The first results of the eighth round of MINIATURA are now in! 40 researchers from all over Poland will get a total of more than PLN 1.7 million in funding for research activities such as preliminary and pilot studies, library and archive research, research fellowships, research visits and consultations.
First MINIATURA 8 ranking list
In the eighth round of MINIATURA, experts selected 12 applicants who will go on to work on research tasks in the field of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Their subjects include human relationships, especially those within the closest family, and parental care. Dr Albert Pielak from the Warsaw University of Technology, for instance, will carry out library and archive research focusing on parental responsibility in a comparative legal perspective.
14 winners in the Physical Sciences and Engineering panel will receive funding for projects that touch on issues such as current environmental and agricultural challenges. Dr Ewa Grabska-Szwagrzyk from the Jagiellonian University will join a consultation trip focused on identifying primeval forests and old tree stands using teledetection data.
In Life Sciences, 14 projects were recommended for funding. Their themes largely revolve around issues of health and disease. In her preliminary research, Dr Patrycja Mołek-Dziadosz from the John Paul II Hospital in Kraków, for instance, will assess the relationship between the degree of plasma protein carbonylation and fibrin clot phenotype in patients with atrial fibrillation.
All winning projects can be found on ranking lists:
Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences – PLN 397,276
Physical Sciences and Engineering – PLN 641,561
Life Sciences – PLN 665,827
The total budget of projects on the first ranking list comes up to PLN 1,704,664.
About MINIATURA
The objective of the MINIATURA call is to finance research activities carried out in preparation for future research projects that will be submitted to NCN calls for proposals, as well as other domestic and international calls. Researchers can apply for funding from PLN 5,000 to PLN 50,000 for a research activity planned over a period of up to 12 months.
The total budget of this year’s call is PLN 20 million. Funds available for research activities are divided proportionally between the months during which proposals are accepted. A project can be recommended for funding only as long as there is sufficient resources available for any given month.
Proposals are being accepted until 31 July 2024.
The call, which funds preliminary or pilot studies, library and archive research, research fellowships, research visits or consultations, is open to PhD holders who earned their degree no earlier than 1 January 2012 and have never served as principal investigators in a project funded by the National Science Centre. They must demonstrate that tier scientific achievements include at least one paper published or at least one artistic achievement or achievement in research in art. They must not be winning applicants of an ETIUDA call for doctoral fellowships or other call for fellowship s funded by the NCN and must not be applicants, principal investigators or fellowship candidates in proposals submitted to or recommended for funding under other NCN calls.
Decisions
Funding decisions, both positive and negative, for proposals submitted under MINIATURA 8 in February, were sent out on 20 May 2024.
Justifications are available in the OSF submission system, where you can also check the status of your proposal.
Let us remind you that decisions are delivered electronically to the ESP ePUAP address indicated in the proposal. If you have not received a decision, please make sure that the address listed in the proposal is correct. If it is not, contact the officer in charge of the proposal named in the OSF submission system.
NCN Days are held once per year, always in a different academic town in Poland. The event consists of two full days of meetings, workshops, panels and lectures, providing scientists and research project administration professionals from all over the region with a rare opportunity to talk to NCN representatives in person and ask everything they want to know about the way in which research projects are funded, carried out and billed at the NCN.
“The NCN is a governmental agency established expressly to support research in Poland, and it is modelled on the best international organizations of this kind. Our guiding idea was to promote our work far and wide and also reach out to various local centres that we could visit. We have already travelled to most voivodeships, and this year, it was time to come to Bydgoszcz,” said Prof. Krzysztof Jóźwiak, NCN Director.
“We are gearing up for two days of inspiration and sharing that will contribute to our future cooperation for the development of research not just in Bydgoszcz, but throughout the whole Kuyavian-Pomeranian region,” emphasised Prof. Marek Adamski, Rector of the Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology, during the opening session.
“I hope that this event will deliver a boost to research in Bydgoszcz so it will experience even more dynamic growth and attract more grant funds for projects that our local scientists have in the pipeline,” added Iwona Waszkiewicz, Deputy Mayor of Bydgoszcz.
The opening session of NCN Days 2024 featured presentations by three researchers from different universities in Bydgoszcz. Dr hab. Jakub Lipski, from the Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, talked about his research in 18th-century British literature, which he is working on in cooperation with various international teams, thanks to funding from the NCN and similar institutions. In his presentation, Lipski stressed that his research career was crucially advanced by activities that are often seen as rather useless, such as attending niche conferences or publishing in non-scored journals. Contrary to all expectations, these seemingly pointless endeavours helped him win grant after grant and expand his research, because they caught the attention of reviewers in various calls.
Dr hab. Barbara Bojko (photo by Łukasz Bera)Dr hab. Barbara Bojko, Prof. UMK, who represented the Ludwik Rydygier Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz (an extension of the Nicolaus Copernicus University), talked about her research career, spanning cities such as Sosnowiec, Toronto and Bydgoszcz, and introduced the audience to solid phase microextraction, a unique diagnostic technique that is minimally invasive and very easy to use. SPME makes it possible to analyse biological material without physical tissue sampling and preparation, which means it can be used for brain cancer testing and organ graft quality assessment in the peri-transplant period. “For my team, the funding we got from the NCN provided a safe cushion that allowed us to pursue our research in Bydgoszcz, but also served as a springboard for future projects, research, and industrial cooperation”, emphasised Prof. Bojko.
Another scientist to talk about his research at the opening session of the NCN Days was Prof. Dr hab. n. med. Marek Harat from the Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology, who delivered a presentation entitled “Hot research problems in neurosurgery: deep brain stimulation and improvements in the treatment of gliomas. My personal experience”. The scientist recounted how he first entered the field of functional neurosurgery interventions and how he established and developed a pioneering surgery centre in Bydgoszcz, which now treats conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, eating disorders (including obesity), cerebral palsy and aggressive and self-destructive behaviour disorders.
In the afternoon, during a session entitled “Tip Time”, members of the NCN Council, supported by Discipline Coordinators responsible for NCN grant calls, shared their advice, explaining what kind of research can be founded at the NCN and what the procedure looks like, what to pay attention to when preparing a research proposal, and described the proposal review and selection process.
This has followed by a discussion panel “NCN grants: application, evaluation, implementation - is it worth it?”, during which NCN representatives and Bydgoszcz scientists discussed the funding opportunities currently available to Polish researchers, especially in the context of the difficult budget situation at the National Science Centre.
“If you are up for an exciting research adventure and ready to go all Panel discussion: NCN grants: application, evaluation, implementation - is it worth it? (photo by Łukasz Bera) the way from student or PhD candidate to independent researcher, the answer to the question is simple: you need to apply for grants, regardless of what the broader financial landscape in Polish research is like”, emphasised Prof. Robert Hasterok, President of the NCN Council. Prof. Krzysztof Jóźwiak, NCN Director, added that it now seems that, with the additional resources the NCN has recently received from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the situation is beginning to improve and success rates are expected to increase.
During the panel, the role of grants in research development, the conditions for research in Poland, and the current challenges faced by the grant system were also addressed by Dr hab. inż. Łukasz Skowroński, Deputy Rector for Research and Evaluation of the Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology, Dr hab. inż. Aleksandra Dunisławska, member of the Polish Young Academy, and Prof. Dr hab. Jarosław Burczyk, Deputy Rector for Research of the Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz.
“The best place for young researchers to be is in teams working on research projects that offer scholarships for students and PhD students. Grants will enable them to take part in academic conferences outside their home institution, which are crucial for career growth, allowing them to make their name known, present their work and, most importantly, meet the broader research community”, emphasised Prof. Aleksandra Dunisławska.
The panel was moderated by Anna Korzekwa-Józefowicz, the Communication Representative of the NCN Director. The panel debate concluded with a Q&A with the audience. Panellists discussed issues such as the principles of the review process in NCN calls and the grant-supported projects carried out by visual art scholars.
The meeting wrapped up with a quiz about the National Science Centre. The winner answered all the questions correctly in a little over 1 minute, winning the main prize: an invitation to the NCN Awards ceremony, which will take place in Kraków in October. After the session, researchers could hold individual consultations with NCN representatives in charge of proposals and projects, as well as those responsible for international cooperation.
The second NCN Day started with a meeting between the NCN Council and Director and representatives from voivodeship authorities and the local research community, including university rectors and their deputies, as well as directors of research institutions from all over the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. Participants discussed the NCN call portfolio, the funding opportunities available under the current budget, NCN call documentation and different research record assessment criteria. Other topics included the practical aspects of grant spending under NCN projects conducted in the public procurement mode.
All the events held during NCN Days 2024 on 15-16 May were hosted by the Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology at its campus in Bydgoszcz-Fordon.
The event was initiated by the Mayor of Bydgoszcz, hosted by the Technical University of Bydgoszcz, and co-organised by the Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, the Ludwik Rydygier Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz (an extension of the Nicolaus Copernicus University), the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music, the Kujawy and Pomorze University in Bydgoszcz, the University of Bydgoszcz, the University of Economy of Bydgoszcz, the College of Health Sciences in Bydgoszcz, the WSB Merito Bydgoszcz University, and the Rother’s Mills Centre for Science and Culture.
On 21-26 May, the Copernicus Festival will be held in Krakow and online. This year, the festival will focus on “Machine”. The National Science Centre is a partner of the event, and our grant and award winners will participate in the festival discussions.
The Copernicus Festival aims to promote science and to explain its impact on social life. It is addressed to the public at large and has been co-launched by the Copernicus Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of the Jagiellonian University, the Copernicus Centre Foundation, the “Tygodnik Powszechny” Foundation and the publisher of “Tygodnik Powszechny”. The festival has been underway since 2014 and this year it will focus on “Machine.”
Our grant winners and NCN Award winners will mark their appearance at the event.
The “Confrontation” programme, created jointly with the National Science Centre, will feature talks and discussions with:
21 May: Radosław Zyzik, Wojciech Załuski (Are people rational?)
22 May: Alicja Puścian, Marek Binder (Is brain a machine)
23 May: Katarzyna Jaśko, Jan Argasiński, Łukasz Lamża (The future of science, the future of AI)
24 May: Marek Kuś, Karol Życzkowski (The harmony of the spheres: chaos and order of the cosmos)
25 May: Anna Łosiak, Marcin Gawroński (The search for life in the cosmos)
The Copernicus Festival will be held in the Museum of Engineering and Technology at ul. Wawrzyńca 15 in Krakow and online. The admission is free. You can follow the event on the Copernicus You Tube channel:
The latest issue of “Tygodnik Powszechyny” features a supplement on the Festival, including a profile on the NCN.
In the first episode of the second series of our podcast, we will discuss scientific cooperation with, inter alia, Switzerland. Our guests today are Barbara Świątkowska and Justyna Woźniakowska who are in charge of our international programmes.
MAPS is an initiative launched by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) to support multilateral research projects of Swiss researchers, carried out in collaboration with research teams from Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary and Romania. We discuss the terms that must be met by Polish researchers who would like to join the programme and suggest how to search for project partners. Barbara Świątkowska from the EEA and Norway Grants Team, who handles similar funding mechanisms as well as MAPS, explains what to look out for when preparing proposals submitted to the SNSF and talks about the project review. She reiterates the fact that the programme is also available to researchers who have already reached the limit of proposals submitted to the NCN, as MAPS is not subject to the limits imposed by the NCN Council.
My guests acknowledge that interest in the MAPS call is very high. “It honestly surprises me how many people ask about the call, while the Weave programme, where cooperation with Switzerland was also possible, attracted much less attention,” says Justyna Woźniakowska, Head of our International Cooperation Department. Weave was launched in 2021 to promote bilateral or trilateral cooperation of researchers from Poland, Austria, Czechia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium (Flanders) and Luxembourg. Justyna Woźniakowska explains the programme principles and encourages Polish researchers to join it.
The podcast is hosted by Anna Korzekwa-Józefowicz.
Principal Investigator
:
Dr hab. Anna Dyrdał, prof. at the UAM
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (UAM)
Panel: ST3
Funding scheme
: GRIEG
announced on
17 June 2019
The 2Dtronics project covers the fundamental aspects of solid-state physics and magnetism related to the interdisciplinary research in the field of spin electronics, in particular , nanospintronics and two-dimensional spintronics. In principle, the project is focused on the efficient control of the spin state and utilization of the electron spin on equal footing with its electrical charge.
Nowadays, the key objective of spin electronics is to find a highly efficient way of all-electrical control of electron spin state. Additionally, the control should involve very low energy consumption. Therefore, the one of the project objectives is to theoretically verify various possibilities to couple the spin degree of freedom with other degrees of freedom (sensitive to electric field), e.g. the valley or orbital ones. Another objective is to explore topological properties of matter, and their application possibilities for construction of electronic devices with extremely low energy dissipation.
The new paradigms for future electronics are indeed essential as it is expected that in 2025, the global power consumption of IT appliances will reach 4.6 trillion kWh, which corresponds to 15% of the global power generation. Furthermore, approximately 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created every day. These two staggering numbers clearly show an urgent demand for novel solutions that could result in low-power, ultrafast, and high-density storage and processing devices.
fot. Michał ŁepeckiTherefore, the main emphasis in the project is put on novel materials, where quantum effects manifest in a wide range of energetic and length scales. The quantum materials, such as graphene, van-der-Waals heterostructures, topological insulators, or Weyl semimetals, exhibit their peculiar properties which follow from reduced dimensionality or collective excitation properties. In consequence, quantum materials serve as a platform for phenomena where the topological nature of quasiparticle states plays an essential role.
One of the project goals is to combine the spin and valley degrees of freedom with the symmetries and topological properties of the system to describe and propose phenomena that could allow us to work out new strategies for low-power-consumption electronics and logic devices.
Fascinating systems that host many exotic phenomena, such as unconventional superconductivity, non-linear Hall effects, or chiral magnon Bose-Einstein condensation are novel two-dimensional materials discovered over the past decade. Importantly, in quantum materials, the interactions related to spin, charge, lattice, and orbital degree of freedom are energetically comparable with electronic kinetic energy. Therefore, the properties of quantum materials are highly sensitive to external fields or forces that may relatively easily lead to quantum phase transitions. In this project, the quantum materials are studied theoretically to address burning questions, such as, : (i) how to modify the topological properties of 2D systems by external fields and forces, (ii) how to exploit emergent phenomena observed in 2D crystals and interfaces in the new generation of spintronic devices, (iii) how to account for the recently observed non-linear effects in quantum materials (non-linear system response, non-linear interactions), (iv) how to achieve the low-dissipation and long-range spin transport in novel low-dimensional magnetic systems, (v) how important are many-body effects in the low-dimensional quantum materials, etc..
Within the framework of the project, we new methods and protocols have been developed, to manipulate the order parameters typical to quantum materials, and to propose efficient ways to design electronic, magnetic, and topological properties of low-dimensional structures. We have focused on the efficient methods for modifying topological properties of 2D systems by external fields and forces.
Project title: Spin and charge transport in low-dimensional novel quantum materials (2Dtronics)
Dr hab. Anna Dyrdał, prof. at the UAM
Kierownik - dodatkowe informacje
Theoretical physicist researching the theory of condensed matter in nanoscale. Particularly interested in the theory of spin-dependent electronic transport in semiconducting heterostructures, two-dimensional materials of graphene type, van-der-Waals heterostructures, and topological insulators. Specializes in theoretical description of the phenomena induced in electronic transport due to spin-orbital effects.
Her research experience was developed in many scientific institutions, including The Institut Català de Nanociència and Nanotecnologia ICN2 and Unité Mixte de Physique CNRS/Thales – Université Paris-Saclay.
Head of the Department of Mesoscopic Physics at the Faculty of Physics, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and member of Polish Young Academy, Polish Academy of Sciences.
Webinars will be held on the ClickMeeting platform. Registration is not required but a limit of 200 persons per meeting applies. The topics and dates of other meetings and links to the courses are available on our website at Schedule of 2024 Online Open Science Courses.
Should you have any questions or queries, please contact Ms. Gabriela Czarny at
Principal Investigator
:
Dr hab. Mateusz Grygoruk
Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW
Panel: ST10
Funding scheme
: GRIEG
announced on
17 June 2019
Peatlands are one of the largest carbon stores on the continents. However, due to abrupt climate change, it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain them in good condition. Hydrological processes have the greatest impact on the condition of peatlands beyond direct human influence. Hydrological processes are caused by an increase in global air temperature and changes in the temporal and spatial differentiation of precipitation and evapotranspiration. Climate change disruptions result in, inter alia, subsidence of peatlands that are drying out), increased emission of greenhouse gases, and reduction of methane emission as well as changes in the rate of growth and decomposition of dead organic matter. These changes occur differently at different latitudes, and their complexity and relationships with other natural processes make them difficult to describe and forecast.
Dr hab. Mateusz Grygoruk, photo by Michał ŁepeckiIn the FORCE project, we decided to look into these complex phenomena by close examination of hydrological processes of five peatlands located between Northern Norway (Finnmark) and Northeastern Poland (Podlasie and Suwałki regions). Researchers from Polish and Norwegian universities have analyzed climate changes in the studied peatland regions. During extensive field research, we have collected data on the location of the water table in the peatlands and on the type of peat-fed water. Geophysical surveys allowed us to determine the structure of peatlands, including permafrost core palsa peatlands that are gradually disappearing. Thanks to independently developed measuring devices (greenhouse gas measurement chambers and piezometers for measuring greenhouse gas concentration at different depths of the peatland) and thorough analyses of gas samples originating from the studied peatlands, we were able to assess the variability of greenhouse gas emissions. In botanical studies, we determined peatland vegetation types and their features indicative of adaptation to unique environmental conditions of such ecosystems. Using hydrological and statistical modeling tools, we tried to describe the relationships between climatic and hydrological processes that may impact the other components of the peatland environment described above.
Based on our research, we have determined that rapid climate changes in the late 20th century and early 21st century harmed the peatlands. The degradation of palsa peatlands results in the formation of other hydrologically stable peatlands in their place, which accumulate carbon effectively. Gradual acidification of the peatlands in Central and Southern Norway is caused by rainfall pattern changes, although irregular rainfalls cause peatlands to dry, increase carbon dioxide emissions. We have also noticed a reduction of peatlands acidifying in their top layer in the temperate zone due to rapid and negative water balance changes (a significant increase in evaporation with temporally unstable precipitation supply). The conclusions of our research form the basis for continued peatland protection planning. Although due to rapid climate changes some peatlands (e.g. palsa) cannot be preserved, proper water management of peatland catchments, especially in Poland, could increase the chance of their preservation in the right hydrological conditions.
Dr hab. Mateusz Grygoruk, photo by Michał Łepecki
Project title: FORCE - FORecasting hydrological response Carbon balance and Emissions from different types of mires in arctic-to-temperate zone transect in abrupt climatic change
Dr hab. Mateusz Grygoruk
Kierownik - dodatkowe informacje
Professor at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW.Hydrologist researching water cycle processes in wetlands (individual sites and catchments). Focused on research combining various environmental disciplines with other research fields to ensure better river and wetland protection and restoration planning. He has researched rivers and wetlands in Poland (mainly in Northeastern Poland), as well as Norway, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, and Canada. Member of the State Council for Environmental Conservation, Scientific Council of the Białowieża National Park, and PAS Committee on Climate Crisis.
Dr hab. Grigor Sargsyan from the Institute of Mathematics, Polish Academy of Sciences is the winner of the Weave-UNISONO call. He will receive nearly 975 thousand zlotys for a research project carried out jointly with Austrian researchers.
Dr hab. Grigor Sargsyan together with Dr hab. Eskew Monroe from the University of Vienna will carry out a research project “Generic large cardinals and determinacy”. The researchers aim to describe the connections between the set theory where generic cardinals are analysed and the study of the models of the Axiom of Determinacy (AD stating that certain infinitive games are determined). The researchers also intend to develop dense ideals by forcing (a technique for proving consistency and independence results), with the assumption that large cardinals exist. To achieve their goals, they will use classical methods that will be extended and generalised, as well as novel methods.
The proposal has been evaluated by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) in its capacity of the Lead Agency. The National Science Centre has approved the results of the evaluation within the framework of collaboration under the Weave programme.
Weave-UNISONO and the Lead Agency Procedure
The Weave-UNISONO call is the result of multilateral cooperation between research-funding agencies that make up the Science Europe association. It aims to simplify submission and selection procedures for research proposals that bring together researchers from two or three different European countries in any academic discipline.
The selection process is based on the Lead Agency Procedure (LAP), under which only one partner institution is responsible for a merit-based evaluation and the others simply accept the result.
Under Weave, partner research teams apply in parallel to the lead agency and their relevant domestic institutions. Their joint proposal must include coherent research plans and clearly spell out the added value of international cooperation.
The Weave-UNISONO call accepts proposals on a rolling basis. Polish teams wishing to partner up with colleagues from Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium-Flanders are encouraged to read the call text and submit their funding proposals.
„So, what’s new in (research) politics, sir?” is a series of meetings organised by Prof. Dariusz Jemielniak. The Vice-President of the Polish Academy of Sciences hosts researchers, representatives of research institutions, institutes promoting research, and ministries responsible for science and higher education.
In a series of podcast meetings organised by Prof. Dariusz Jemielniak, Vice-President of the Polish Academy of Sciences, hosts researchers, representatives of research institutions, institutes promoting research, and ministries responsible for science and higher education.
Next Thursday, the podcast will feature Prof. Krzysztof Jóźwiak, Director of the National Science Centre. Prof. Jóźwiak will talk about the NCN grant procedure and Open Access requirements. The podcast participants will also discuss the system of basic and applied research funding in Poland and the future of Polish science.
The meeting will be streamed on 18 April, at 6 p.m. and will be available on the PAS profile on social media (Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube). Prof. Jóźwiak will answer questions asked during the podcast chat.
The World Quantum Day, celebrated on 14 April, is an international celebration featuring researchers from 65+ countries dedicated to spreading awareness about quantum technologies (QT). Scientists predict that within a decade these technologies will significantly impact our daily lives. Medical diagnostics will be expedited and more precise, data security in networks unparalleled and new materials boasting revolutionary properties will be developed.
The global landscape of quantum technologies is experiencing rapid expansion, with Europe aspiring to be the world’s first Quantum Valley. To this end, researchers are supported by, inter alia, the Quantum Flagship and QuantERA, with Poland playing the key role.
Europa of new ideas
photo: Krzysztof MagdaThe Quantum Technologies Flagship, initiated by the European Commission, with a budget of over EUR 1 billion, is one of the most important endeavours in the field of research and innovation that aims to put Europe at the forefront of quantum technologies. In February, representatives of the Quantum Technologies Flagship presented a new quantum development agenda 2023, in which they defined their ultimate goal as turning Europe into the world’s first “Quantum Valley” thanks to its scientific and industrial potential and qualified workforce. “Many concepts and ideas in quantum technology were born on our continent,” says Prof. Konrad Banaszek, scientific coordinator of the QuantERA Network.
QuantERA, which works in close cooperation with the Quantum Flagship, is Europe’s largest quantum research-funding programme. QuantERA promotes ambitious, foundational and cutting-edge engineering research projects in quantum technologies (QT), monitors activities and strategies in quantum technologies, and creates responsible research guidelines. So far, the Network has funded over 100 international projects in the field of basic and applied research involving 550 research groups.
The National Science Centre is the Network coordinator. “We are well aware of what’s going on in quantum technologies, we know what projects are underway in Europe at the moment and, most importantly, we can influence the directions of development in the field,” says Sylwia Kostka, programme coordinator from the National Science Centre.
Pushing the boundaries
In the latest QuantERA call, concluded at the end of 2023, the highest-ranked proposals included research into quantum imaging, colour-centre quantum sensors and quantum-dot single-photon sources.
Dr Radek Łapkiewicz from the University of Warsaw studies how quantum effects can be used in imaging. He was awarded funding for his project “Quantum Multi-Modal Microscopy” carried out in tandem with researchers from France, Germany and Switzerland. When asked what changes quantum technologies may bring to imaging in the nearest future, he says that it would be only natural to use quantum instruments to push the boundaries of what can be done in biomedical imaging. “Advanced biomedical imaging is often limited by the amount of light available. For instance, if you want to look at the structures deep inside a tissue, it is often difficult to introduce enough light there in a non-invasive way and it is just as hard to detect the light coming out. Quantum optics scientists specialise in detecting even very weak light pulses, while quantum metrologists know how to plumb each photon for maximum information,” he explains, adding that “the scientific community has already witnessed the first demonstrations of the quantum advantage”.
Dr hab. Adam WojciechowskiDr hab. Adam Wojciechowski from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow works on a project that can also be used for biomedical purposes. Together with researchers from Germany and Spain, Dr Wojciechowski aims to develop novel quantum sensing protocols tailored for use with nanodiamonds (NDs). “Our objective is to enhance the material properties of nanodiamonds and introduce advanced measurement techniques to obtain detailed information about their surrounding environment. Ultimately, our goal is to embed those nanodiamonds into biological cells and measure signals related to the presence of specific substances delivered to the cells” explains Wojciechowski.
Knowledge and competencies all over Europe
Prof Banaszek emphasises “the abundance of promising research endeavours underway” across our continent, advocating for their “parallel support.” In that regard, QuantERA stands as a direct facilitator, incentivising collaboration among European scientists and fostering partnerships between countries participating in the programme.
At the stage of merit-based evaluation of proposals submitted in the QuantERA calls, emphasis is placed solely on their scientific merit. However, in cases where two or three projects receive equally high ratings, priority is given to the one involving researchers from the countries where the level of research and innovation is lower than the EU average – the so-called “widening countries.” The same approach is used to ensure more balanced participation of women and men in the research teams giving priority to projects involving participation of female researchers.
According to Prof. Katarzyna Roszak from the Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences, winner of the call in 2023, formation of research consortia by researchers from less prominent research centres, often including young researchers, is possible due to the rules and regulations adopted by the Network. “This team formation improves the quality of research, allowing less conventional research directions to be developed, which can lead to important discoveries,” she says. Researchers from Czechia, Germany, Poland and Italy are involved in research under the leadership of Prof. Roszak.
Dr hab. Adam Wojciechowski hopes that participation in the projects of the Network will improve the significance of researchers from the widening countries. “Many quantum technologies in Poland are developed at the world-class level. QuantERA programmes increase our chance for international recognition and may as such enhance our participation in top European projects which now mostly include large consortia,” he explains.
“Strengthening scientific excellence in the widening countries is crucial for fostering a Europe without borders and gaps. Spreading of excellence across the entire European Research Area should play a major role in evaluating the long-term impact of individual funding programmes,” adds Prof Ticijana Ban from the Institute of Physics in Zagreb. The project “QNet: Transport, metastability, and neuromorphic applications in quantum networks” under her management involves participation of researchers from Croatia, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.
QuantERA brings together 41 research-funding agencies from 31 countries and will continue until 2026. Representatives of the Network are already working with the European Commission on the continuation of the programme.
Anna Korzekwa-Józefowicz
Achievements of Polish researchers in quantum technologies and public policies in this regard were addressed in our recent news: Quantum Poland awaits a strategy
