Polish-Austrian research projects were evaluated through a Lead Agency Procedure (LAP), with the National Science Centre as the lead agency; the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) then approved the results of NCN’s peer review. Polish teams will be funded by the NCN, while their Austrian partners will get grants from the FWF.
The new winner is dr inż. Agnieszka Tomala from the Kraków University of Technology, who teamed up with prof. Carsten Gachot from the Vienna University of Technology to conduct a project entitled “Next Generation Bioactive Laser Textured Ti/Hap/Mxene Biomaterials". Their research responds to the challenges of an aging society and the increased need for orthopedic implants. Today, implants are designed for maximum longevity, but they are still far from perfect. Regular loading and friction cause wear and tear, generating wear particles that may cause inflammation, and, as a result, damage the entire implant, necessitating its surgical removal or revision. The research project aims at developing a new, innovative composite biomaterial that would significantly improve the biocompatibility and longevity of surgical implants, reducing the necessity for surgical removal or revision. The NCN awarded more than 1.7 million zlotys to the Polish part of the project.
OPUS 24+LAP/Weave ranking lists
OPUS 24+LAP ranking list for FWF (Austria) in .pdf
Lead Agency Procedure – LAP
In the latest OPUS 24+LAP/Weave call, which concluded in May, the NCN received 1921 proposals with a total budget of nearly 2.7 billion zlotys. Researchers could request funding for projects conducted without international partners, as well as bi- or trilateral LAP projects involving foreign cooperation or access to large international research equipment. The call was open to researchers at all career levels.
LAP is a new proposal evaluation standard adopted by European research-funding institutions, designed to facilitate the funding application process for international research teams and streamline proposal review.
OPUS LAP projects were reviewed at the same time and by the same expert teams as other OPUS proposals, but also underwent an additional evaluation that looked at the research record and the previous projects of the principal investigators in foreign partner teams. Experts also made sure that the contribution of all teams to the project is balanced and complementary.
Decisions and their delivery
The decision for OPUS LAP proposal qualified for funding under OPUS 24 in bilateral cooperation with the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) has already been sent out. Please remember that the decisions of the NCN Director are delivered to the applicant electronically, to the e-mail address indicated in the proposal.
Learn more about how decisions are delivered