KHARKIV NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS

Their core work

Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs (KhNUIA) is a Ukrainian public institution that trains law enforcement professionals and conducts applied research in policing, internal security, and public safety. In their EU project work they function as practitioner-side partners, contributing real-world law enforcement knowledge and access to security services networks rather than laboratory research. Both their H2020 engagements are Coordination and Support Actions, meaning their value is in connecting academia with practicing security institutions and sharing operational experience. Their participation reflects a university embedded in the security services sector, with direct ties to Ukrainian police and law enforcement communities.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both projects began in 2021, so this organisation has no meaningful pre-2021 H2020 track record to compare against — their EU engagement essentially started from a standing position. Within the pair, the first project (EQUALS-EU) approached change through a social-innovation and gender-equality lens, while the second (NOTIONES) moved into security-intelligence networking with industry. This suggests a broadening from social reform topics toward operationally grounded security topics, though with only two data points the signal is weak and may simply reflect available calls rather than deliberate strategic direction.

Their trajectory points toward deeper engagement in security-practitioner and intelligence-community networking, leveraging their institutional position as a law enforcement university rather than competing on pure research output.

How they like to work

KhNUIA has never coordinated an H2020 project — both participations are as a consortium member in large Coordination and Support Actions. Despite only two projects, they have reached 49 distinct partners across 27 countries, which reflects the large, wide-membership networks typical of CSA projects rather than any deep bilateral relationships. Working with them means accessing their practitioner community and institutional credibility within Ukrainian and Eastern European security services, not a technically-driven research partner.

Across two projects KhNUIA has connected with 49 partners in 27 countries, a breadth driven by the multi-national structure of CSA consortia rather than by long-standing bilateral ties. Their network is European in spread but rooted in the security, law enforcement, and public administration communities.

What sets them apart

KhNUIA is one of the very few Ukrainian law enforcement universities active in H2020, which gives them an unusual combination of academic standing and direct institutional access to police and security services in Ukraine and the wider Eastern European region. For consortium builders in security research or public-sector reform projects, they offer a practitioner gateway that a standard technical university cannot. Their value is not in research infrastructure but in legitimacy, community access, and the applied perspective of an institution that trains the people who actually run security operations.

Highlights from their portfolio

• NOTIONES
  The longer-running and better-funded of the two projects (running to 2026), it directly matches KhNUIA's institutional identity by building a Europe-wide network between intelligence/security practitioners and industry — the kind of project where a law enforcement university's connections are a genuine asset.
• EQUALS-EU
  Demonstrates reach beyond the security domain into gender equality and digital-society research, showing the organisation can contribute to social-science and institutional-reform consortia, not only policing-focused ones.