The European Research Council (ERC) has invited European research funding organisations to cooperate in the programme Fellowship Schemes to Visit ERC Grantees, enabling them to participate in an international researcher exchange network with fellowship visits to research teams carrying out projects as ERC grantees in different European countries. The initiative is intended to strengthen the standing of prospective candidates for ERC grants, and offer them an opportunity to gain precious experience of the international research grant system.

As an outcome of cooperation between the National Science Centre and the European Research Council, a new programme, UWERTURA 1, will be launched to fund fellowships in international research teams carrying out ERC-financed projects. The new funding opportunity will be addressed to researchers holding a doctorate degree who plan to apply for ERC research grants. The programme’s aim is to help researchers from Polish institutions successfully apply for European resources, and to increase their share among laureates of ERC grants. Under the UWERTURA 1 scheme, the NCN will finance fellowships of 3 to 6 months in international research teams working on ERC-financed projects, with the reservation that the fellowship beneficiary has to apply for an ERC grant in the next 18 months after the fellowship’s conclusion. The research projects submitted by former fellows to the ERC should be carried out in a Polish research institution.

Alongside the NCN, other participants of the programme Fellowship Schemes to Visit ERC Grantees include research funding agencies from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary and Slovenia. The first edition of UWERTURA 1 will be announced on 15^th December, with a deadline for submitting proposals set for 15^th March 2017.

More information

We would like to inform all applicants interested in applying for the POLONEZ 3 that the OSF electronic submission system will be opened around the 17^th October.Please see also:

• POLONEZ 3 Guidelines for Applicants
• POLONEZ 3 Instructions on submitting the proposal
• POLONEZ 3 Partner Search Tool

For more information please see: www.ncn.gov.pl/en/polonez

The National Science Centre has opened the 12^th edition of its calls for proposals: OPUS, PRELUDIUM and SONATA, with an aggregate budget of ca € 79 M. Researchers will also have the additional opportunity of applying for grants under two international programmes: the second edition of the BEETHOVEN call for Polish-German projects, and the third edition of the POLONEZ funding opportunity for incoming researchers. Towards international cooperation the Centre has committed ca € 14.4 M.

POLONEZ 3 is a call for proposals that enables researchers from foreign institutions to come to Poland for a research stay of one to two years. Eligible applicants are researchers with a doctoral degree or at least 4 years of full-time research experience, who in the past 3 years have not worked or studied in Poland for more than 12 months. The call is financed under the Horizon 2020 EU Programme for Research and Innovation. The present edition has a budget of ca € 7.2 M.

The bilateral BEETHOVEN 2 call will see changes in comparison to its first edition. In that previous edition, Polish-German research teams carrying out projects in the domain of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences were eligible to apply. This time funding has been secured also for the representatives of selected disciplines within the domain of Physical Sciences and Engineering. The budget of this call, organised jointly with Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), totals ca € 7.2 M.

The first edition of this funding opportunity enjoyed considerable success and allowed for the financing of 17 Polish-German research teams. Now we want to broaden the programme’s scope as we also accept projects in Physical Sciences whilst nearly tripling the budget.  I hope that in the years to come BEETHOVEN will also include other research disciplines, said professor Zbigniew Błocki, director of the National Science Centre. Germany is Poland’s important economic partner, as well as a country of many excellent research centres. Creating conditions for an ever more intensive knowledge exchange with this country seems a natural direction for the development of international operations within the Centre.

In addition to the two international competitions, a call for proposals has been published under three Polish funding schemes, each of them being launched for the twelfth time.

OPUS is the most popular of the NCN funding schemes, addressed to a large group of participants. Applications are open to all researchers regardless of their years of research experience or degree held. The funding received can be directed toward building a research team and the purchase of research equipment. The total sum of funding has been set at nearly € 60 M.

Researchers who begin their academic career, before receiving their doctorate degree, can apply for funding under the PRELUDIUM call. For doctoral candidates, it offers the chance to carry out one's first independent research project. In the twelfth edition of PRELUDIUM, the Centre has adopted a budget of € 7.2 M

SONATA is also a funding opportunity addressed to researchers at the early stages of research activity, although somewhat more experienced. Under this scheme, submissions will be accepted from researchers with a doctorate degree held no longer than 7 years before applying for the grant, i.e. in the years 2009-2016. The pool of funding comes close to € 12 M.

Proposals should be submitted using the OSF electronic submission system (https://osf.opi.org.pl) by 15^th December 2016. The results of OPUS 12, SONATA 12, PRELUDIUM 12 and POLONEZ 3 will be announced by June 2017, while the publication of the results in BEETHOVEN 2 is expected in October 2017.

We are pleased to invite all researchers to submit proposals under Beethoven 2 call for Polish-German research projects in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences as well as selected fields of Physical Sciences. Proposals must be submitted by Polish-German research teams by the 15^th December 2016. Results will be published in October 2017.The call covers the following research disciplines:

The National Science Centre invites researchers to submit proposals under POLONEZ 3 funding opportunity addressed to incoming researchers who would like to carry out basic research in host institutions in Poland.

On September 13^th Science Europe released a short Statement ‘Funding Research in Horizon 2020: Europe’s Most Valuable Strategic Resource’, available here.

Science Europe expresses strong concern that the research funding budget be maximised in Horizon 2020 so that Europe can fully realise its target of becoming a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy. Funding for research and innovation in Europe is a critical strategic investment which is essential for Europe’s long-term growth and prosperity.

The National Science Centre as a member of Science Europe supports this call on European policy makers, civil society and citizens to safeguard European research funding, ensuring that it is not treated as a pot from which other initiatives are funded.

In a recently published “Nature Index 2016 Rising Stars” report, Poland has been listed first among the “rising stars of science.” This term is applied to countries whose position in the Nature Index tables has improved dramatically over the past four years.

In the years 2012-2015, Poland’s contribution to the “Nature” index has increased by 34 per cent. The magazine underscores that such a major leap was possible thanks to the creation of the National Science Centre in 2011, an agency which fosters basic research, and the reform of its applied-science counterpart, the National Centre for Research and Development;  both institutions have become pillars of the competitive-grant-based system of funding science. The magazine also mentions the considerable significance of EU funds for the advancement of science in Poland.

Among the 100 “rising stars” with the best quality of research (Top 100 institutions), two Polish universities have been listed: Jagiellonian University (placed 69^th) and the University of Warsaw (96^th). It should be noted that in the ranking of countries from Southern and Eastern Europe (Top 25 institutions/South East Europe), of the 25 research institutions listed as many as 8 are Polish, 3 of which are in the top ten. Jagiellonian University has been ranked first, the University of Warsaw third, and the National Centre for Nuclear Research tenth. Other institutions included in the ranking are the AGH University of Science and Technology, the University of Wrocław, Polish Academy of Sciences, Marie Curie-Skłodowska University and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.

We are pleased to announce that the European Commission (EC) has allocated EUR 11.5 million for QuantERA, a program aiming to support research in Quantum Technologies, coordinated by the National Science Centre. It is the largest grant awarded to Poland in the framework program Horizon 2020. The aim of QuantERA is to promote research in Quantum Technologies and create a common European strategy for the development of this field of science. Thanks to the EU co-funding, the NCN along with 31 institutions funding research in Europe will launch a call for international research projects in the field of Quantum Technologies. The call will be announced in the first half of 2017. Its budget will amount to almost EUR 35 million.

Quantum Technologies is a new, fast growing and highly interdisciplinary area of research. It relies on specifically quantum phenomena, such as entanglement, which have only recently been brought under full experimental control. The practical use of these phenomena may not only help us solve much faster important computational problems, but also ensure cryptographic data transmission, with safety guaranteed by the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics. Research in Quantum Technologies may also lead to the development of new generations of sensors with significantly higher sensitivity.

Contact:

Sylwia Kostka, tel. +48 12 341 9018

Anna Plater-Zyberk, tel. +48 12 341 9016

We are pleased to announce that 5 international projects involving researchers from Poland have been awarded funding in the Uses of the Past call for proposals launched by the NCN together with the HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area) network, supporting research in humanities. The theme Uses of the Past recognises that in order to understand the pressing societal questions of identity, integration, political legitimacy, creativity and cultural dynamics across Europe we need to understand how societies use and reflect upon the past.Announced in 2015, the call attracted 605 outline proposals from transnational consortia consisting of researchers from four or more participating countries. An international panel of experts selected 100 consortia to submit a full proposals. Funding of EUR 21 million, including co-funding from the European Commission, was granted to 18 international consortia.

Polish projects awarded within the call:

1. CRUSEV: Cruising the 1970s: Unearthing Pre-HIV/AIDS Queer Sexual Cultures

Polish Principal Investigator: dr hab. Tomasz Basiuk, University of Warsaw

Partners: dr Glyn Davis, University of Edinburgh, the UK (Project Leader); prof. Andreas Krass, Humboldt-University Berlin, Germany; prof. Juan Suarez, University of Murcia, Spain

2. EUROPACH: Disentangling European HIV/AIDS Policies: Activism, Citizenship and Health  

Polish Principal Investig:  dr Agata Dziuban, Uniwersytet Jagielloński 

prof. Beate Binder, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany (Project Leader); prof. Marsha Rosengarten, Goldsmiths, University of London, the UK; prof. Martin Lengwiler, University of Basel, Switzerland

3. HERILIGION:  T he heritagazation of religion and the sacralization of heritage in the contemporary Europe 

Polish Principal Investig: dr Anna Maria Niedźwiedź, Jagiellonian University

Partners: dr Oscar Salemink, University of Copenhagen, Denmark (Project Leader); dr Irene Stengs, Meertens Institute, the Netherlands; Maria Clara Saraiva, Faculdade de Ciencias Sociais e Humanas - Univesidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal; Ferdinand de Jong, University of East Anglia, the UK

4. MELA: Memory Laws in European and Comparative Perspectives

Polish Principal Investig: dr Aleksandra Gliszczyńska Grabias, Instytut Nauk Prawnych PAN

Partners: prof. Eric Heinze, Queen Mary University of London, the UK (Project Leader); dr Uladzislau Belavusau, Department of Transnational Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands; dr Emanuela Fronza, Universita di Trento, Italy

5. SoundMe: Sound memories: the musical Past in Late-Medieval and Early-Modern Europe

Polish Principal Investig: dr hab. Paweł Gancarczyk, Instytut Sztuki PAN

Partners: prof. Karl Kuegle, Utrecht University, the Netherlands (Project Leader); prof. Susan Rankin, University of Cambridge, the UK; dr Lenka Hlavkova, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic; prof. Inga Mai Groote, Ruprecht Karl University, Germany

More information: http://heranet.info/.

Astronomers from the Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory based long-term large-scale sky survey OGLE (Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment) announced the discovery of an extraordinary exploding star. Long-term observations of the classical nova V1213 Centauri from the years 2003–2016 provide a new insight into the evolution and mechanisms of these spectacular cosmic explosions. The paper that describes the discovery has been published in the prestigious science journal Nature.

– Classical nova eruptions are among the largest star explosions observed in the Universe. Within hours novae brighten by a factor of several thousand, becoming the brightest objects in the Milky Way – explains Przemek Mróz, the first author and a PhD student at the Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory.

Figure 1: Artist's portrayal of a classical nova explosion. Credit: Krzysztof Ulaczyk / Warsaw University Observatory

Classical novae are close binary systems consisting of a white dwarf star that is accreating matter from a low-mass companion star. The hydrogen-rich matter accumulates on the white dwarf surface and once its mass reaches a critical value, a thermonuclear runway is triggered, causing a large explosion – classical nova eruption. Astronomers believe that in each nova system, nova eruptions recur on timescales of thousands through millions of years, which makes it impossible to trace the system's behavior during that time.

One of the hypotheses, known as a hibernation scenario, predicts that several decades after the nova eruption the system should fall into state of low activity (known as a „hibernation”), when the mass transfer virtually stops. The hibernation hypothesis gained some support from the discovery of ancient nova shells around two systems with a low-mass transfer rate. However, direct evidence for considerable mass-transfer changes prior, during and after nova eruptions has not hitherto been found.

The authors of the Nature paper present long-term observations of a classical nova V1213 Centauri (Nova Centauri 2009), which exploded on 8th May 2009. The star is located in the Centaurus constellation at a distance of 23 thousand light years from the Earth. Astronomers analyzed the observations collected with a 1.3-m Warsaw Telescope located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.

Figure 2: Upper panels: Snapshots of a nova lifecycle. Lower panel: The Milky Way over the Warsaw Telescope dome. Credit: Jan Skowron, Krzysztof Ulaczyk / Warsaw University Observatory

– Our observations are in accord with predictions of the hibernation scenario. This is the first case that the evolution of a classical nova can be investigated so precisely – says Przemek Mróz.

Prior to the 2009 eruption, the system showed dwarf nova outbursts (small, periodic brightenings), implying a low and unstable mass-transfer between the two stars. Currently, the system is significantly brighter than before the explosion, suggesting that the mass-transfer rate increased as result of the nova explosion. This is in accord with key predictions of the hibernation hypothesis.

What will be the fate of V1213 Centauri? During the next decades the mass-transfer rate should gradually decrease and the star will be gradually fading. The star will again transform into a dwarf nova and possibly fall into hibernation for thousands of years, until it will awake again and explode as a classical nova. V1213 Centauri with its well known pre- and post-eruption behavior can become a Rosetta stone for nova evolution studies. Its extensive follow-up observations in the next decades will enable further tests of the long-term nova evolution.

– Our discovery is another case, when long-term OGLE observations are crucial for studies of unique, extremely rare phenomena – says Professor Andrzej Udalski, the Warsaw University Observatory Director and a PI of the OGLE team. – A few years ago we observed a process of merging of two stars, which led to another stellar explosion, known as a red nova – adds Udalski.

One of the first goals of the OGLE survey was discovering dark matter using the gravitational microlensing technique. Currently, their studies cover a large range of topics – searches for extrasolar planets, studies of the structure and evolution of the Milky Way and neighboring galaxies, variable stars, quasars, transients.

The paper that describes the discovery has been published in Nature: „The awakening of a classical nova from hibernation”, Przemek Mróz, Andrzej Udalski, Paweł Pietrukowicz, Michał K. Szymański, Igor Soszyński, Łukasz Wyrzykowski, Radosław Poleski, Szymon Kozłowski, Jan Skowron, Krzysztof Ulaczyk, Dorota Skowron & Michał Pawlak, 2016, Nature (doi:10.1038/nature19066).

The lead author is supported by the „Diamond Grant” funded by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

The OGLE survey has received funding from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (grants Ideas and Iuventus plus, Stypendia dla Wybitnych Młodych Naukowców, Diamond Grants, SPUB), the National Science Centre (grants MAESTRO, Opus, Harmonia, Symfonia), and the Foundation for Polish Science (programs Team, Homing, Focus and Start).