About the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine was founded on November 27, 1918 in Kyiv. Its first President was the world-famous scientist V.I. Vernadsky.

According to the current legislation, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NAS of Ukrain, Academy) is the supreme scientific self-governing organization of Ukraine based on state property. The self-government of the Academy means the independent determination of research topics and forms of research organization and conduct, the formation of academic structure, the solution of scientific, organizational, economic, personnel issues, the implementation of international scientific relations, the electivity and collegiality of management bodies. The Academy unites full members (academicians), corresponding members and foreign members, all scholars of academic institutions; it organizes and carries out fundamental and applied scientific research on the most important problems of natural, engineering, social and humanitarian sciences.

The General Meeting of full members (academicians) and corresponding members is the superior self-governing body of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The sessions of the General Meeting (except for issues related to the election of full members, corresponding members and foreign members of the NAS of Ukraine) are attended by scholars delegated by the labor groups of scientific institutions of the Academy who have the decision-making vote, foreign members, top managers of scientific institutions of the Academy and representatives of the scientific community with the advisory vote. The Presidium of the NAS of Ukraine consists of 30 persons, including the President, five Vice-Presidents, 14 Academicians-Secretaries of departments, and 14 members of the Presidium of the Academy as well. 7 acting members of the Presidium and 10 Advisers to the Presidium of the NAS of Ukraine also participate in the meetings of the Presidium with the advisory vote. 

The NAS of Ukraine has 3 sections (physical, engineering and mathematical sciences; chemical and biological sciences; social and humanitarian sciences) that unite 14 departments: mathematics; computer science; mechanics and mechanical engineering; physics and astronomy; Earth sciences; materials science; energy and power technologies; nuclear physics and energy; chemistry; biochemistry, physiology and molecular biology; general biology; economics; history, philosophy and law; literature, linguistic and art studies. The Academy has 5 regional scientific centers of dual subordination with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine: Donetsk (Pokrovsk), Western (Lviv), Southern (Odesa), North-Eastern (Kharkiv), Prydniprovsky (Dnipro), as well as the Center for evaluation of the activities of scientific institutions and scientific support for the development of regions (Kyiv). The statutory activities of the Crimean Scientific Center and its funding from the budget of the NAS of Ukraine were suspended in 2014. The main element of the structure of the NAS of Ukraine is research institutes and other scientific institutions (observatories, botanical gardens, arboretums, nature reserves, libraries, museums, etc.). The structure of the NAS of Ukraine includes national institutions – the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, National Scientific Center “Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology”, National Historic and Archaeological Reserve “Olvia”, M.M. Hryshko National Botanical Garden, Sofiyivka National Dendrological Park, National Natural Science Museum, V. Stefanyk National Scientific Library of Ukraine in Lviv, National Center “Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine”.  The structure of the NAS of Ukraine also includes enterprises of the research and production base (research enterprises, design and technological organizations, scientific and engineering centers). Currently, there are 160 scientific institutions and 43 enterprises with the research and production base within the structure of the NAS of Ukraine.

The Law of Ukraine “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2025” allocates 6,075,594.8 thousand hryvnias from the general fund for financing the NAS of Ukraine in 2025.

The total number of employees of the NAS of Ukraine as of March 1, 2025 was 24,447, including 2,322 DSc and 6,459 PhD among them. 29 employees of the Academy were killed or missed in the battles with the invaders and under aggressor’s bombing of civilian objects. 1,142 (8,6%) scholars of the institutions of the NAS of Ukraine temporarily moved abroad, more than 600 scholars (5%) changed their place of residence and moved to other regions of Ukraine escaping from Russian military aggression. As of March 1, 2025, the NAS of Ukraine includes 172 full members (academicians), 371 corresponding members, and 78 foreign members.

As a result of the full-scale Russian military aggression, some institutions of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine were caught up in a war on the territories temporarily occupied by Russian aggressors, and the military actions make full-fledged work of many institutions impossible. Buildings and scientific equipment of institutes located in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Sumy, Mykolaiv were partially or completely destroyed. So far, more than 220 objects of the property complex have been destroyed or damaged. The estimated cost of restoring destroyed and damaged property is over 750.5 million hryvnias. The top managers of the NAS of Ukraine promptly adopted a number of decisions to ensure the functioning of institutes and their infrastructure facilities, their protection, organization of the work schedule of employees, payroll payment, unconditional preservation of all personnel and accounting documents, etc.

The topics of scientific research aimed at ensuring the defense and security of the state have been updated and significantly expanded. The list of respective scientific research, priority scientific and engineering developments for 2025 has been coordinated with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and JSC “Ukroboronprom”.  

At the meetings of the Presidium of the NAS of Ukraine, reports on research are regularly heard, whose results can be used for increasing the country’s defense capability and minimizing the consequences of military operations. Much attention is paid to debunking myths and misinformation generated by the aggressor’s propaganda.

 Employees of the Academy provide assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine on a volunteer basis. They manufacture their own developments and give them to medical institutions and the military on the front line: hemostatic, antiseptic drugs, medical immobilization pneumatic frames, materials for body armor vest, autonomous portable solar power plants, mobile heating furnaces and autonomous power systems, etc. They support projects aimed at providing the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the advanced surveillance and intelligence means with their own funds.

The Board of Presidents of the Academies of Sciences of Ukraine, the Scientific and Technology Council of the NAS of Ukraine, the Expert Council on Evaluation of Fundamental Scientific Research Topics at the NAS of Ukraine, and the Scientific and Coordination Councils of the Sections of the NAS of Ukraine as well, make a significant contribution to the implementation of this important sphere of the Academy's activity. The activities of these advisory bodies contribute to drafting proposals focused on improvement of the regulatory and legal framework for the scientific and engineering activity and their submission to the public authorities, material, technological and financial support for research, the involvement of the institutions of the NAS of Ukraine in solving current scientific, engineering and social problems, the implementation of scientific developments of the institutions of the NAS of Ukraine, the expansion of cooperation between the scientific institutions of the NAS of Ukraine and industrial enterprises. Sections and departments of the NAS of Ukraine carry out scientific and coordination work on specific pertinent scientific focus areas and problems. At this time, 80 scientific councils, 15 committees, 17 commissions, and 24 scientific societies functionate within the structure of the NAS of Ukraine. Their efforts are focused on promoting the coordination of promising scientific research, drafting proposals and analytical materials for state authorities, organizing and conducting scientific readings, conferences, workshops, and symposia.

The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, as the superior scientific self-governing organization of Ukraine, carries out an independent scientific assessment of draft strategic, forecasting and program documents, draft laws, policy decisions and programs as well. The Academy, basing on instructions from the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, and on its own initiative drafts proposals for the principles of the public scientific and technological policy, foresights, information analysis materials, recommendations regarding socio-political, socio-economic, scientific, technical, innovative and humanitarian development of the state. In 2024, at the request of public authorities, institutions of the NAS of Ukraine provided over 1,800 expert opinions and information analysis materials on various issues of social development. Specialists of the Academy, members of the scientific and expert, advisory councils, and commissions founded at state authorities, performed significant expert work related to the preliminary consideration and provision of scientific opinions on various issues of their activities. The results of research by scientists of the NAS of Ukraine were used while drafting a number of fundamental generalizing foresight and report documents: the Government’s Priority Action Plan for 2024, the Concept of the State Targeted Economic Program for the Development of the Titanium Industry of Ukraine for the period until 2028, the National Energy and Climate Plan for the period until 2030, the Strategy for the Implementation of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System in Ukraine for the period until 2033, Strategy for the Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas in Ukraine for the period until 2030, Strategy for the Recovery, Sustainable Development and Digital Transformation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises for the period until 2027, Concept for the Implementation of State Policy in the Field of Promoting the Development of Socially Responsible Business in Ukraine for the period until 2030, Development Strategy of the Kyiv region for 2021-2027, etc.

The Academy continues active cooperation with central executive authorities, in particular with the ministries of economy, finance, energy and environmental protection, infrastructure, defense, strategic industries, education and science, healthcare, social policy, as well as with the State Agency for Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving, the State Space Agency, the State Migration Service of Ukraine, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, regional state administrations. More than 700 expert opinions and analytical materials were provided at their requests last year.

The relations between the NAS of Ukraine and the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine intensified in the hard circumstances of martial law and armed aggression of the Russian Federation. Last year, at the NSDC request, scientific and analytical materials were drafted on the following issues:  optimization of the use of Ukraine’s budget resources in the context of a expected reduction in their external support; additional measures to ensure the stability of territorial communities during the special period; measures needed in the current conditions for the economic recovery of Ukraine; reconstruction of liberated territories, elimination of the consequences of military actions and destruction of critical infrastructure facilities; measures to stimulate innovation in order to prevent and neutralize real and potential threats in conditions of martial law and post-war reconstruction; current threats to national security in the environmental sphere in a special period and proposals for ways to overcome them, etc.

One of the principal areas of the Academy’s scientific and expert activities is the scientific and methodological support of the law-making activities of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. In 2024, more than two hundred proposals, opinions and comments on draft Laws of Ukraine regulating activities in various spheres of public life were submitted to its committees.

The Law of Ukraine dated August 24, 2023 No. 3354-IХ “On Law-Making Activity” designated the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine as the main expert institution for conducting legal expertise of draft laws. In order to ensure the implementation of the tasks specified by this law, the Scientific and Coordination Council on Law-Making Activity under the Presidium of the NAS of Ukraine was established.

The NAS of Ukraine regularly evaluates the topics of fundamental research of the national scientific institutions; this work is carried out at the expense of the state budget of Ukraine. During 2024, 254 scientific research topics submitted by four main administrators of budget funds were reviewed, for each of them an appropriate expert opinion was provided regarding the expediency of its financing from the state budget.

International scientific cooperation is carried out within the framework of 130 ongoing agreements concluded by the NAS of Ukraine with academies, state institutions, scientific organizations and education institutions of 50 countries of Europe, America, Asia, and Africa. In total, over 130 institutions of the Academy participate in the implementation of various forms of international cooperation. 

The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and its institutions represent our country and the national scientific community in about 30 international scientific unions, councils, associations, scientific unions and centers. All European Academies (ALLEA, European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities), Committee of Space Research (COSPAR), European Welding Federation (EWF), European Plant Science Organization (EPSO), Conference of European National Libraries (CENL), etc., are among them. Special scientific teams work in each of the mentioned areas.

Scientists of the NAS of Ukraine are active participants in international programs supported by foreign and international foundations and organizations, in particular, the European Commission, NATO, UNESCO, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Civilian Research & Development Foundation (CRDF), Simons Foundation (USA), etc. Over 200 research, coordination projects and programs that support scientific exchange, are implemented annually based on the grants of these organizations and bilateral projects of intergovernmental programs gained on a competitive basis.

In accordance with the Association Agreement with the EU, relations with the EU scientific centers and the organizations of the European Commission are expanding, in particular, the NAS institutions participate in the EU framework programs for research and innovation, EURATOM, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC Association), European Grid Infrastructure (EGI Foundation), the Astroparticle Physics European Consortium (APPEC). The NAS maintains the ongoing interaction with the Joint Research Center of the European Commission (JRC), Swedish EISCAT AB (former EISCAT Scientific Association), the European Regional Center of the Global Earth Observation Network EuroGEO, etc.

Within the framework of the bilateral Agreement on Scientific Cooperation between the NAS of Ukraine and the Polish Academy of Sciences, competitions for joint Ukrainian-Polish projects with the provision of exchange of scientists are regularly held, and young scientists – employees of NAS institutions undergo a month-long internship at scientific institutions and universities in Poland; Prizes of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Polish Academy of Sciences are awarded for important scientific results obtained during joint research by scientists of the two countries.

Ukrainian-German cooperation in the field of science and research has become an important step of the NAS of Ukraine for integration into the European Research Area, in particular, cooperation with the German Electron Synchrotron (DESY) Research Center for Fundamental Sciences on the implementation of joint projects, holding a school for young researchers DESY-Ukraine, organizing a project competition under the EURIZON project, foundation of the Center for Advanced Research of Quantum Materials (GU-QuMat) on the basis of Kyiv Academic University, with the support of the German Federal Ministry for Research.

 A component of the international cooperation of the NAS of Ukraine is the foreign economic activity on producing materials, equipment, and developing software products on order of foreign companies and scientific organizations. Over 20 scientific institutions of the Academy carry out this activity under almost 90 contracts.