Vidnova Lab is a fellowship program for experienced civil society professionals—Ukrainians living both in Ukraine and abroad. Vidnova Lab focuses on finding effective solutions for the immediate and long-term recovery of the country, emphasizing the resilience of individuals and their professional environments. We view resource support, including fellowships and project funding, as essential.
The program places people at its core, supporting their role in the recovery and development of the country amidst constant change.
When Vidnova Lab was first launched, the devastating impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion was already evident. Yet, there remained hope for scenarios in which Ukraine’s recovery could be free from military action.
Now, nearly four years into the war, as this call for applications opens, it is clear that recovery efforts must coexist with the ongoing destruction of war. This requires adapting to an ever-changing landscape, balancing immediate challenges with the need to rebuild, and maintaining the strength to sustain communities and networks. The unpredictability of the conflict and prolonged aggression make recovery an adaptive, nonlinear process. Resilience is no longer a temporary strategy—it has become the cornerstone of survival and recovery.
Demographic decline adds another layer of complexity, with many professionals relocating abroad, serving in the military, or being lost to the battlefield. Ensuring both individual and collective resilience within civil society means creating conditions for people to return, retaining talent, and fostering connections.
We are looking for representatives of civil society organizations, independent Ukrainian experts, researchers from think tanks, and other experienced practitioners living in Ukraine or abroad, who have a wide network of contacts in their field and:
While the program includes elements of personal resilience support, it is not a mental health support program. Designed with an understanding of overall war fatigue, the program offers sufficient flexibility to accommodate individual pacing and needs. Nevertheless, participation requires time, cognitive, and emotional resources, particularly for networking and knowledge exchange activities.
Participants who have already received a fellowship within various Vidnova programs, namely Vidnova Fellowship EU, Vidnova Fellowship UA, and Vidnova Lab, are not eligible to apply for the Vidnova Lab program. The program aims to provide opportunities to individuals who have not yet received this type of support.
A €500 monthly fellowship from April to October 2025 to support:
“All models are wrong, but some are useful.” – George Box
Vidnova Lab offers hands-on practice and introduces theories and models of a systemic approach to addressing complex and interconnected challenges. This approach helps avoid fragmented efforts, find synergies among various initiatives and networks, and set priorities amidst resource scarcity.
Key focus areas of the training program:
Three interdisciplinary gatherings in Ukraine provide:
Budget of €4,000 to implement a project or conduct applied research to strengthen the strategic and systemic impact on your field or deepen its understanding.
The budget may be used for:
You may join the program with a fully formed project idea or develop one based on methodologies introduced during the first networking meeting.
January 30, 2025
February 17, 2025
February 28, 2025
March 22–25, 2025 (Lviv, Ukraine)
June 30–July 3, 2025 (Carpathians, Ukraine)
September 22–28, 2025 or
October 20–November 1, 2025 (TBD)
April–October 2025
April-September 2025
For any questions or additional information, please contact us at: vidnova@mitost.org
Our community of over 200 alumni aims to be a safe, inclusive, and competence-driven space where individuals can connect, share experiences, resources, and expertise, collaborate, and collectively work towards recovery and growth.
As an alumni of Vidnova Lab, you’ll join the growing Vidnova Community, which provides long-term opportunities for collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and support.
“Cultural infrastructure can help provide a human dimension to the recovery of Ukraine, celebrate local assets and identities of hromadas (communities), and promote inclusion and (re)integration. Culture is one of the drivers of local development, and a means to strengthen human capital and innovation mindset in communities.”
“Education is an important base and a starting point for recovery. It shall be different and various, engaging and accessible to everyone. At the same time, education can be used as an instrument to engage communities, for example, through community-based learning.”
“In a country scarred by war, therapeutic horticulture plants seeds of recovery, nurturing both the land and our spirits, proving that even in devastation, we can grow resilience and find healing by connecting with nature.”
“The war has deepened existing inequalities and has created new ones. Therefore, collective effort is needed to meet the needs of vulnerable population groups. In this regard, providing a long-term, secure, and affordable housing infrastructure, whether by enabling the defense of renters rights or establishing a functional social housing fund, is of crucial importance for the just recovery of Ukraine.”
“We must take into account the context of climate change adaptation and mitigation in the process of Ukraine's development and reconstruction processes.”
“Revival is already going wrong – for example, mistakes are made when municipalities plant trees without consulting the public. It happens that additional money is poured in without ensuring a better quality. There is a challenge to creating conditions to overcome the siloed perception of community reconstruction and consider the interplay in context, or recovery simply will be ineffective.”
