The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine is an independent higher scientific organization. It determines its own research themes and forms of their organization and realization, its structure and organization, as well as its international scientific connections. The Academy conducts basic and applied scientific research on the most important problems of natural, technical, social and human sciences.

The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine has three sections: physical, engineering and mathematical sciences, chemical and biological sciences, social sciences and humanities. They are further divided into fourteen scientific departments:

• mathematics;
• informatics;
• mechanics;
• physics and astronomy;
• geosciences;
• physical and technical problems of materials science;
• physical and technical problems of power engineering;
• nuclear physics and power engineering;
• chemistry;
• biochemistry, physiology and molecular biology;
• general biology;
• economics;
• history, philosophy and law;
• literature, language and art criticism.

The Academy has regional scientific centers of cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine:

• Donetsk Scientific Center (Pokrovsk);
• Western Scientific Center (Lviv);
• Southern Scientific Center (Odessa);
• North-East Scientific Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (Kharkiv);
• Pridnieprovsk Research Center (Dnieper).

The statutory activity of the Crimean Scientific Centre and its financing from the budget of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine was suspended in 2014.

The main structural components of the Academy are research and other scientific institutions (observatories, botanical gardens, arboretums, nature reserves, libraries, museums, etc.). The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine also includes research and production enterprises (research companies, design and technology organizations, computer centers). A total of 160 research organizations and 38 research and production enterprises are currently operating within the Academy.

The Academy cooperates with higher education institutions. Nearly 200 joint research projects have been developed. The network of scientific-educational structures associated with educational institutions (more than 280 complexes, centers, laboratories, branches of chairs, etc.) allows to make wide use of the potential of the Academy for training highly qualified specialists. More than 1,200 scientists of the Academy provide courses and lectures in various scientific fields.

In 2019, the scientific institutions of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine implemented 550 new developments, including advanced technologies, in various fields of Ukrainian economy. The Academy’s institutions filed 640 applications, received 500 patents for the inventions and utility models, and signed 56 licensing agreements in Ukraine and abroad.

The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine conducts independent scientific evaluation of draft strategic documents, forecasts and programs, and makes proposals for the state science and technology policy. It provides forecasts, information and analytical documents, as well as recommendations on the socio-political, socio-economic, scientific and technological state, innovation and human development. It conducts scientific expertise of bills, decisions and government programs. The Academy regularly conducts an evaluation of the basic research themes of the country’s scientific institutions.

International scientific cooperation is carried out within the framework of 138 legal agreements signed by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine with academies, state organizations, scientific organizations and educational institutions of more than 50 countries. In total more than 130 educational institutions of the Academy participate in various forms of international cooperation. The institutions of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences represent the national scientific community in more than 40 international organizations.

In accordance with the EU Charter of Association, ties are strengthened with EU research centers and European Commission organizations, in particular, through participation in the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, EURATOM, Erazmus+ and transboard programmes for Danube Region and Black Sea Region. The permanent interaction with the Joint Research Center of the European Commission continues within the Research Framework Arrangement.