Since the full-scale invasion, the Defence Forces of Ukraine have been formed largely through the voluntary enlistment and mobilisation of all social groups and professions, including scholars, media and cultural workers, many of whom entered service in 2022–2026 without a prior military career. They carry into the army professional skills in observation, analysis, storytelling, visual art and public communication which should be employed in documenting Ukraine’s wartime experiences.

Servicemembers see things continuously that civilian journalists, foreign correspondents and official press services see only episodically or not at all: not only the experience of combat but also the transformation from civilian to soldier, relationships within a unit, the day-to-day texture of military life, and the regional, linguistic and class diversity within the army. Without a mechanism for their participation, that testimony is either lost or filtered entirely through external observers.

INDEX’s pioneering Fellowship for Active Servicemembers is designed to close this gap. 

This Fellowship rests on the success of INDEX’s residential Veteran Programme: from one pilot Veteran fellow in 2025 to four participants in the first full 2026 cycle, whose exhibitions, a theatre-writing course, and books all grew out of three-month residencies. The 2026 open call also revealed a distinct, unmet demand: servicemembers who are documenting the war but cannot leave active duty to do so. 

The pilot will run for a two-month period from November to December 2026 and offer two non-residential stipends for individual documentation projects to creative practitioners, journalists, scholars in the humanities and social sciences who are currently serving in the Defence Forces of Ukraine. 

Following an open call for applications, the selection committee will choose two stipend recipients, with one place reserved for a woman and one for a man. 

As part of the programme, they will receive:

• a monthly stipend of 1300 Euro per two months (equivalent in UAH);

• recuperation for fellows (sport / therapy) with recommended providers;

• support toward presentations, publications, exhibitions and other public outputs arising from the fellows' work;

• expert consultations, remote mentorship tailored to each fellow's specific project;

• media collaborations, to carry the fellows' work to wider audiences.

Expected outcomes of the programme:

• a draft of a new documentary work focusing on the experiences of Russia’s war against Ukraine (for example, a book chapter manuscript, article, essay, exhibition, visual arts, photographs, libretto, set of poems, screenplay, etc.);

• an essay or column for the INDEX journal ‘Narysy’, reflecting on their experience of participating in the programme.

Who can apply?

• Media professionals (for example, journalists, photographers), creative practitioners (for example, artists, writers, poets, film makers) and scholars in the humanities and the social sciences currently employed in the Defence Forces of Ukraine

Selection committee

• Sasha Dovzhyk, head of INDEX

• Yevhen Shybalov, writer and INDEX’s Veteran Programme Fellow 2025

• Yurii Vovkogon, cultural manager, installation artist, writer, veteran and project manager at YMCA Lviv

• Daria Kuznetsova, programme manager at IM Sweden Ukraine

• Mariia Shynkarenko, INDEX Board Member, Assistant professor and principal investigator at the Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences 

How to apply

Submit a motivation letter, one-page project proposal and CV

Timeline

• 12 October: deadline for applications

• 16 October: selected participants will be contacted by the Veteran and Military programme curator to confirm their availability and present the document confirming their military service. Winners must make their decision by the end of the day on 17 October; if this does not happen, the fellowship passes to the next-ranked candidate on 18 October.

• 1 November 2026 - 31 December 2026: the duration of the fellowship. 

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Note that INDEX does not require participants to disclose classified information or any sensitive data that could pose a security risk to them. Participants are solely responsible for coordinating/clearing their participation with their command, if this is required. Participation in all the programme activities can be done remotely and does not exempt one from the military service.

If you have any further questions, please contact us at: veterans@index-ukraine.org  

The programme is implemented with the support of IM Swedish Development Partner.