We have announced the results of the 14th edition of our most popular calls, OPUS and PRELUDIUM. The researchers will receive a total of € 93 million to carry out their research projects.
OPUS and PRELUDIUM are the two flagship calls of the National Science Centre, and they continue to attract the greatest interest among all available funding opportunities. The expert panels of the 14th edition have awarded a total of € 92,208,782 to the submitted research projects. In all, 3122 applications were received for both calls, 669 of which were recommended for funding, setting the success rate at 21%
The OPUS call does not put any threshold requirements of research seniority or academic degree. As a result, the 14th edition welcomed as many as 1968 submissions, 394 of which qualified for funding. Their authors will jointly receive a total of more than € 81 million.
OPUS is our most important grant call and represents more than half of our total budget. It is targeted at young and experienced researchers alike. Statistics show that what really matters is not the academic title or degree, but research achievements and an interesting idea. We are glad that more and more resources today go toward funding doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships", said professor Zbigniew Błocki, Director of the National Science Centre, "PRELUDIUM, on the other hand, reaches out to pre-doctoral applicants, which on a global scale is exceptional. Thanks to their projects, young researchers have the chance to gain hands-on experience of the grant system at an earlier stage than anywhere else in the world.
PRELUDIUM 14 was specifically targeted at pre-doctoral applicants. This time, early stage researchers submitted 1154 applications, 275 of which will receive funding to the total amount of € 9.5 million.
PRELUDIUM 14 allowed applicants to declare higher indirect costs than in previous editions. Their maximum value was increased to 40% of direct costs, not including equipment. The maximum funding limit grew from € 14,000 to 16,000 for one-year projects, from € 28,000 to 32,000 for two-year projects, and from € 42,000 to 49,000 for three-year projects. Another novelty is that the funding will be transferred to the beneficiaries as a one-off payment, immediately upon signing of the grant agreement.
The ranking lists of all projects approved for funding under OPUS 14 and PRELUDIUM 14 are available on the official website of the National Science Centre.