“My main task for the nearest future is to make sure that the NCN budget is increased significantly, by approx. PLN 300 million”, says Prof. Krzysztof Jóźwiak speaking to “Forum Akademickie”. An interview with the NCN Director was published on 20 November.
We have been talking about NCN’s extremely low budget for many months. Funding awarded to the NCN in no way meets the needs of the Polish scientific community. Less and less applicants receive funding for their research. The calls concluded in the nearest future will have a single digit success rate.
Prof. Krzysztof Jóźwiak has been the NCN Director since 30 October. He had to wait eight months for his official appointment. In hist first interview in the new capacity, he talks about, inter alia, the significance of grants for research, indirect costs and NCN’s low budget consequences for research and the entire country.
“If [our] budget for 2024 is not increased, we might need to end some schemes or continue to decrease funding for the OPUS call which would be to the great detriment of Polish science. I will also argue that NCN’s grant-in-aid must be increased on a regular basis to allow the NCN to plan its statutory operations in the long run and to ensure sufficient funds for research to the scientific community.
Prof. Jóźwiak underlines that researchers working in Poland are involved in more and more ambitious projects, their competencies are higher and higher and Polish science is in a completely different place than it was over ten years ago, when the National Science Centre was established.
“In the past, it was widely believed that research ideas must be adjusted to financial capabilities. For over 10 years of NCN’s operation researchers have learnt to pursue more extensive and ambitious research, develop bigger projects based on external funds awarded in the calls for proposals. They are not afraid to compete for such funds, presenting bold projects and using more and more interesting techniques, in wide international collaboration which is so important for research. At the NCN, we respond to the needs and ambitions of Polish science (…). We believe it to be our great success although it is not supported by an increased funding.
Prof. Krzysztof Jóźwiak talked to Piotr Kieraciński. The whole text is available on the website of “Forum Akademickie.”