Proposals are now being accepted under SONATINA 9 and SHENG 4, which are open, respectively, to researchers within 3 years of earning their PhD and Polish teams working with Chinese partners. The total budget of the two calls equals PLN 86 million.

We are happy to announce the 9th SONATINA call for young researchers. In order to apply, the project’s PI must hold a PhD awarded between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2024, or expect to earn the degree by the end of June 2025. The SONATINA grant provides the funds necessary to cover all project expenses and secure the full-time employment of the PI at a Polish research centre. The PIs are also required to plan and complete a fellowship at a renowned foreign research centre of their choice.

The SHENG call for bilateral international research proposals is organised for the fourth time. This time, funding is available to Polish teams working in cooperation with Chinese partners on basic research projects in any discipline of life sciences (NZ1-NZ9), selected disciplines of art, humanities and social sciences (panels: HS6_01-HS6_08, HS6_14-HS6_15 covering research on human nature and human society), and selected disciplines of physical sciences and engineering (ST4: chemistry, ST5: computer science and information technologies, ST8: production and process engineering, and ST11: materials engineering). Grants under SHENG 3 can go toward funding research tasks, salaries for research team members, scholarships for graduate students and PhD candidates, research equipment and other necessary expenses of the Polish team. The SHENG call is organised jointly by the National Science Centre and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

Budget

The budget of SONATINA 9 is PLN 40 million, up by 100% from the previous edition of the call. The total funding available to Polish research teams under SHENG 4 has also reached a record level: 46 million, a threefold increase over SHENG 3, announced exactly two years ago, which had a budget of just PLN 15 million. These unprecedented levels of funding are possible because of a recent increase in the NCN budget.

Peer review and results

Proposals submitted under SONATINA and SHENG are evaluated by expert teams appointed by the NCN Council under three panels: HS (art, humanities and social sciences), ST (physical sciences and engineering), and NZ (life sciences). The review process consists of two stages. At stage 1, team members prepare independent reviews for each proposal and decide on their final scores together during a panel session. At stage 2, the proposals are submitted for review by external experts, i.e. scientists from around the world who specialise in the specific research field covered by each proposal. In addition, under SONATINA, the PIs are invited to an interview at the NCN offices; their final scores and rankings are then decided at the second panel meeting. Under SHENG 4, proposals are evaluated in parallel by the NCN and the NSFC, and grants are awarded only to projects recommended for funding by both agencies until the budget of the call is exhausted.

The results of the SONATINA call will be announced by September 2025 and for SHENG by the end of November 2025 at the latest.

New NCN panel list

The winter round of NCN call announcements is also accompanied by a modified list of panels under which proposals will be submitted and evaluated, the first such sweeping change in years. The changes were approved by the NCN Council in September, following many months of debates and consultations with the Polish research community. They are meant to align the NCN panel list more closely with that in use at the European Research Council and with the actual realities of research in our country. More information.

We present a preliminary timeline for calls operated by the National Science Centre in the year 2025.

The call timeline does not include multilateral calls launched by the international networks of research funding agencies, including the NCN, which are announced and pre-announced on the NCN website all year round according to the decisions of the participating agencies.

2025 call timeline

Download the NCN 2025 call timeline

Minister of Science Dariusz Wieczorek has appointed Dr hab. Marta Bucholc to the NCN Council. The Council is now restored to a full 24 members.

Dr hab. Marta Bucholc is a professor at the Faculty of Sociology of the University of Warsaw and Chercheuse Associée at Centre de recherche en science politique (CReSPo) at the Saint-Louis University in Brussels. Her interests center on the sociology of law, historical sociology, history of sociology and social theory. Specifically, she specialises in classical German sociology and the figurational theory of Norbert Elias, working to apply the figurational paradigm to the sociological study of legal cultures.

Dr hab. Marta Bucholc is a PI under an ERC Consolidator project, as well as a winner of three NCN calls (currently heading a SONATA BIS project). She also leads a Polish research team in a project funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. She worked as a research professor at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg “Recht als Kultur” at the University of Bonn, in addition to having been a visiting professor at the Saint-Louis University in Brussels and the University of Graz, a visiting bye-fellow at Selwyn College at Cambridge University, a fellow of the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and Imre Kertesz Kolleg in Jena, and a project fellow at the University of Munich.

Dr hab. Marta Bucholc has been appointed to serve on the NCN Council until 14 December 2026. She will take the place of Dr hab. Bogusław Przywora, who stepped down in May 2024.

In December this year, half of the current NCN Council Members will conclude their terms. New members, selected from among the candidates recommended by the Identification Team, will be officially appointed by the Minister of Science later this month. The official ceremony is planned to take place before Christmas.

1. The budget of the Polish part of the project in the joint proposal should be calculated according to the following exchange rates:

• in joint proposals, for which NCN proposals are processed in and submitted via the OSF submission system by 31 December 2024: 1 EUR = 4.5940 PLN;
• in joint proposals, for which NCN proposals are processed in and submitted via the OSF submission system from 1 January 2025: 1 EUR = 4,2717 PLN.

2. NCN proposals processed in the OSF submission system in 2024, with the exchange rate of 1 EUR = 4.5940 PLN, must be completed in and submitted via the OSF submission system by 31 December 2024 at 23:59:59. Otherwise, the proposal can no longer be edited, in which case the Polish research team must prepare a new proposal, with the exchange rate 1 EUR = 4,2717 PLN, and complete it in the OSF submission system. If a joint proposal has already been submitted to the lead agency, with the budget of the Polish part of the project calculated according to another exchange rate, the NCN proposal will be inconsistent with the joint proposal and as a consequence the proposal may be rejected on the grounds that it does not meet the eligibility criteria.
3. As of 1 January 2025, the updated Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as multilateral cooperation pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure shall apply.
4. Please consult the updated call documents, including the Guidelines for Polish research teams.

Free-living honeybee colonies in Europe, solar farms, urban transformation labs, marginal saltlands and healing forests will be at the centre of interest for five Polish research teams that have just won funding under BiodivNBS, a call for proposals organised by the BIODIVERSA+ European Biodiversity Partnership. Their total budget is more than PLN 5.8 million.

In the third call announced by the BIODIVERSA+ partnership thus far, researchers working at Polish research centres could apply for grants to finance international and interdisciplinary research projects in biodiversity protection, including both basic and applied research. Specifically, the subject of the BiodivNBS call was “Nature-Based Solutions for biodiversity, human well-being and transformative change”. Nature-Based Solutions are defined as actions to protect, conserve, restore, sustainably use and manage natural or modified ecosystems, which address social, economic and environmental challenges effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being, ecosystem services and biodiversity benefits.

Stage 1 of BiodivNBS attracted 183 pre-proposals; at stage 2, experts evaluated 108 full proposals. Funding was awarded to 34 projects with a total budget of more than EUR 40 million.

Successful projects that include Polish research teams:

1. FREE-B: Studying FREE-living honey Bee colonies in Europe: nature-based solutions to safeguard diversity, ensure resilience, and promote transformative change in beekeeping. Polish PI: Dr hab. Andrzej Oleksa, University of Bydgoszcz. Awarded grant: PLN 851,405.
2. Solar farms: an opportunity to recover biodiversity in farmlands. Polish PI: Dr Marcin Tobółka, Poznań University of Life Sciences. Awarded grant: PLN 520,940.
3. Enhancing Urban Sustainability for Environmental Quality and Human Well-being through Nature-Based Solutions Transformation Labs. Polish PI: Dr hab. Barbara Natalia Sowińska-Świerkosz, University of Life Sciences in Lublin. Awarded grant: PLN 1,200,480.
4. Salty symphonies: bringing back biodiversity in marginal saltlands. Polish PI: Prof. Dr hab. Katarzyna Hrynkiewicz, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. Awarded grant: PLN 1,434,720.
5. Planetary Health by Healing Forests as Nature Based Solution. Polish PI: Dr Paweł Mateusz Sowa, Medical University of Białystok. Awarded grant: PLN 1,769,248.

About BiodivNBS

BiodivNBS was launched in September 2023 and was open to international consortia composed of at least three research teams from at least three participating countries. The PI of the Polish team had to hold at least a PhD degree. The call was divided into two stages. At stage 1, Polish teams, in tandem with their international partners, had to submit joint pre-proposals, which were evaluated by an international team of experts. The best teams were then invited to submit full proposals for evaluation by the same experts at stage 2.

The BiodivNBS call was organised by 41 research-funding agencies and organisations from 34 countries. The Polish teams will be co-funded by the National Science Centre and the European Commission. Projects could be planned over 3 months, with no caps on the budget of any single project.

Four researchers received the 2024 Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science. The prize is given for outstanding research achievements and discoveries. This year’s winners are also the winning applicants of NCN calls.

The Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science is an individual prize awarded by the Council of the Foundation through a call for outstanding research achievements and discoveries that push the boundaries of cognition and open new cognitive perspectives, make an outstanding contribution to the civilisational and cultural progress of our country and give Poland a prominent place in tackling the most ambitious challenges of the contemporary world.

FNP Awards Gala, from left: Prof. Maciej Żylicz, President of the FNP, Dr. Sebastian Glatt, Prof. Krzysztof Sacha, Prof. Marcin Wodziński, Prof. Grażyna Jurkowlaniec, Chair of the FNP Council, Prof. Janusz Lewiński, photo: Paweł Kula/FNP The winners of the 2024 Prize of the Foundation of Polish Science were:

• Dr hab. Sebastian Glatt, from the Małopolska Centre of Biotechnology, who received the prize in Life Sciences and Earth Sciences for determining the structure and function of the Elongator complex affecting the accuracy of protein biosynthesis. His research focuses on nucleic acid metabolism, gene expression, modification of RNA molecules and regulation of protein synthesis in cells. Sebastian Glatt is a winning applicant of numerous NCN calls (4 x OPUS), and 2021 2021 NCN Award winner in Life Sciences.
• Prof. Janusz Lewiński, from the Faculty of Chemistry at the Warsaw University of Technology and the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences received the prize in Chemical and Material Sciences for developing mechanochemical methods for the synthesis of perovskites to enhance their photovoltaic properties. Prof. Lewinski’s research is multidisciplinary – his interests range from fundamental inorganic and organometallic chemistry to catalysis, chemistry and engineering of materials and functional nanomaterials, as well as nanotechnology. He is a seven-time laureate of NCN calls: he has managed five OPUS projects and two prestigious MAESTRO grants for experienced researchers.
• Prof. Krzysztof Sacha, from the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the Jagiellonian University received a prize in Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences for his formulation of the theory of time crystals. Prof. Sacha is a physicist, and his research work has included quantum chaos, ionisation in strong laser fields and ultra-cold atomic gases. He has been conducting research on temporal crystals for 10 years and is one of the pioneers in this discipline; this research has also been funded by the National Science Centre in OPUS calls. His research group is currently developing timotronics, thanks in part to funding from NCN in the MAESTRO call.
• Prof. Marcin Wodziński, from the Department of Judaic Studies at the University of Wrocław was given the prize in Humanities and Social Sciences for his innovative studies of Hasidism explaining the role of culture, politics and geography in shaping religious identities and interethnic relations. Prof. Wodziński is a historian and an eminent scholar of Hasidism. He is also a winning applicant of the OPUS call, in which he received a grant for research on Poles, Jews and their path to modernity.

Congratulations to all winners!

Seven hundred and nineteen researchers received grants for research projects in the OPUS 27 and PRELUDIUM 23 calls, with a total value of almost 665 million zlotys. In OPUS alone, a record was set – we awarded funding of 600 million zlotys. The highest budget in OPUS history.

The OPUS 27 and PRELUDIUM 23 calls were announced in March this year. OPUS is a broad-based call, in which researchers at any stage of their research career, regardless of age or level of experience, can apply for funding for basic research projects. With an OPUS grant, they can build large research teams, carry out research projects using large international research equipment, and undertake collaborations with foreign partners. The principal investigator must have at least one research paper published or accepted for publication or at least one artistic achievement or achievement in research in arts completed. Funding can be awarded 12, 24, 36 or 48 months. There is no upper funding limit for a single project and project budgets are included in the evaluation process.

PRELUDIUM is a unique call on a global scale which provides the opportunity to gain experience in independent research at a very early stage of research career, even pre-PhD. In this formula, early-stage researchers do not have to compete with more experienced scientists, and an important element of the project is the involvement of a mentor to support the principal investigator in the project. A PRELUDIUM project can be planned for 12, 24 or 36 months, with a maximum budget of 70, 140 or 210,000 zlotys, respectively.

In both calls, the NCN received a total of 4,359 proposals for a total amount of over 3.67 billion zlotys. Proposals were evaluated by experts who were members of the expert teams established by the NCN Council and by external reviewers at the second stage of evaluation. Funding was awarded to 719 projects for a total amount of nearly 664.8 million zlotys. In the OPUS call, grants were awarded to 357 projects worth over 603.6 million zlotys, while in the PRELUDIUM call – 362 projects received funding 61.2 million zlotys. This is the highest financial result in the history of OPUS, and the third highest budget in the history of PRELUDIUM. The success rate was 15.83% in the OPUS call and 17.21% in the PRELUDIUM call, respectively. The indicators are higher than in previous editions thanks to the increase in the budget of the National Science Centre included in the 2025 budget bill and – as a consequence – the decision of the NCN Council to increase the budgets of the calls that have just been awarded.

Over the past few years, due to budget constraints, the NCN has not been able to fund all of the projects that have been highly rated by experts. The success rate should be 25-30% in order to effectively support the most valuable research, maintain the competitiveness of Polish science on the international stage and prevent the outflow of the best researchers abroad. In recent days, the Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced an additional 500 million zlotys in bonds for 2025, which should significantly increase success rates in NCN calls.

OPUS 27 and PRELUDIUM 23 Ranking Lists

For more information on the funded projects, consult the ranking lists.

Research topics of OPUS and PRELUDIUM laureates

In the calls that have just been awarded, funding was given to projects on research into the past, as well as those concerning current global issues in the 21st century, and work on innovative solutions, the development and application of which may facilitate the future functioning of societies, the treatment of diseases and the protection of the environment.

In Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (HS), the PRELUDIUM grant was awarded to, among others, Mariusz Fornagiel, who at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow will analyse the social reactions of the inhabitants of Slovakia and southern Poland to the economic transition in 1944-1948. In the OPUS call, the HS grant was awarded to Prof. Barbara Będowska-Sójka from the Poznań University of Economics, whose project will investigate the interdependence of financial markets in the context of critical metal price dynamics during the transition to a net-zero economy. In Life Sciences (NZ), Blanka Świderska from the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences is among the PRELUDIUM winners. She will work on a new universal method for the isolation and deep proteomic characterisation of extracellular vesicles that can be used to study drug resistance in a childhood model of epilepsy. OPUS winners in Life Sciences include Dr hab. Piotr Bednarczyk from the University of Life Sciences, who will carry out research into the effects of nano-plastics on cellular damage and analyse the role of mitochondrial potassium channels in this context. Thanks to a PRELUDIUM grant in Physical Sciences and Engineering (ST), Agnieszka Rybarczyk will conduct research at Poznan University of Technology on nano-enzymes as a synthetic alternative to mimic natural biocatalysts. She will address their synthesis, characterisation, and application in the removal of micropollutants from the aquatic environment. The OPUS grant in ST was awarded to Prof. Artur Tyliszczak from the Częstochowa University of Technology, who will work on optimising the oxy-combustion of hydrogen and the co-combustion of hydrogen with ammonia using experimental techniques, high-performance numerical simulations and machine learning.

These are just a few examples; abstracts for the general of projects recommended for funding under OPUS 27 and PRELUDIUM 23 are available on the ranking lists.

Service of decisions

Decisions for rejected proposals and proposals recommended for funding under OPUS 27 and PRELUDIUM 23 have been sent out today. Decisions of the NCN Director are served on the applicants in the form of an electronic document to the electronic address indicated in the proposal form. Service of decisions of the NCN Director

Please join a meeting with Marcin Magierowski to be held on 4 December at 6 pm. The NCN Award winner will deliver a lecture in a series organised by the National Science Centre and the Copernicus Center.

Prof. Marcin Magierowski conducts multidisciplinary research in the biomedicine discipline. The main focus of his research is the beneficial effects of molecules considered harmful to life. A researcher from the Faculty of Medicine at the Medical College of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow received the 2024 NCN Award in Life Sciences.

He will talk about beneficial “poisons” at the meeting on 4 December, which will take place under the “Science at the Center” series. ”It will be a story about how much wisdom there is in the saying ‘don't judge a book by its cover’. The research inquisitiveness of many biomedical researchers in recent years has radically changed the perspective on the gaseous molecules – hydrogen sulphide and carbon monoxide, which were commonly considered as toxic. As a result, today we know that these molecules are produced in small quantities by our cells and have a number of protective and healing functions. Pharmacological compounds, on the other hand, capable of releasing them, may potentially serve as a new tool in the treatment of various conditions, particularly within the gastrointestinal tract, which time will ultimately verify”, the researcher announces in his lecture.

The meeting will begin at 6 pm and will be broadcast live on the Copernicus Center channel. During the meeting, questions can be asked in the chat room.

The European Research Council has published a list of 328 recipients of the Consolidator Grant 2024, including Prof. Małgorzata Kot, archaeologist from the University of Warsaw and former winner of NCN grants.

“We are the only living human species on Earth but it has not always been this way. As recently as fifty or sixty thousand years ago, the Earth was inhabited by several different hominid populations,” Prof. Małgorzata Kot says in a video released by the University of Warsaw. “What happened to the other hominids, why are we left alone?” These questions will be addressed by Prof. Kot owing to the ERC grant. 

Prof. Małgorzata Kot is an archaeologist and recipient of two NCN grants. Her scientific interests include the Palaeolithic, human evolution, changes in stone tool production methods and the functions of caves in prehistory. With the ERC grant, she will pursue the project “INASIA: Were They Modern Humans? The Problem of the Initial Upper Palaeolithic in West Central Asia.” Research will continue through 2029. “Years of wonderful adventure are just beginning. We would like to be able to say to what extent it was contact with other hominid species that shaped us as modern humans and to what extent we contributed to their extinction,” she says.

Prof. Małgorzata Kot is an NCN grant winner. “My new project #INASIA would never be possible if not for those years of research that I spent in Central Asia owing to NCN grants. They laid the groundwork, allowed me to pursue pilot studies and gave me wings (the latter especially useful in the mountains). #NCNtotlen,” she said on X.