The Deputy Minister of Science, Dr hab. Maciej Gdula, attended the latest NCN Council meeting on 15 February 2024 to discuss the role and funding of the National Science Centre.
NCN Council meeting with the participation of Deputy Minister of Science Maciej Gdula
At the press conference in Warsaw, on 14 February, the Minister of Science, Dariusz Wieczorek, announced that the 2024 NCN budget will be increased by 200 million zlotys. The NCN funding was also discussed by the Deputy Minister of Science, Dr hab. Maciej Gdula, NCN Council members and representatives of the NCN’s Office at the meeting in Krakow, on 15 February 2024.
The scientific community has been urging for an increase in the grant-in aid for many months. Between 2018 and 2023, the NCN budget was practically frozen, and the state budget subsidy for NCN-funded research projects increased by merely 13 per cent. Therefore, the success rate of recently concluded research projects, i.e. percentage of grant recipients, has dropped below 10 per cent. With the announced increase in funding, the NCN will be able to fund many high-quality projects from waiting lists and increase the budget for new initiatives.
During the meeting with the NCN Council members, Dr hab. Maciej Gdula declared that together with the Minister of Science, they intended to confirm a steady increase in research funding, including an increase in the subsidy for the NCN. The participants also discussed the social function of science, NCN tasks and its role in the system of science and higher education, as well as other institutions within the system. They talked about, inter alia, the evaluation of proposals at the NCN, projects in Humanities and Social Sciences, and solutions developed by the NCN to support a grant culture at smaller research centres.
