Three Polish research teams among the winners of the international call JPco-fuND 2

Tue, 12/17/2019 - 15:53

We are pleased to announce that three projects involving Polish researchers have been awarded funding in the JPco-fuND 2 call for multinational research projects on personalised medicine for neurodegenerative diseases. Within the JPco-fuND 2 over EUR 29,3 million have been granted to 18 research projects.

Complete list of the projects recommended for funding

JPco-fuND 2 has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 825664.

Polish projects awarded within the call:

  1. NMJ-on-a-Chip: Humanized high-throughput co-culture system for motor neuron diseases. Polish Principal Investigator: prof. dr hab. Józef Dulak, Jagiellonian University in Cracow. The project will involve research teams from France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands
  2. OligoFIT: Oligomer-Focused Screening and Individualized Therapeutics to target Neurodegenerative Disorders. Polish Principal Investigator: dr Piotr Hańczyc, University of Warsaw. The project will involve research teams from Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Portugal, United Kingdom
  3. Gums&Brains: Alzheimer’s disease as a co-morbidity of chronic periodontitis with Porphyromonas gingivalis as a causative link between both diseases. Polish Principal Investigator: prof. dr hab. Jan Stanisław Potempa (Project Leader), Jagiellonian University in Cracow. The project will involve research teams from Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Norway

Congratulations to all the laureates.

National Science Centre announces SONATINA 4 and ETIUDA 8 calls

Mon, 12/16/2019 - 17:45

This is already the fourth edition of SONATINA and the eighth of ETIUDA. Polish researchers are invited to vie for funding for research projects and doctoral scholarships. The total budget of the two calls is PLN 30 million.

SONATINA 4 is targeted at applicants who have earned their PhD within 3 years prior to the proposal submission year or will be awarded a PhD degree by the end of June 2020. The purpose of the call is to enable young researchers to find employment and conduct research at Polish research institutions. The conditions of the grant stipulate that the principal investigator must be employed at the host institution based on a full-time employment contract for the whole duration of the project. A new condition introduced in fourth edition of the call specifies that employment must be planned for the principal investigator, in another institution than the one from which the principal investigator has earned a PhD degree. SONATINA 4 also gives young researchers an opportunity to gain experience through fellowships in foreign research institutions. Projects may take either 24 or 36 months to complete, while foreign fellowships may last from 3 to 6 months. SONATINA 4 researchers will each receive from 6 to more than PLN 18,000 per month to cover their living expenses in the country of the fellowship, and up to PLN 10,000 toward travel costs. The total budget of the call equals PLN 20 million.

ETIUDA 8 is targeted at applicants at the outset of their research career, i.e. doctoral school students or individuals who have initiated PhD dissertation proceedings at a Polish research institution authorized to award PhD degrees. Young researchers are eligible to receive scholarships of PLN 5,000 per month over a period of 6 to 12 months. Not unlike in the SONATINA scheme, ETIUDA funding can be used to finance a 3- to 6-month fellowship at a foreign research institution, which can be completed during the period in which the scholarship is collected or within a year from its end. The amount awarded to cover foreign living expenses can be from PLN 6,000 to PLN 18,000 per month, over and above PLN 10,000 for travel expenses.

ETIUDA 8 researchers must earn their PhD degree within 12 months of the scholarship end date and not earlier than 6 months from the scholarship start date. The funding of the doctoral scholarship will start on 1 October 2020 and the total budget of ETIUDA 8 equals PLN 10 million.

The calls we announced today are designed to help young people make their first steps in the world of research and support them in gaining experience in different, especially international, research environments The ETIUDA and SONATINA calls offer competitive salaries and scholarships. We have introduced several changes compared to previous editions so as to round out the offer available to young researchers in doctoral schools. To do so, we opened the call to those doctoral school students who have not yet initiated their official PhD dissertation proceedings, emphasizes Zbigniew Błocki, NCN Director.

Proposals under calls announced by the National Science Centre may be submitted via the ZSUN/OSF system (https://osf.opi.org.pl) until 16 March 2020 at 4 p.m.

Proposals will be reviewed in two stages by NCN Expert Teams consisting of outstanding researchers specialized in the discipline at hand, supported by external, sometimes international, experts.

The results of SONATINA 4 and ETIUDA 8 will be announced in the autumn of 2020 at the latest.

SONATINA 4 CALL ANNOUNCEMENT

ETIUDA 8 CALL ANNOUNCEMENT

Thermal phenomena in cold atomic gases

Principal Investigator :
Prof. Kazimierz Rzążewski
Center for Theoretical Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Panel: ST2

Funding scheme : MAESTRO 2
announced on 15 December 2011

Research into the properties of quantum gases has experienced dynamic growth since 1995, when the Bose-Einstein condensate was first produced. The research project funded under the MAESTRO 2 scheme allowed us to significantly expand our knowledge in the field. Experiments with pure condensate make it possible to study quantum events in large atomic clusters, thus contributing to a theory of quantum gas phenomena. Entitled Thermal phenomena in cold atomic gases, our project was carried out in cooperation with several leading European experimental research groups, allowing the Polish research team to consolidate their international position.

Photo by Michał ŁepeckiPhoto by Michał Łepecki The most interesting results of the project include, e.g. the discovery of dark solitons in gases with long-range dipolar interactions. A soliton is a form of indestructible wave disturbance that propagates in a non-linear medium over large distances without a change in shape. The solitons we discovered are rather special because their shapes often differ from those found in a typical condensate. They are also involved in long-distance interactions and oscillate differently in harmonic traps used in experiments with such gases. In 2013, the experimental research group headed by Professor Tilman Pfau from Stuttgart, which cooperates with the Polish team within the framework of the project, excited a lone rubidium atom in a condensate to what is known as the Rydberg state. In this highly excited state, the atom has the size of several microns, comparable to that of the condensate. In cooperation with Professor Pfau's group, we developed a theoretical model of this complex phenomenon, the most interesting part of which is a proposal to visualize the orbital of the Rydberg electron through its trace in the density distribution of the condensate.

During the project, we also developed elementary but numerically complex methods for the precise description of systems composed of small numbers of atoms in a harmonic trap. Particular attention should be drawn to the discovery of two-particle correlations (the appearance of pairs) in systems composed of two types of mutually attracting fermions, which shows an analogy to the Cooper pairs phenomenon observed in solid-state physics. In addition, the density-functional method was used to describe the so-called Stoner phenomenon: given a sufficiently strong repulsive force in a system of two types of fermions in a spherical harmonic trap, the components may separate to minimize the energy of the interaction. It turned out that the calculations should include the usually omitted gradient elements; doing so allowed us to detect a sequence of two quantum phase transitions. The spherical symmetry of the system was preserved in one, but disrupted by a random phase interface in the other. In order to study the population difference statistics in a condensate split by a sudden barrier, we used the classical field method developed by the team of Professor Rzążewski. Surprisingly, the statistics were shown to depend on the wave length of the light impulse used for the monitoring of the system. This demonstrates that measurement in quantum mechanism is always an unpredictable and mysterious thing. The result must still be replicated or rejected by further research.

Project title: Thermal phenomena in cold atomic gases

Prof. Kazimierz Rzążewski

Third call for Dioscuri Centres

Fri, 12/06/2019 - 11:45

The third call for the establishment of up to three centres of scientific excellence in Poland is now open.

After the first two Dioscuri Centres have been established this autumn, the Max Planck Society and the Polish National Science Centre are now opening the third call for Dioscuri Centres in Poland. In this round, outstanding researchers from all scientific disciplines are invited to submit their application for a Dioscuri Centre by 23 March 2020.

Going beyond the scope of a project grant, a Dioscuri Centre is built around a distinguished researcher position. It is awarded to excellent scientists capable of establishing and leading an outstanding, highly visible research group. The research group will be funded with 300,000 euros annually for initially five years. It will be set up at a Polish university or a research institute capable of supporting the Centre with appropriate infrastructure, scientific equipment, supplementary funds, and a long-term perspective for its leader.

The Dioscuri Programme aims to strengthen and expand scientific excellence in Central and Eastern Europe and is being implemented in Poland as a first step. The funding for the DCs is shared equally between the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

The detailed call and further information about the Dioscuri Programme are available at https://ncn.gov.pl/dioscuri/dioscuri3/call-announcement

CHIST-ERA – new call for proposals

Tue, 12/03/2019 - 10:35

The National Science Centre, in cooperation with the CHIST-ERA network, announces the call for international research projects in the area of: 1. Explainable Machine Learning-based Artificial Intelligence, 2. Novel Computational Approaches for Environmental Sustainability.

Announcement

Funding proposals may be submitted by international consortia composed of at least 3 research teams from at least 3 countries participating in the call. The principal investigator of the Polish research team must hold at least a PhD degree.

Countries participating in the call: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Spain, Ireland, Israel, Canada (Québec), Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland, Sweden (first subject), Turkey, Hungary, United Kingdom (first subject) and Italy.

Application process:

  • International level: the Polish research team prepares a joint proposal in English in cooperation with its foreign partner and submits it via the ESS electronic submission system available on the programme’s website: CHIST-ERA;
  • national level: the Polish research team prepares an NCN proposal covering the Polish part of the project and submits it to the NCN via the ZSUN/OSF electronic submission system.

Call schedule:

  • Submission deadline for joint short proposals: 14 February 2020, 5 p.m. CET
  • Invitation to submit joint full proposals: April 2020
  • Submission deadline for joint full proposals: June 2020
  • Submission deadline for NCN proposals in ZSUN/OSF: June 2020
  • Call results: October 2020

In the CHIST-ERA Call 2019 funds may be awarded to cover remuneration for the research team, remuneration and scholarships for students and PhD students, purchase or construction of research equipment and for other costs crucial to the research project.

The total funds allocated by the NCN for the tasks to be performed by Polish research teams in the call amount to EUR 500,000.

 

 

Pre-Announcement of a new Call on Personalised Medicine for Neurodegenerative Diseases

Tue, 12/03/2019 - 08:32

The EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) will shortly launch a new multinational call for proposals for “Novel imaging and brain stimulation methods and technologies related to Neurodegenerative Diseases”.

This call, expected to be launched in early January 2020, with a likely pre-proposal submission deadline in March 2020. Further details will be provided with the launch of the call.

Further details are provided at the programme website.

Contact:

 

Dangerous consequences of catastrophic deforestations

Principal Investigator :
Dr hab. Michał Słowiński
Stanisław Leszczycki Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences

Panel: ST10

Funding scheme : OPUS 9
announced on 16 March 2015

Forests are one of the main components of the European Plain and have always played an important role in human life, providing shelter, food and building material. For this reason, it is extremely  important and instructive to study the history of deforestations and their impact on the natural environment. Deforestation should be approached from many angles, with an emphasis either on natural or anthropogenic processes. In the former case, deforestation is the result of fires, floods or strong winds. In the latter, it is caused by the logging activities of man, designed to collect building material or reclaim land for agricultural purposes. These mechanisms have alternated in the long post-glacial history of vegetation on the European Plain. They are interesting not only because they have led to the disappearance of large swathes of forests, but also because new processes are underway today, such as physical and chemical denudation, i.e. intensified hillslope processes, changes in meso- and microclimate conditions, and surface runoff modifications.

During fieldwork, we also collect lake deposits. In this case, we collected a core sample from a small forest lake in Bory Tucholskie, with Chara algae growing on the lake bed (photo by Słowiński, M.). During fieldwork, we also collect lake deposits. In this case, we collected a core sample from a small forest lake in Bory Tucholskie, with Chara algae growing on the lake bed (photo by Słowiński, M.). A key role in the research project was played by high-resolution analyses of biogenic core samples (of peat and lake deposits), which constitute true archives of the natural environment, archives that allow us to track how ecosystems reacted to changes in vegetation, deforestation and dehydration in the past, find out how long these changes lasted, and determine whether they were related to natural processes or human activities, such as land reclamation. Our findings have put us in a position to contribute to the debate on the consequences of planting pine or spruce tree monocultures in Poland. Our study has lent independent evidence to support the view that the introduction of the clear-cut harvest system in the Prussian partition at the end of the 18th century, followed by the artificial planting of single-age forest monocultures, dramatically affected the biodiversity of the forest, with consequences that rippled out to all related ecosystems, including lakes and peatlands. We are still paying the price for these changes to date. Generation after generation, these ecosystems show weaker resilience against extreme events, including insect epidemics, several outbreaks of which were recorded in the previous century, or violent weather phenomena, such as those we experienced in 2012 and 2017 in the north of Poland. Besides disrupting ecosystems, these events also entail important costs for the state budget.

Our project allowed us to outline the history of natural and anthropogenic deforestation. The findings shed new light on the history of deforestation, fires and the resilience of ecosystems that have emerged as a result of human activities. Our results have been published in renowned academic journals and presented at international conferences, which has allowed us to join in the ongoing debate on the impact of increasing anthropopression and climate change on the natural environment. We also proposed a comprehensive forest planning model, which taps paleoecological sources to account for the history of land use and determine the reference conditions for various ecosystems.

Deforestation of the drainage basin of the "Martwe" peatland reserve in the aftermath of the tornado that hit Bory Tucholskie in July 2012 (source: Google Earth). Deforestation of the drainage basin of the "Martwe" peatland reserve in the aftermath of the tornado that hit Bory Tucholskie in July 2012 (source: Google Earth).

Project title: Impact of catastrophic deforestations on the ecosystem of the lakes and peatlands of Bory Tucholskie

Dr hab. Michał Słowiński

Born in 1983. Habilitated doctor working at the Stanisław Leszczycki Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Paleoecologist, geographer and, above all, naturalist. In 2003-2007, he studied geography at the Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz and has been affiliated with the Stanisław Leszczycki Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization of the Polish Academy of Sciences since 2007. During his PhD studies, he won a scholarship awarded by DAAD German Academic Exchange Service to spend four months at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam. In 2012, he earned his PhD and, soon after his defence, travelled to Potsdam with his family for a postdoctoral fellowship at the GFZ, where he joined the team headed by Professor Achim Brauer and focused on "Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution". He stayed at the GFZ for two years, analysing laminate deposits from Lake Czechowskie (Northern Poland). In 2018, he was awarded the title of habilitated doctor at IGSO PAS, where he currently heads the Past Landscape Dynamic Laboratory. He boasts impressive achievements, takes an active part in international conferences, and has won many calls and grants. Within the framework of his research, he hopes to uncover mutual relations between human activities and the natural environment. He is interested in the processes and factors that influence ecosystems particularly affected by climate change, as well as the impact of landscape evolution on community life. He is a member of the Society of Wetland Scientists and International Paleolimnology Association and, in private, a proud and happy father of two world-curious children.

Dr hab. Michał Słowiński

NCN Director to become again member of Science Europe Governing Board

Wed, 11/27/2019 - 15:02

On the 27th of November 2019 the NCN Director Prof. Zbigniew Błocki was elected a member of the Science Europe Governing Board. This body consists of members who jointly make, guide and monitor the strategic direction of the Organisation.

Science Europe (SE) is an association of European Research Funding Organisations and Research Performing Organisations, based in Brussels. The National Science Centre joined SE in May 2012.

Science Europe represents major public organisations that fund or perform excellent, ground-breaking research in Europe. SE brings together the expertise of some of the largest and best-known research organisations in the world to jointly push the frontiers of how scientific research is produced and delivers benefits to society. The organisation also advocates science and the scientific community to help build the European Research Area and shape the global scientific agenda.

For more information please see: http://www.scienceeurope.org/.

Pre-announcement of the CEUS-UNISONO call for proposals

Fri, 11/22/2019 - 14:05

Pre-announcement of the CEUS-UNISONO call for proposals for research projects held in line with the Lead Agency Procedure.

CEUS-UNISONO call announcement 

In February 2020, the international CEUS-UNISONO call for proposals will be announced. The call will be open to proposals for research projects:

  • which involve basic research,
  • in all areas of research,
  • to be carried out in bilateral or trilateral cooperation by the Polish, Austrian, Czech and Slovenian research teams,
  • carried out over 24, 36 and in the case of cooperation with Austrian research teams - also  48 months, starting in 2021 at the earliest.

The call will be announced within the CEUS programme organised in cooperation between the NCN and foreign partner institutions from:

  • Austria (FWF – Austrian Science Fund – Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung),
  • Czech Republic (GAČR – Czech Science Foundation – Grantová agentura České Republiky),
  • Slovenia (ARRS- Slovenian Research Agency – Javna agencija za raziskovalno dejavnost Republike Slovenije).

The CEUS-UNISONO call will be held in line with the Lead Agency Procedure. The lead agency will perform the merit-based evaluation of submitted proposals under its domestic call open to such evaluation. Under the CEUS-UNISONO call, FWF, GAČR or ARRS[1] will act as the lead agency.

Proposals may be submitted to the respective lead agency (FWF, GAČR or ARRS), provided that:

  • in the case of bilateral projects: at least 40 % of the entire project costs must be applied for at the respective lead agency;
  • in the case of trilateral projects: at least 25 % of the entire project costs must be applied for at the respective lead agency.

The CEUS-UNISONO call will be open to NCN proposals to which joint proposals will be attached, drafted by research teams from two or three countries involved in the CEUS programme, according to the requirements of the respective lead agency under its domestic programme, i.e.:

NCN proposals drafted according to the requirements of the NCN should be submitted via the ZSUN/OSF (Integrated System of Services for Science/Servicing Financing Streams) electronic submission system available at https://osf.opi.org.pl), as soon as possible following submission of the joint proposal to the respective lead agency, within 7 calendar days at the latest.

The terms and conditions of domestic calls open under the CEUS programme by the foreign partner institutions, under which joint proposals will be submitted and evaluated, including the proposal submission date, will be set by the FWF, GAČR and ARRS, respectively.

  • Proposal submission dates in 2020 at the partner institutions acting as the lead agency:
    Agency Submission at the lead agency
    FWF

    No fixed proposal submission date;

    proposals can be submitted from 22 February 2020

    GAČR

    Proposal submission date:

    22 February-7 April 2020

    ARRS

    Proposal submission date:

    September-October/November 2020

    NCN

    Proposal submission date:

    from September 2020 till December 2020 under the OPUS
  • Proposal submission dates for domestic research teams at the respective partner institution other than the lead agency:

     

    Institution Submission dates for proposals for funding of domestic teams in the partner institutions other than lead agencies
    FWF

    No fixed proposal submission date;

    proposals can be submitted from 22 February 2020, as soon as possible following the submission of the joint proposal to the respective lead agency, within 7 calendar days at the latest, in accordance with the requirements of the respective institution

    GAČR

    ARRS

    NCN

    No fixed proposal submission date;

    proposals can be submitted from 24 February 2020, as soon as possible following the submission of the joint proposal to the respective lead agency, within 7 calendar days at the latest, in accordance with the CEUS-UNISONO call requirements

Proposals submitted under the CEUS-UNISONO call will be subject to an eligibility check carried out by the NCN and the FWF, GAČR and ARRS separately and merit-based evaluation carried out by the lead agency according to its rules.

Under the CEUS-UNISONO call, funds will be awarded to those research projects that are included in 20% of proposals with the highest marking under a domestic call opened by the lead agency within the CEUS program, whereby all engaged partner institutions award funding to their respective research teams.

Planned date of the announcement of first CEUS-UNISONO call results: second half of 2020.

More information on the CEUS-UNISONO call will be available in February 2020.

FWF call announcement 

CEUS pre-announcement on GAČR website

CEUS pre-announcement on ARRS website

NCN CONTACT PERSONS:

Dr Magdalena Godowska, tel. +48 12 341 90 16 (general enquiries)

Magdalena Dobrzańska-Bzowska, tel. +48 12 341 9094 (general enquiries)

FWF CONTACT PERSONS:

Dr. Christoph Bärenreuter, tel. +43 (0)1 / 505 67 40 – 8702, email: christoph.baerenreuter@fwf.ac.at

CONTACT GAČR:

Kamila Pětrašová, tel . +420 227 088 863, email: kamila.petrasova@gacr.cz

CONTACT ARRS:

Bojan Volf, tel. +386 1 400 5973, email: bojan.volf@arrs.si

Lead Agency Procedure in the CEUS-UNISONO call applicable to bilateral and trilateral projects

 

[1] In September 2020, proposals for funding of research projects carried out in bilateral or trilateral cooperation by the Polish, Austrian, Czech and Slovenian research teams will be accepted under the OPUS call, with the NCN acting as the Lead Agency, provided that:

- in the case of bilateral projects including Polish research team(s): at least 40 % of the entire project costs must be applied for at the NCN;

- in the case of trilateral projects including Polish research team(s): at least 25 % of the entire project costs must be applied for at the NCN.

 

 

Mid-Term Conference Follow-up

Fri, 11/22/2019 - 12:23

QuantERA Mid-Term Strategic Conference gathered more than 100 participants at the premises of the University of Granada, Spain on 13-14 November, 2019. The event was hosted by the University of Granada and Agencia Estatal de Investigacion (AEI) – a research funding organisation from Spain and QuantERA partner institution.

Materials from the meeting are available under the links in the text below.

The aim of the meeting was to present an overview of the current state of the quantum technology research funding in Europe and conduct a mid-term evaluation of the projects funded within the QuantERA Call 2017. The organizers managed to bring together a wide representation of various stakeholders, incl. European Commission, Quantum Flagship, QuantERA Projects, Research Funding Organisations, industry and quantum community. This resulted in fruitful discussions, spontaneous networking and valuable insights that could be used for future development of the QuantERA programme.

The meeting started with a warm welcome by prof. Enrique Playán Jubillar (AEI Director) and prof. Konrad Banaszek (the QuantERA Scientific Coordinator) followed by an absorbing key note speech given by prof. Nicolas Gisin and speeches of Mr. Pascal Maillot (European Commission) and prof. Tommaso Calarco (the Quantum Flagship). The landscape of the quantum research in Europe was complimented with insightful conclusions of the following guests within two panel discussions:

All 26 QuantERA projects funded within Call 2017 were presented during the scientific sessions which formed the key part of the event and provided ground for engaging discussions which exceeded the timeframe of the meeting. Mid-term presentations of the 26 QuantERA projects funded within the Call 2017 will be soon available at the subpages of individual projects at www.quantera.eu.

The event posed also a chance to meet the Coordinators of the projects recommended for funding within the QuantERA Call 2019 during an Introductory Meeting (presentation from the meeting is available here).

Prof. Konrad Banaszek, the Scientific Coordinator of QuantERA highlighted that “Projects funded in QuantERA Call 2017 produced a significant number of very exciting scientific results that were reported at mid-term review presentations. It was very gratifying for organisations participating in the QuantERA initiative to see that our programme has become an important component of supporting European research into quantum technologies.“

On behalf of the whole QuantERA Consortium we would like to take this opportunity to thank all the participants for their active engagement and valuable insights!

The opening presentation from the event:

Contact:

 

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