Spring launch of NCN calls

The NCN has launched an OPUS 25 call for research projects and PRELUDIUM 22 call for researchers who are not PhD holders. The budget of both calls amounts to 330 million PLN. The call for proposals is open until 15 June 2023. 

OPUS 25 is the flagship call in NCN’s call portfolio. Grants may be requested under the call to cover basic research projects, including projects carried out by the Polish research teams with the use of large international research equipment, with or without foreign collaboration.

The call is addressed at researchers at any stage of their research career, regardless of their age or experience. However, principal investigators are required to have at least one paper published or accepted for publication or at least one artistic achievement or achievement in research in art. 

OPUS projects may be carried out over a period of 12, 24, 36 or 48 months. The project budget may include funds for remuneration of the principal investigator and co-investors in the project, purchase of research equipment, devices and software, purchase of materials and small equipment, outsourced services, business trips, visits and consultations, compensation for collective investigators and other costs crucial to the project. OPUS grants have no cap of funding, however the budget must comply with the Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre as regards research projects.

The spring edition of the OPUS call does not include the LAP procedure. Researchers who are intending to carry out their projects in collaboration with partners from foreign research institutions applying for parallel funding for that purpose under the programmes organised together with the NCN pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure, may submit their proposals to the next, autumn edition of the OPUS call.

PRELUDIUM 22 is addressed at researchers who are not PhD holders. The winning applicants may be awarded up to 70,000 PLN, 140,000 PLN or 210,000 PLN for research projects carried out over a period of 12, 24 or 36 months. The research team must not include more than three members, including the principal investigator and mentor. The call budget may include various costs crucial to the project, including remuneration of up to 1,500 PLN per month for the principal investigator and co-investigator (if any). The mentor must be the beneficiary of grant funding.

Call procedure and results

Both calls are open to proposals submitted by entities specified in the NCN Act, including universities, research institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences, other research institutes, scientific and industrial centres, research centres of the Polish Academy of Sciences, scientific libraries, companies or legal entities with their registered office in Poland. NCN proposals may also be submitted by individuals who are not employed by any entity.

The call is open until 15 June 2023, 4 p.m. and proposals must be submitted electronically via the OSF submission system.  

Evaluation of proposals submitted to the National Science Centre includes an eligibility check and merit-based evaluation. In the course of eligibility check, proposals are reviewed for compliance with the terms of the call by the NCN coordinators. Merit-based evaluation is performed by the Expert Team in two stages. In the evaluation of proposals, experts working in the teams and external reviewers focus on the following criteria: compliance with the basic research criteria, quality and innovative nature of the research or tasks to be performed, impact of the research project on the advancement of the scientific discipline; relevance and other criteria laid down in the call documents. Proposals are evaluated within the review panels (i.e., HS1, NZ1, ST1).

The call results will be published when the evaluation procedure is completed, in December 2023 at the latest.