Oksana Zamora: How To Build a Professional Growth Path Using Grants

For many professions in today’s rapidly changing world, continuous professional development has become not only a necessary condition for success, but also a challenge. It is sometimes too expensive, time-consuming and not always available under the given circumstances. For Ukrainians who were displaced to the other part of the country or were forced to emigrate due to the invasion of russia, it has become an urgent challenge to immediately find and change a place of work. However, those who have invested enough time and effort in building their expertise and relevant professional baggage have found it much easier. This also applies to knowledge of English or another language, foreign professional connections, understanding of a foreign system and opportunities to earn within it, having the appropriate qualifications.

In most cases, when we are looking for opportunities for professional growth, it is the first “easy” way that comes to the attention – individual grants provided to cover various expenses. There are several ways to get an individual grant and, accordingly, foreign experience and a certificate:

1. to take part in the training (keywords for searching in the browser: “grant for training”).
2. to receive a scholarship grant for studies (bachelor’s or master’s degree, postgraduate studies (PhD studies), post-doc) or teaching (grant for visiting, teaching).
3. to receive a grant for conducting scientific research (fellowship/grant for researchers), which can be with physical transfer to the host country (hosting country) or without (residential and non-residential).
4. to receive a grant for an internship (internship or, less often, a traineeship (if we are talking about the opportunity to work or acquire practical skills with prospects for further employment)).
5. training opportunities in a company or institution of international or national level.

Let’s consider several available grants for Ukrainians already in 2022, as an example of what you can search for in a search engine. Some grant programs have been suspended, some have been reformatted, but there are currently even more of them, as many countries and institutions want to support Ukrainians.

So, even before the war in Ukraine, House of Europe grants for professional growth were launched on a test basis, which finance project ideas that people would like to implement for the sake of personal growth, image or gaining experience. The main goal of the projects is to promote the emergence of agents of change and social shifts. The projects were to be implemented through the launch of media, networking, attending events or paid competitions and trainings, but necessarily with the involvement of European experts. They were aimed at specialists in culture and the creative sector, education, medicine, social entrepreneurship, media and youth work.

Other opportunities to receive a grant can be developed based on an employing\training organization (university, school, company, public organization), for example, if you take grants within the Erasmus+ program of the KA1 direction for individual mobility or if you apply independently. Here you can consider yourself as a youth activist or leader, youth worker, entrepreneur, start-up, student/graduate student/teacher/scientist, administrative worker (manager/librarian/project manager). For each such role, you can find a suitable call for participants (for example, Erasmus+ grants for young entrepreneurs, grants for art residencies (Ukrainian Emergency Performing Arts Fund, Kyiv Biennale, European Cultural Foundation, Artists at Risk, IZOLYATSIA), for the translation of literature (Borderland Foundation), documenting the war (Institute for Human Sciences, Docudays UA), grants for internships at the European Parliament or the Bundesbank, etc.).

Many grants are being currently provided to the sector of civic organizations and activists, for example, we recommend paying attention to such programs as the USAID “Dream and Act” program aimed at the development and support of youth in Ukraine, similar to it “Active Citizens” of the British Council. Many initiatives are aimed at improving the professional skills of Ukrainian citizens, where young people or women can act as separate groups (for example, scholarships for women from the Green Forest school to study English, the same, but for everyone – from Trinity College London, Emeritus for Ukraine Scholarship Fund or free online courses from Genius to acquire professional skills). Many universities and organizations in the EU, USA, and other countries of the world provide scholarships or preparatory courses, or have eased the admission requirements, or have opened free online access to their platforms for Ukrainians. Among many, these are: Harriman Institute, GFPS, RRM, University of Tartu, Vilnius Academy of Arts, Ukrainian Global Faculty, Academies of Arts in many countries, Sorbonne University, Ukrainian Global University project, etc.

A separate type of grants is those available to IDPs in Ukraine during the war, as well as to their businesses. Such grants are called emergency grants and are easier to obtain, quickly issued and, accordingly, such projects must be quickly implemented and have a more technical nature (for example, it can be humanitarian purchases, consultations, relocation and accommodation). The amounts are usually relatively small (for example, the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Facility to help families or EU4Business to help affected businesses).

The share of the support of the EU has been the most significant and sustainable throughout the war time.

Practical recommendations for the grant seekers:

1) Determine your priority personal and career needs before looking for a grant, put them in a table: geographical boundaries, area of interest, industries, what exactly you want to learn, where you can learn it.

2) Develop or update your resume, include relevant achievements with a focus on results. If you are targeting Canadian grants (such as MITACS), the resume form must be acceptable in Canada. If you are targeting grants in the EU, choose the Europass format, which is generally recognized in the European area.

3) As a backup, create and develop a profile on LinkedIn, since in Europe it is a work tool and also a platform for professional communication. Note that this social network has a very useful “Recommendations” option, which you can ask your colleagues, friends with whom you have worked. Having a digitized resume in this format is very convenient, especially if you’re asked for a resume when you don’t have the file handy.

Where to look for opportunities?

As for the other mentioned opportunities, they are openly posted by donors and internship organizers on the Internet. Such competitions may be announced by international foundations, universities, governments or embassies of countries, etc. (for example, the British Council in Ukraine, The International Visegrad Fund, the Lane Kirkland Scholarship Program, Fulbright Scholarships for conducting scientific research in US universities, DAAD programs, competition for young scientists of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, grants from the governments of a number of countries).

There is a number of free websites (Gurt, “European Space”, Osvita.ua, Mladinfo, Europe Internship, Internship Programs, Globalplacement, Unistudy, etc.) that accumulate information about the most relevant competitions, however, you should be careful about the following points: immediately check the deadline (you may come across a lot of outdated information), as well as the requirements for candidates, in particular, whether Ukrainian citizens are included in the list of eligible candidates.

You can also find information on free or paid webinars, seminars, trainings for scientists and teachers (for example, http://www.ceasc-bw.com/ru, http://www.osvitata.com/stazhuvannya-treningi-seminars/, http://gurt.org.ua/news/trainings/) on the topic of finding such opportunities for obtaining grants or scholarships, as well as writing scientific research projects. Such activities can be useful to you, as they can provide you with information not only about opportunities, but also important technical details, such as: writing a motivation letter, the concept of scientific research, the peculiarities of preparing a package of documents or passing an interview.

Start looking for a potential donor, host or scholarship at least six months before the desired trip, as that is all it will take to prepare a package of documents and resolve issues with the employer.

Author: PhD, Associate Professor of the Department of International Economic Relations of Sumy State University Oksana Zamora.

The publication was prepared within the framework of the Jean Monet module “EU Experience for Increasing The Level Of Youth Employment Through The Development Of Professional Skills”, financed by the Erasmus+ program (ERASMUS – JMO -2021-MODULE -SKILLS4JOB-101047867).