physics and Technology);
- Developing the Scientific Foundations for the Design and Operation of Hybrid Energy Supply Systems Using Renewable Energy Sources and Smart Technologies (Principal Investigator: Professor Volodymyr Popov, Institute of Energy Saving and Energy Management);
- Sustainable Energy Supply Systems for Territorial Communities Based on the Smart Energy Systems Concept (Principal Investigator: Professor Volodymyr Voloshchuk, Institute of Nuclear and Thermal Energy);
- High-Entropy Reinforced Ceramic Materials for Extreme Operating Conditions (Principal Investigator: Professor Yurii Bohomol, Yevhen O. Paton Institute of Materials Science and Welding);
- Development of Magnetic Gradient Nanostructured Materials for High-Density Data Storage and Functional Elements for Spintronics and Sensor Technologies (Principal Investigator: Professor Yurii Makohon, Yevhen O. Paton Institute of Materials Science and Welding);
- Development of an Ultra-Light Metal–Polymer Material with High Energy Absorption Capacity for Protective Structures (Principal Investigator: Professor Anatolii Minitskyi, Yevhen O. Paton Institute of Materials Science and Welding);
- Transmission Models for Digitalization and Neo-Industrial Recovery of Innovation Infrastructure (Principal Investigator: Professor Kateryna Boyarynova, Faculty of Management and Marketing);
- Distributed Power Supply Systems for Critical Infrastructure Facilities (Principal Investigator: Professor Oleksandr Ostapchuk, Faculty of Electric Power Engineering and Automatics);
- Evacuation and Reintegration of the Population During Crises: The Legacy of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident for Civil Society Development and Community Cohesion (Principal Investigator: Associate Professor Serhii Cholii, Faculty of Sociology and Law).
Information on several additional projects not listed above will be made public after the end of martial law.
The following fundamental research projects, applied research projects, and scientific and technical (experimental) development projects led by early-career researchers from Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute successfully passed the competitive selection process and will receive funding from the State Budget of Ukraine beginning in 2026:
- Development of Next-Generation Functional Composite Materials Using Green Ionic Liquids (Inna Trus, Faculty of Automation, Industrial Engineering and Ecology);
- Machine Learning Methods with Adaptive Multimodal Data Fusion for Cross-Regional Transfer of Green Cover Classification Models (Hanna Yailymova, Institute of Physics and Technology);
- Development of Functional Biopolymers from Renewable Feedstocks for Innovative Water Treatment and Water Management Technologies (Maryna Hromnadska, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biotechnics);
- Synthesis of Functionalized Graphene and Metal Oxide Nanostructures and Their Composites for Advanced Technologies (Khrystyna Hutsul, Faculty of Chemical Technology);
- Synthesis of Anti-Reflective Coatings for Solar Panels Based on Oxides, Aluminosilicates, and Inorganic–Organic Composites (Marta Litynska, Faculty of Chemical Technology);
- State-Space Models for Environmental Change Assessment (Oleksandr Yavorskyi, Institute of Physics and Technology);
- The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Shaping Educational Policies for the Development and Preservation of Human Capital (Myroslava Kukhta, Faculty of Sociology and Law);
- Mechanically and Thermally Stable Nanoscale Ferromagnetic Materials for Advanced Sensor Systems (Ihor Vladymyrskyi, Yevhen O. Paton Institute of Materials Science and Welding);
- Physicochemical Approaches to the Development of Composite High-Entropy Materials for Components of Hypersonic Aircraft Engines (Serhii Teslia, Yevhen O. Paton Institute of Materials Science and Welding).
According to the organizers, the evaluation and selection process was lengthy but essential to ensure the independence, professionalism, and objectivity of the project review and expert assessment procedures.
We congratulate all the winners on these long-awaited results and wish the research teams every success in implementing their projects.