On 24th and 25th February, the director of the NCN, professor Andrzej Jajszczyk, was present at the Sixth High-level Workshop on the European Research Area (ERA). The workshop − jointly organised by Science Europe, the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and Research Councils UK (RCUK) − took place in Bath, the UK. Beside executives of European grant agencies, research institutions and associations, participants of the workshop included special guests: ministers and other high-ranking representatives of European governments, relevant for science, as well as the representatives of the European Commission. Polish authorities were represented by the Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, professor Jacek Guliński. Other notable guests of the workshop were: the president of the European Research Council, professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon; editor-in-chief of Nature, doctor Philip Campbell and the president of the European University Association, professor Helena Nazaré. Papers and discussions at the workshop covered three major problems: the role of national research and funding organisations in the European research area, the role and measurement of research impact and the reproducibility of research. In the first session, professor Andrzej Jajszczyk delivered a paper titled “The National Science Centre (NCN) in ERA,” in which he presented the structure of research funding in Poland and the efforts on the part of the NCN oriented toward deeper inclusion of Poland in international research cooperation.
