“We could invite editors of top journals and ERC panel members to get to know us and see that we are doing good science. Western countries are using such strategies to strengthen their position, and we should do so too,” says Prof. Róża Szweda, a chemist specialising in polymers and winner of NCBR, NCN and ERC calls. In an interview with Anna Korzekwa-Józefowicz, she talked about her research, working conditions in Poland and the preparation for her ERC grant application.

Three research projects with Polish participation were awarded funding in a call launched by the JPND network. The National Science Centre allocated nearly 3.4 million zlotys for research projects on the mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease development.

Six Polish research teams will be funded under CHANSE: Crisis and Well-being calls, organized under the CHANSE programme in cooperation with the HERA and NORFACE networks. Polish researchers will study, inter alia, religious reactions to (geo)political crisis, women’s well-being in digital space and microsimulation models on well-being in various aspects of life.

Researchers from Łódź, Warsaw and Wrocław, in cooperation with foreign research teams, will perform their projects with Weave-UNISONO funding of nearly 2.9 million zlotys. They will study philosophical theory of the will, new therapeutic strategies for aggressive lymphomas and field emission electron sources.

Guests on the latest episode of the NCN podcast are Prof. Joanna Golińska-Pilarek, member of the NCN Council, and Prof. Wiktor Lewandowski one of the winners of this year’s award.

Wiktor Lewandowski, Marcin Magierowski and Błażej Skrzypulec received the 2024 NCN Award for their outstanding scientific achievements. The Award is given to researchers of the younger generation working in Polish scientific centres. The ceremony took place on 9 October in Kraków.

The POLITYKA Science Awards winners have called for an increase in the NCN 2025 budget by 300 000 000 zlotys and subsequent increase in its funding. ERC grant winners have earlier voiced their opinions, and a petition has been created to this end.

45 ERC grant holders have written a letter to the Polish Prime Minister and the Minister of Science to request an increase in our agency’s budget. A petition was also created; it can be signed by anyone who cares about the advancement of research in Poland.

132 new researchers will now be able to pursue single research activities thanks to over 5 million zlotys in funding awarded under the MINIATURA 8 call. Here comes the fifth ranking list for proposals submitted in June.