More than 3,700 proposals have been submitted to the OPUS 30+LAP/Weave and SONATA 21 calls – almost 500 more than last year. This is the largest edition of these calls in NCN's history. First-stage results will be announced on 27 May and second-stage results on 11 June 2026.
Although 11 June is later than in previous years, this date will allow applicants shortlisted for the second stage but not awarded funding to submit proposals to the next calls – OPUS 31 and PRELUDIUM 25 – which remain open until 16 June.
Proposal numbers are rising, but our capacity is not
The roughly 15 per cent increase in the number of proposals submitted to the OPUS 30+LAP/Weave and SONATA 21 calls is part of a broader trend: researchers working in Poland are submitting more and more proposals to NCN. The MAESTRO 17 call, concluded in February, attracted 20 per cent more proposals than the previous edition, while SONATA BIS 15 attracted 15 per cent more. In the SONATINA 10 call, which closed in February, the year-on-year increase was almost 34 per cent. We also expect more submissions to the MINIATURA 10 call, which remains open until the end of July.
The increase in proposal numbers is good news: it reflects the ambition of the research community and shows that researchers have ideas they want to pursue.
It also poses an enormous organisational challenge for NCN. Despite our repeated appeals, there has been no significant change either in funding for the institution's operations or in the limits on the number of staff NCN may employ. The increased number of proposals is being handled by the same number of staff who were responsible for the process several years ago.
The scale of the workload can be seen in the number of tasks facing discipline coordinators and staff at the NCN Proposal Processing Department.
During the eligibility check, each proposal must, among other things, be examined for any conflicts of interest, that is, any links between its author, the persons named in the proposal and foreign collaborators on the one hand, and the experts who will evaluate it on the other. We also check how many proposals the principal investigator has submitted, how many projects they are running at the same time, and whether any waiting period applies after an earlier rejection. We check whether the university or other institution named as the project host meets the requirements set out in the call conditions. We also examine the length of the project description, the accuracy of the budget, the list of publications and the completeness of all mandatory tabs. In LAP/Weave calls, we additionally forward the results of the merit-based evaluation to the partner institutions.
At the merit-based evaluation stage, a larger number of projects means, among other things, that more reviews must be verified before Expert Team meetings, more experts must be trained, and a wider group of external reviewers must be invited to review proposals shortlisted for the second stage.
The rising number of proposals also affects the length of Expert Team meetings, which now frequently last three days. Since evaluation is carried out across 26 NCN review panels, this considerably lengthens the overall process.
After each stage, we must also verify a much larger number of statements of reasons for decisions.
Evaluation in line with our standards
We know how important the results announcement date is for planning further research and academic careers. At the same time, our priority remains a reliable and rigorous evaluation process, which underpins the research community's trust in NCN. This is why the results of this year's edition of these calls will be announced a few weeks later than usual: this is the time required to conduct the process fully in accordance with our standards.
Resubmitting a proposal to subsequent NCN calls
The OPUS 30+LAP/Weave and SONATA 21 results will be announced shortly before the OPUS 31 and PRELUDIUM 25 calls close. We remind applicants who do not receive funding under OPUS 30+LAP/Weave and SONATA 21 and wish to apply again in subsequent calls that, where the research tasks overlap with those in a previous proposal, a new proposal may be submitted only once the NCN Director's decision refusing funding has become final. This occurs once the 14-day appeal period has expired.
In order to submit a new proposal in time for the calls open until 16 June, an applicant must waive the right to appeal before that deadline expires. Once such a declaration has been delivered to NCN, the decision becomes final, making it possible to resubmit the proposal in the new calls.
Applicants should submit the declaration to NCN in writing to the following address: ul. Twardowskiego 16, 30-312 Kraków, or electronically (signed with an advanced or qualified electronic signature in PAdES format) to the ESP: /ncn/SkrytkaESP or to the electronic delivery address: AE:PL-30168-16398-EHSIE-12.
Should you have any questions about waiving the right to appeal, please contact the officer responsible for your proposal, as indicated in the OSF system.