The National Science Centre has launched its calls for proposals in basic research: OPUS 11, PRELUDIUM 11, SONATA 11, and POLONEZ 2. The aggregate sum of funding to be distributed will exceed EUR 70 million.

Three of the funding opportunities, i.e. OPUS, PRELUDIUM, and SONATA, are the most popular funding schemes in the Centre’s portfolio.

OPUS has the largest scope of addressees, with no specific preliminary conditions with regard to experience, degree held, or the composition of the research team. The call’s budget has been set at nearly EUR 50 million.

PRELUDIUM is directed at researchers whose career in research has only begun and who have not yet held a doctoral degree. The sum allocated for this call totals EUR 7.19 million.

The SONATA call is another opportunity intended for beginner researchers: proposals will be accepted from applicants who have held a doctoral degree for up to 7 years. The programme is meant to support the project’s principal investigator in pursuing research that employs innovative methodologies and facilities. The sum of funding in the call equals nearly EUR 12 million.

Inasmuch as teaching is a vital responsibility in an academic teacher’s work, we need to ensure that our grantees have the optimum conditions that enable them to focus on their research projects. It is to that end that we have introduced the possibility of cutting the sum of obligatory teaching hours by half. This is particularly important for younger researchers, therefore the Council have been considering a similar solution in future SONATA BIS calls, said professor Michał Karoński, chair of the Council of the NCN.

In addition to the three regular funding opportunities, the second edition of the POLONEZ call has been launched; this is an action within the framework of the EU “Horizon 2020” programme for funding research and innovations. Its offer is extended to incoming researchers willing to carry out research in Polish host institutions. Eligible candidates are researchers with a doctoral degree or at least 4 years of experience in research, who in the past 3 years have not worked or studied in Poland for more than 12 months. The call’s budget totals approx. EUR 4.79 million.

Polish science cannot develop in a void, therefore many of the Centre’s initiatives seek to facilitate the development of international contacts and their continued nurturing. POLONEZ offers a chance for securing employment in Poland for foreign researchers as well as for Polish nationals working in the world’s largest centres. We hope that the programme may also prove instrumental in bringing scholars to Polish research units who will be able to compete with success for prestigious European grants, added professor Zbigniew Błocki, director of the National Science Centre.

On March 15 the ERA-NET Cofund Smart Urban Futures (ENSUF) call closed for submissions of pre-proposals. 187 pre-proposals have been sent in covering the three ENSUF call topics:

1. Concepts and strategies for smart urban transformation, growth and shrinkage;
2. New dynamics of public services;
3. Inclusive, vibrant and accessible urban communities.

Invitations for chosen applicants to submit full proposals will follow in May/June 2016. The final projects that are approved at the end of 2016 will start up during December 2016–March 2017. A total amount of public funding of maximum 23.8 M€ will be provided by national and regional funding agencies from 18 European countries, including support from Horizon 2020.

On 4^th March, the National Science Centre (NCN) celebrated its 5^th anniversary. A central event of the celebration was the conference entitled Best practices in supporting outstanding scientists and helping them successfully apply for ERC grants. The conference was organised jointly by the NCN and the ERC and took place at Jagiellonian University’s Collegium Novum. The event was addressed to researchers conducting their research in Poland, representatives of Polish universities and research institutes, as well as European research funding organisations.

The main theme of the meeting was the various ways of supporting excellent researchers, in particular offering them assistance in applying for ERC grants. The discussion was opened by professor Eva Kondorosi, a member of the ERC Scientific Council, who shared her thoughts on the role of the ERC in supporting researchers from European countries. She was succeeded by representatives of research funding organisations from Hungary, Austria and the Netherlands, who have demonstrated success in ensuring a substantial rise in ERC grant application effectiveness in their respective countries. Speakers included the president of the Academia Europaea scientific association professor Sierd Cloetingh, the president of the European Research Council professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, the president of the European Mathematical Society professor Pavel Exner, the president of the Polish Academy of Sciences professor Jerzy Duszyński, and the president of the Academy of Young Scientists dr hab. Jakub Fichna.

The final highlight of the Centre’s 5^th anniversary was the gala event held at the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre. The opening address was given by the Minister of Science and Higher Education dr Jarosław Gowin, who spoke about the essence of science and basic research: Science is priceless in and of itself. Without a high level of basic research, there is no high level of applied research, and no implementation can take place. A selfless quest for the truth is what constitutes the essence of humankind, the uniqueness of that singular species whose representatives ask such non-utilitarian questions. 

Another speaker was Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, who pointed to the importance of the common endeavours of the NCN and the ERC who aim to support the best researchers. Professor Zbigniew Błocki, director of the National Science Centre, gave an account of essential facts from the institution’s beginnings,  such as launching the first calls for proposals, and summed up the first 5 years of the NCN’s operations. He also spoke on plans for the months and years to come, e.g. launching a funding scheme offering so-called small grants, and the participation of the NCN in the coordination works of QuantERA, a European programme supporting research in Quantum Technologies.

The chair of the NCN Council, professor Michał Karoński, spoke on the role of the Council during the formative years of the Centre’s activity and extended his thanks to all those who have contributed to the development of a transparent grant system in Poland, which promotes the very best research projects. Films were screened showing the silhouettes of NCN awardees and their research which has been funded by the Centre. The final note of the celebration was sounded by the Big Band of the Academy of Music in Krakow, conducted by Wojciech Groborz.

In the course of the 5 years of its activity, the National Science Centre has launched and concluded 54 calls for proposals addressed to researchers at all stages of their career, and has approved nearly 11,000 projects for funding, supporting them with ca EUR 1 billion. The agency was established on 1^st October 2010 by the Act of 30^th April, adopted by the Polish Parliament in that year. By December the NCN Council had already commenced work on the first calls for proposals, launching them on 15^th March 2011, merely a few days after the official inauguration of the Centre’s activity. The founding of the NCN marked a new stage in the development of the grant system in Poland; a process which dates back to 1991 when the State Committee for Scientific Research and the Foundation for Polish Science were established.

Video presenting NCN awardees

We would like to invite researchers to submit proposals under M-ERA.NET call for proposals.

The call targets research in the following topics:

• Integrated computational materials engineering (ICME),
• Innovative surfaces, coatings and interfaces,
• High performance synthetic and biobased composites,
• Functional materials,
• Interfaces between materials and biological hosts for health applications,
• Materials for additive manufacturing.

The timetable for applications is:

• Pre-proposals to be submitted: 14^th of June 2016, 12:00 Central European Time,
• Shortlisted applicants to submit Full Proposals 10^th of November 2016, 12:00 Central European Time.

Applications must be submitted by at least 3 partners from at least 2 different countries participating in the call: http://www.m-era.net/joint-call-2016/participating-countries-regions-call-2016.

Both the National Science Centre (NCN) and the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) are members of the M-ERA network. Applicants whose projects meet basic research criterion (TRL 1-4) can apply to the NCN, and they do not have to involve an industrial partner. Researchers whose project start from TRL 3-6 and achieve TRL 5-8 can apply to the NCBR and the involvement of  an industrial partner is mandatory.

Budget of the Polish part of the research project should be calculated according to NCN eligible costs (p. 5-12). On the full proposal stage Polish applicants will be obliged to complete the budget table.

Call documentation

Please see also NCN Eligibility Requirements: http://www.m-era.net/joint-call-2016/poland-programmes/poland-ncn.

We invite all researchers who plan to apply for basic research projects to contact the NCN.

Contact:

• dr Weronika Bieniasz, weronika.bieniasz@ncn.gov.pl, tel: + 48 12 341 9156
• dr Malwina Gębalska, malwina.gebalska@ncn.gov.pl, tel: +48 12 341 9017

The National Science Centre invites researchers to submit proposals under POLONEZ 2 funding opportunity addressed to incoming researchers who would like to carry out basic research in host institutions in Poland.

POLONEZ 2 timeframe:

Call announcement: 15 March 2016

Deadline: 15 June 2016

Call results: November 2016

The submission system will open on the 8^th of April 2016 at the latest.

POLONEZ 2 Call documentation

Contact:

Agata Mendrek

tel: +48 12 341 9139

Beata Krasnopolska

tel: +48 12 341 9091

polonez@ncn.gov.pl

We would like to invite all researchers to submit proposals under M-ERA.NET call, which will be opened in March 2016. The call will include the following thematic areas:

• Integrated computational materials engineering (ICME),
• Innovative surfaces, coatings and interfaces,
• High performance synthetic and biobased composites,
• Functional materials,
• Interfaces between materials and biological hosts for health applications,
• Materials for additive manufacturing.

Call pre-announcement: http://www.m-era.net/joint-call-2016.  

Contact:

dr Weronika Bieniasz, tel: +48 12 341 9156

dr Malwina Gębalska, tel: +48 12 341 9017

National Science Centre together with JPI-EC-AMR invites all researchers to submit proposals under JPI-EC-AMR call for proposals on the topic of:

To unravel the dynamics of transmission and selection of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at the genetic, bacterial, animal, human, societal, and environmental levels, in order to design and evaluate preventive and intervening measures for controlling resistance.

Funding is available for transnational consortia that involve a minimum of three and maximum of six eligible partners, and a maximum of two partners funded by the same organisation in one project.

Countries participating in the call: Belgium, Denmark, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK.

Call documents:

• Call Text
• Regional and National Contact Persons
• Specific Regulations

Proposals must be submitted via: Proposal Submission Tool and Pre–Proposal Template

The timetable for applications is:

• Pre-proposals to be submitted 21^st March 2016, 17:00 Central European Time
• Shortlisted applicants to submit Full Proposals 4^th July 2016, 17:00 Central European Time

Budget of the Polish part of the research project should be calculated according to NCN eligible costs (p. 5-12). On the full proposal stage Polish applicants will be obliged to complete the budget table.

Please see also NCN Eligibility Requirements: http://www.jpiamr.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Specific-Requirements_JPI-EC-AMR.FINAL_.pdf (p. 5).

For more information please see: http://www.jpiamr.eu/activities/jpiamr-3rd-joint-call-jpi-ec-amr-era-net-cofund-call-on-transmission-dynamics/.

Contact:

dr Jerzy Frączek, tel: +48 12 341 9165

dr Malwina Gębalska, tel: +48 12 341 9017

The National Science Centre has published the results of the MAESTRO 7, HARMONIA 7 and SONATA BIS 5 calls. The list of winners names 157 researchers from all over Poland.Out of 760 proposals submitted to the three calls, 20 per cent have been awarded funding. Thus the average success rate, i.e. the number of research projects approved for funding as measured against the total number of entries, has risen by 7 per cent in comparison to the previous editions of the calls.

“The percentage increase of success rate in the recently concluded calls is the first visible effect of boosting the NCN 2016 budget by more than € 26 M. Almost the entire sum will be geared toward direct financing of Polish researchers' projects. Moreover, we have decided to return to the upper limit of 30 per cent in overheads for the projects' host institutions. Such proportions of funding costs better secure the resources necessary for proper implementation of the projects; they should also come as incentive for research institutions to employ grant-winning researchers”, said Prof. Zbigniew Błocki, director of the National Science Centre.

In the MAESTRO 7 call the applicants were advanced researchers. As declared in the programme's agenda, they will conduct pioneering research significant to the advancement of science which surpasses the state of the art and results in important discoveries. The list of winners has named 14 projects whose principal investigators will carry out research worth € 9 M. The top funding of nearly € 1 M in the MAESTRO 7 call has been awarded to the project “Cross-talk between the transport of mitochondrial proteins and cellular protein homeostasis,” led by professor Agnieszka Chacińska from the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw. The other projects include the subjects of metabolism of the orchis in its natural environment, the relations of uncertainty and quantum entanglement, the causes of variability in hot stars, and the monastic communities in the East Mediterranean in the 4^th through 8^th century A.D. The success rate was 4 per cent higher than in MAESTRO 6, and amounted to nearly 13 per cent.

HARMONIA 7 is a funding opportunity for projects carried out as international cooperation where there is no foreign contribution in funding. Polish scholars apply for the financing of research conducted in cooperation with partners from foreign research institutions, under joint programmes or initiatives of several countries, or using large-scale international research infrastructure. Resources exceeding € 8 M will be distributed among 52 projects. Those approved for funding include a study of drug transporters and their regulation in pathological liver conditions, a study of genetic and epigenetic variability in natural populations of grass, a project on the impact of global warming and eutrophication on the emission of methane and its significance to the food web of a lake, and research into dark matter and black holes by the Gaia space mission. The winner of the largest funding (nearly € 360 K) is the project led by Prof. Marek Pfützner (University of Warsaw), titled “Nuclear studies with radioactive beams at the CERN-ISOLDE laboratory.” The success rate in HARMONIA 7 has exceeded 21 per cent, which means that this edition has seen 6 per cent more grantees than the previous one.

The SONATA BIS 5 funding programme is dedicated to research projects giving rise to new research teams, led by scholars with at least a doctoral degree awarded between 2 and 12 years of applying. 91 projects worth over € 29 M have been approved for funding. The one with the largest budget is the study led by Dr Zofia Wodniecka-Chlipalska (Jagiellonian University), whose team will investigate the impact of short-term and long-term language experience on language regulation and cognitive functions in bilinguals. The research will cost nearly € 600,000. Other awardees will do research into such topics as the role of women in pre-Columbian and early colonial Peru, the ethics of biomedical experiments on children, the functions and mechanisms of acoustic and visual coordination in animals' signalling, and designing new protein structures with strictly defined properties using parametric models. The success rate in SONATA BIS 5 has been 22 per cent, which is 8 points higher than in SONATA BIS 4.

Full ranking lists

National Science Centre together with the NORFACE network is pleased to announce a new call for project proposals on the topic of Dynamics of Inequality Across the Life-course: structures and processes (DIAL). Each project must be composed of at least three research teams consisting of eligible researchers based at host institutions in three or more different NORFACE countries participating in the call.

The timetable for applications is:

• Outline Proposals to be submitted: 30^th of March 2016, 13.00 CET
• Shortlisted applicants to submit Full Proposals: 12th of October 2016, 13.00 CET

Countries participating in the call: Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Call documents:

• Programme text (PDF)
• Call for Proposals (PDF)
• National Eligibility Requirements (PDF)
• Outline Proposal Application Template (Word)
• Budget template (Excel)
• Frequently Asked Questions (PDF)

Budget of the Polish part of the research project should be calculated according to NCN eligible costs (p. 5-12). On the full proposal stage Polish applicants will be obliged to complete the budget table.

Please see also NCN Eligibility Requirements (p. 16).

For more information please see NORFACE DIAL call. 

Contact:

• dr Anna Marszałek, anna.marszalek@ncn.gov.pl, tel: 0048 12 341 9170
• dr Malwina Gębalska, malwina.gebalska@ncn.gov.pl, tel:  0048 12 341 9017