We are announcing calls for basic research projects under OPUS 17 and PRELUDIUM 17 under a refreshed formula and a new international call MOZART, carried out in co-operation with the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). There is a total of PLN 335.5 million to win.

All scientists, regardless of the stage of their scientific careers, may participate in the OPUS call to fund research projects. As concerns the PRELUDIUM call, it is a chance for persons who do not have a doctoral degree yet to win a grant, while MOZART offers the possibility of obtaining funds for Polish-Austrian research projects by partnership teams from both countries.

OPUS 17 is a call addressed to a broad circle of recipients under which it will offer financial remuneration for a research team, scholarships for students or doctoral students, purchase or manufacture of equipment and other costs related to expenditures necessary for carrying out a research project. A Principal Investigator may be a person whose scientific achievements include at least one paper that has been published or accepted for printing, or one artistic achievement or artistic and scientific achievement. Projects carried out under the OPUS 17 call may last 12, 24 or 36 months, and the amount to be allocated stands at PLN 300 million.

PRELUDIUM 17 is a call addressed to researchers who have no doctoral degree and under which as much as 30% of the research project’s value may be obtained for equipment purchase. Funding amounts that may be applied for under the call: PLN 70,000 for projects lasting 12 months, PLN 140,000 for projects that are 24 months long and PLN 210,000 for projects for which the implementation period is 36 months. A research team may be comprised of a maximum of three persons, including the principal investigator and a scientific supervisor. In PRELUDIUM 17, scientists may be allocated as much as PLN 30 million.

“OPUS 17 and PRELUDIUM 17 are the first calls announced after the so-called Act 2.0 has come into force; it's therefore been necessary to adapt the terms and conditions of calls to its provisions. Modifications have also included the rules that govern granting scholarships under NCN projects.” says Małgorzata Kossowska, Chairwoman of the Council of the NCN. “Further to those changes, we would strongly advise applicants to read carefully the content of the announcement and call documentation.”

MOZART is an international call for projects carried out by Polish-Austrian research teams. Its budget amounts to PLN 5.5 million. It is organised under a bilateral co-operation between the National Science Centre and the Austrian Science Fund. The call focuses on Polish research teams which, together with their Austrian partners, may apply for project financing. MOZART offers opportunities for obtaining funds for remuneration of the research team, scholarships for under- and post-graduate students, purchase or manufacture of equipment and for covering other necessary expenditures related to the project. A scientist having at least a doctoral degree may be a principal investigator of the Polish team. A research project may last 24 or 36 months.

“We're very happy about expanding our international co-operation to include a call organised jointly with the Austrian Research Fund.” says Prof. Zbigniew Błocki, Director of the NCN. “The call is one of the elements of closer collaboration between agencies financing scientific research in the region of Central Europe.”

Proposals under the MOZART call shall be accepted on an ongoing basis. Proposals shall be submitted to both the NCN and the FWF: domestic proposals shall be submitted by Polish scientific teams via the ZSUN/OSF platform (https://osf.opi.org.pl), whereas joint proposals by Austrian scientific teams shall be submitted via the ELANE system https://elane.fwf.ac.at/. Proposals shall be evaluated pursuant to the rules applicable at FWF under the “Stand-Alone-Projects” programme, and in the case of evaluation of projects relating to clinical research, they shall be evaluated pursuant to the documents of the “Programme Clinical Research” (KLIF). The results of the MOZART call shall be known within 12 months from the submission date of a domestic proposal.

Proposals for OPUS 17 and PRELUDIUM 17 calls shall be submitted in an electronic form via the ZSUN/OSF platform (https://osf.opi.org.pl). The deadline for submitting proposals will expire on 17 June 2019, while the results will be known no later than in December 2019. Proposals shall be evaluated pursuant to a two-stage procedure by Expert Teams of the NCN consisting of eminent scientists specialising in a given discipline, supported by external experts, including foreign ones, too.

We have adopted a position on equal access of men and women to research funding. We have also prepared a brief report on the participation of male and female principal investigators in research projects funded by the NCN in the years 2011-2018.

• Position of the NCN
• Report on the participation of male and female principal investigators in research projects funded by the NCN in the years 2011-2018 (in Polish only)

The results of the MAESTRO 10, SONATA BIS 8 and HARMONIA 10 calls are in. Awardees have received the total sum of more than PLN 250 million for their research projects.

See ranking lists

We are pleased to announce that four projects involving Polish researchers have been awarded funding in the HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area) call for proposals. Within the call entitled Public Spaces: Culture and Integration in Europe over EUR 18 million have been granted to 20 research projects.

Polish projects awarded within the call:

1. BESTROM: Beyond stereotypes: cultural exchanges and the romani contribution to european public spaces. Polish Principal Investigator: dr hab. Anna Piotrowska, Jagiellonian University. The project will involve research teams from Finland, Spain and the UK.
2. HCPubS: Healthcare as a Public Space: Social Integration and Social Diversity in the Context of Access to Healthcare in Europe. Polish Principal Investigator: prof. dr hab. Paweł Łuków, University of Warsaw. The project will involve research teams from Croatia, Germany and Slovenia.
3. FestiVersities: European music festivals, public spaces and cultural diversity. Polish Principal Investigator: dr Karolina Golemo, Jagiellonian University. The project will involve research teams from Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland and the UK.
4. en/counter/points: en/counter/points: (re)negotiating belonging through culture and contact in public space and place. Polish Principal Investigator: dr Grażyna Szymanska-Matusiewicz, University of Warsaw. The project will involve research teams from the Netherlands, Germany, the UK and Italy.

Congratulations to all the laureates!

The Electronic Submission System (ESS) for the QuantERA Call 2019 is now open. The deadline for submitting short and full proposals is February 18^th, 2019, 17.00 Central European Time.

The link to the system is available here: https://aap.agencerecherche.fr/_layouts/15/SIM/Pages/SIMNouveauProjet.aspx?idAAP=1353

Guidelines and further information can be found under the following link: QuantERA Electronic Submission System Guidelines. The Financial Form that should be used for preparing the budget of an international consortium has been approved and is now ready for downloading: QuantERA Call 2019 Financial Form.

Please be reminded that Polish applicants within the QuantERA Call 2019 are also required to submit a national application (UNISONO) through the ZSUN/OSF system within the same deadline (i. e. until 18^th February 2019 r. at latest).

Contact:

• Sylwia Kostka (Programme Coordinator), e-mail: sylwia.kostka@ncn.gov.pl, tel: +48 12 341 9018
• Ewelina Szymańska-Skolimowska, e-mail: ewelina.szymanska-skolimowska@ncn.gov.pl, tel: +48 12 341 9155
• Marlena Wosiak, e-mail: marlena.wosiak@ncn.gov.pl, tel: +48 12 341 9018

The EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) initiative launched a new joint transnational call for multinational research projects on personalised medicine for neurodegenerative diseases. The call is launched in partnership with the European Commission and has a budget of ca. EUR 30 M.

Neurodegenerative diseases are debilitating and still largely untreatable conditions. They are characterised by a large variability in their origins, mechanisms and clinical expression. When searching for a medical solution, e.g. a treatment or an optimised approach for care, this large variability constitutes a major hurdle if not controlled. Indeed a treatment addressing one disease pathway may not be useful for all patients experiencing the relevant symptoms. Thus, one of the greatest challenges for treating neurodegenerative diseases is the deciphering of this variability.

The following neurodegenerative diseases are included in the call:

• Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias
• Parkinson’s disease and PD‐related disorders
• Prion diseases
• Motor neuron diseases
• Huntington’s disease
• Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA)
• Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)

JPND has chosen to focus in the area of Precision Medicine, which relates to the targeting of specific elements responsible for pathology in a given individual at a particular point in time. It is an emerging approach for disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment that takes into account individual variability in genes, biological/molecular characteristics together with environmental and lifestyle factors.

Thus, the call focuses on Precision Medicine in the following research areas:

• Diagnosis (e.g. biomarkers, imaging data, omics approaches, big data analyses)
• Prevention (e.g. biomarkers for studying novel treatments and interventions, co-morbidities, digital technologies, stratification within cohort studies and clinical trials)
• Care (e.g. improvement of social and health care systems, molecular profiling, imaging, lifestyle data)

A two-stage application procedure (pre-proposals and full proposals) will be open for consortia composed of researchers from at least three countries participating in the call: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany *, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

*to be confirmed

All applicants are advised to check the relevant national eligibility criteria and requirements, as those provide important information, for instance on how to fill out the budget tables.

Draft timetable for applications:

• Deadline for pre-proposal submission: 12^th March 2019, 15.00 CET
• Deadline for full proposal submission: 25^th June 2019, 15.00 CET
• Submission deadline for UNISONO proposals for the participating Polish teams: 2^nd July 2019, 23.59 CET.
• Notification of accepted proposals: October 2019

Projects duration: 24 or 36 months.

Call documents:

• Call Text
• Pre-proposal template
• Pre-proposal guidelines 

For more information please visit the call website:

http://www.neurodegenerationresearch.eu/initiatives/annual-calls-for-proposals/open-calls/personalised-medicine-2019/

Contact:

• dr Małgorzata Hasiec, tel. 12 341 9153
• Marlena Wosiak, tel. 12 341 9093

Information for Polish applicants:

1. We strongly encourage all applicants to read information on rules of participation and eligible costs included in the Annex to NCN Council’s Resolution on funding granted within calls for proposals for international research projects (UNISONO).
2. At the pre-proposal stage Polish applicants are not required to send any additional documents to the NCN.
3. Up to 7 days from the full proposal stage (no later than 2^nd July 2019) Polish applicants must submit their national applications in the ZSUN/OSF submission system. The application will include a budget that should be calculated according to the Annex to NCN Council’s Resolution on funding granted within calls for proposals for international research projects (UNISONO).
4. If one international project includes partners from two or more different Polish Host Institutions, these institutions apply as a group of projects. Each entity within the group has a separate budget, but the limit on the remuneration applies to the group as a whole (please see UNISONO). Please note that groups of projects have higher limits on the remuneration. 
5. Projects including Polish teams may last 24 or 36 months.
6. Budget of the Polish part of the research project in the ZSUN/OSF system should be given in PLN: 1 EUR= 4,1733 PLN.

A Polish research team has made the list of winners of the JPI UE – CHINA call: Sustainable and Liveable Cities and Urban Areas for international research projects. The call was organised by the Chinese funding agency NSFC and the JPI Urban Europe  network, the umbrella for the National Science Centre.

Project entitled Urban nitrogen cycles: new economy thinking (UNCNET) to master the challenges of climate change will be carried out by researchers from Austria, China and Poland. Polish team will be headed by dr Monika Suchowska-Kisielewicz from the University of Zielona Góra

Entitled Sustainable and Liveable Cities and Urban Areas the call drew 122 submissions. 11 research projects were selected to receive funding of 10,8 million Euro.

On Monday, 17 December 2018, the grand opening of the new registered office of the National Science Centre was held in Kraków. The event was attended by Jarosław Gowin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and Higher Education. Furthermore, the Deputy Prime Minister handed over nominations to the newly appointed NCN Council Members.

After eight years of renting offices, the National Science Centre acquired its own property. The grants administration centre and place of Expert Team meetings is now located at ul. Twardowskiego 16 in Krakow. The final sale agreement pursuant to which the building was purchased from Moonoffice was entered into on 22 June 2018. The National Science Centre moved its registered office to the new building on 1 December 2018.

“The fact that the National Science Centre has been located in Krakow is a great opportunity for the city, which is why I always wanted the institution guided by the world highest standards to have its own permanent registered office and to have it in a building at the highest international standard” said Vice Prime Minister Gowin at the opening ceremony. 

At present, the National Science Centre employs over 170 people. The calls for proposals are conducted almost all year round, which is why most of the office space at the NCN is constantly used by the Expert Teams for their meetings, during which funding decisions are taken following multi-stage evaluation procedures. Additionally, more and more calls are announced, during which interviews are held with the applicants as part of the evaluation procedure. Those activities require a large number of conference rooms. The new building meets all those needs.

“We have rented an office space of approx. 3,500 sqm so far. The extra space will be used for additional conference rooms and new purposes, e.g. a canteen. Furthermore, we are expecting employment at the NCN to increase over the next few years due to the ever-increasing grant-in-aid and number of proposals submitted to the NCN” says prof. Zbigniew Błocki, NCN Director.

The purchase of a new building for the NCN’s registered office has solved the problem pending since the date of the decision to establish the National Science Centre and locate it in Krakow. In 2010, the authorities of the City of Kraków proposed to locate the National Science Centre in the buildings at Mały Rynek. However, they turned out not to meet the requirements of the institution that was being created. Since then, a number of locations has been discussed upon but none was chosen for many different reasons. It took a year to purchase the new building. It is a modern office building that has been recently delivered for use, has a usable space of 5,300 sqm and has been built in accordance with the LEED certification awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council.

“This purchase would not be possible without the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and Deputy Prime Minister Gowin in particular, who managed to secure funds for the transaction in the 2018 state budget” says prof. Błocki.

Along with the grand opening, the new Council Members received nominations for the 2018-2020 term of office. The former Council Members, who looked after the highest level of the NCN’s activity during their term of office, were released from their duties. The Minister of Science and Higher Education appointed twelve outstanding Polish scientists in their place. They will be responsible for, inter alia, determining the priority areas of basic research, specifying the terms of the calls announced by the NCN, announcing the calls for doctoral scholarship and post-doctoral fellowships and selecting members of the Expert Teams to evaluate proposals submitted with the NCN.

The National Science Centre has announced the SONATINA and UWERTURA calls for the third time and ETUIDA call for the seventh time. Polish scientists can apply for funding of their research projects, doctoral scholarships and foreign fellowships. The total call budget is PLN 56,000,000.

The SONATINA 3 call for proposals is aimed at persons who have been awarded a doctorate within 3 years before submitting the proposal or will be awarded a doctorate by the end of June 2019. The objective of the call is to provide young researchers with employment opportunities and possibility to carry out research in Polish research institutions and to allow them to gain experience during fellowships in foreign research institutions. Research projects will be carried out over the period 24 or 36 months, whilst foreign fellowships will last between 3 and 6 months. The amount designated to cover the cost of foreign stay under SONATINA 3 has been increased from PLN 9,000 to 12,000. The call budget is PLN 35,000,000.

UWERTURA 3 is a call for proposals intended for experienced researchers, preparing them to apply for prestigious grants of the European Research Council (ERC). Researchers wishing to apply for fellowships in foreign research teams using ERC grants must be holders of at least a doctorate degree. Work in international research teams is a great opportunity to gain valuable experience. A researcher must apply for an ERC grant within 18 months of completing the fellowship. Such grant must be used at a Polish research institution with the researcher acting as a principal investigator. The fellowship will last at least 3 and no more than 6 months. This year, the call has been allocated PLN 1,000,000. 

ETIUDA 7 is a call aimed at researchers on the threshold of their careers in research, i.e. applicants who have embarked on a doctorate or will embark on a doctorate at a Polish research institution by 30 April 2019. Young researches may be awarded a scholarship of PLN 4,500 per month, for a period of 6 to 12 months. Doctoral scholarships will be funded as of 1 October 2019. Furthermore, the grant may be allocated for fellowships at a foreign research institution lasting between 3 and 6 months. Under ETIUDA 7, the amount to cover the cost of foreign stay has been increased from PLN 9,000 to 12,000. The call budget is PLN 20,000,000, i.e. PLN 5,000,000 more than last year.

“The purpose of the calls we have just announced is to increase the mobility of Polish researchers, in particular young researchers. We know how important it is for researchers to exchange experience in international research teams, on which the contemporary science relies. We wish to create the best conditions possible for Polish researchers to work abroad and have therefore decided to increase the amount allocated for scholarships to PLN 12,000” says Zbigniew Błocki, NCN Director.

By 15 March 2019, proposals under the calls announced by the National Science Centre will be submitted via the ZSUN/OSF system. They will undergo a two-stage evaluation by the NCN Expert Teams comprising outstanding researchers specialising in their particular fields, supported by external reviewers, including foreign experts.

The results of the SONATINA 3, UWERTURA 3 and ETIUDA 7 calls will be known in autumn of 2019 .

The call announcements are available on the NCN’s website.