We know the first results of the OPUS 22 + LAP/WEAVE call for proposals under which researchers at any stage of their research career could apply for funding of bilateral research projects carried out in international collaboration under the WEAVE Programme.
Research projects carried out jointly with jointly by the Polish and Slovenian research teams were evaluated pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure (LAP). The NCN acted as the lead agency which means that submitted proposals were evaluated together with domestic proposals under the OPUS call and they were recommended for funding on this basis. The Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) approved the results of evaluation of OPUS LAP proposals performed by the National Science Centre and carried out in bilateral collaboration.
8 Polish and Slovenian research projects for a total of nearly 13 million PLN were recommended for funding: three projects in Life Sciences, four in Physical Sciences and Engineering and one in Arts and Humanities. Research tasks carried out by the Polish research teams will be funded by the National Science Centre, while the ARRS will fund the tasks carried out by the Slovenian research teams.
OPUS 22 + LAP/WEAVE Ranking Lists
In the second round of the OPUS call for proposals concluded on 23 May 2022, the NCN received 1,866 proposals for a total of nearly 2.3 billion PLN. Funding was awarded to 358 domestic proposals carried out by Polish and Slovenian research teams with a total value of nearly 513 million PLN. The winning proposals will soon include the OPUS LAP proposals that are now approved by the partner agencies from Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Switzerland. The OPUS 22 + LAP ranking lists will be successively completed. The OPUS LAP call timeline:
- call with the participation of foreign research teams from Austria, the Czech Republic and Switzerland: by the end of July 2022,
- call with the participation of research teams from Germany: by the end of October 2022.
Lead Agency Procedure
The Lead Agency Procedure (LAP) is a new proposal review standard adopted by European research-funding agencies, designed to make it easier for international research teams to seek funding for joint research projects, as well as to streamline the process of proposal review by research-funding agencies. Projects that involve research teams from different countries are reviewed only at one institution, known as the lead agency, relevant to one of the teams participating in the call, under a scheme from its regular call portfolio. The results of merit-based evaluation performed by the lead agency are approved by all the other institutions, which then award funding to research projects recommended for funding in the course of such evaluation.
Including LAP in the OPUS 22 call enabled Polish researchers to apply for:
- research projects carried out in cooperation pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure (“LAP cooperation”) under the Weave programme, i.e. in cooperation with foreign research teams from Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Germany or Switzerland that apply for funding to their respective research-funding institutions under the Weave programme, i.e. FWF, GAČR, ARRS, DFG or SNSF;
- research projects within the framework of LAP cooperation under the Weave programme, with the participation of foreign partners that do not apply for funding for that purpose under the Weave programme or with the additional use of large international research equipment.