The HERA Network is pleased to announce a new Joint Research Programme (JRP): Public Spaces: Culture and Integration in Europe in the area of humanities. The HERA JRP PS wants to mobilize the wide range of multi-disciplinary perspectives necessary to understanding the relationships between “public space”, culture and other phenomena, such as e.g. European integration, migration, globalisation, digitisation.

Proposals involving humanities-led research can be submitted by balanced consortia involving four or more Principal Investigators eligible to HERA JRP PS funders from four or more different countries. All research teams will be urged to include non-academic stakeholders as associate partners in their consortiums, such as: museums, NGOs, media. Each proposal can apply for research funding up to a maximum amount of 1 M€ (across all partners), should be between 24 and 36 months in duration and should commence by May 2019.

Countries participating in the call:

Austria, Belgium (Wallonia), Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

Applicants are invited to use the HERA Public Spaces Partner search tool which facilitates matches between potential partners with similar ideas. It provides the opportunity to express interest either in joining a research proposal or to search for partner(s) for an existing proposal.

The draft timetable for applications is:

• Outline Proposals to be submitted 24th October 2017, 14:00 Central European Summer Time
• In February 2018 shortlisted applicants will be invited to submit Full Proposals until 9 May 2018
• Call results: end of 2018
• Project start: January-May 2019

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE CALL

Information for Polish applicants:

1. On the full proposal stage Polish applicants must register their applications in the OSF submission system (UNISONO application). The application includes the following budget table: http://ncn.gov.pl/sites/default/files/pliki/UNISONO_budget_table.xlsx.
2. We strongly encourage all applicants to read information on eligible costs included in the Annex to NCN Council’s Resolution on funding granted within calls for proposals for international research projects (UNISONO, s. 5-12).
3. Projects including Polish teams may last 24 or 36 months.
4. If one international project includes partners from two different Polish Host Institutions, these institutions must apply as a consortium.  Each Host Institution comprising the consortium has a separate budget, but the limit on the remuneration, referred to in paragraph 2.1.2 of the above mentioned document, applies to the consortium as a whole (please see UNISONO, p. 8-9). Please note that Polish consortia have higher limits on the remuneration.  
5. Budget of the Polish part of the research project in the OSF system should be given in PLN: 1 EUR= 4,4232 PLN.

Contact:

dr hab. Wojciech Sowa, tel: +48 12 341 9171

Anna Kotarba, tel. 12 341 9091

On 10^th August, the National Science Centre (NCN) concluded the first edition of the UWERTURA call. This funding opportunity has attracted 24 applicants, 7 of whom will receive financing worth a total of € 133,665.

UWERTURA 1 is an opportunity addressed to researchers with a doctorate or a higher level academic qualification, who have carried out an NCN-funded research project as a principal investigator. The programme’s aim is to help the Polish research community successfully apply for European resources, and to increase their share among laureates of ERC grants. Polish researchers will be gathering indispensable international experience by visiting research teams abroad working on ERC-financed projects; subsequently, within 18 months of returning to Poland, the visiting researchers themselves will be required to prepare and submit a research proposal to ERC.

The UWERTURA call was developed in cooperation with the European Research Council and is addressed to researchers interested in applying for ERC grants, said professor Zbigniew Błocki, the director of the NCN. This arrangement was devised to enable them to enter into collaboration with and learn from those who have already received such grants. Poland is among 7 European countries taking part in this type of programme.

There were 24 researchers competing for the ERC fellowships. A sum of almost € 134,000 will be distributed among the 7 winners. The successful proposals were submitted by representatives of the AGH University of Science and Technology, University of Warsaw, Jagiellonian University, University of Gdansk, University of Wroclaw and two research institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences: the Institute of Botany and the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology. The researchers will work on such topics as the impact of extreme waves on the environment of the Arctic coasts or biomedical uses of quantum dots.

A ranking list of the projects recommended for funding has been published in Polish on the National Science Centre’s website.

The National Science Centre (the NCN) has concluded the first edition of the SONATINA call. Laureates of the programme will receive ca € 5.75 million, which will fund not only their research, but also their visiting fellowships in research institutions abroad. The Centre has also published the names of the first laureates of the MINIATURA funding scheme for specific single research activities.

SONATINA is an opportunity for researchers who within the previous 3 years have received their doctorate. Funding offered to the grantee under the programme includes full-time employment in a Polish research institution, realisation of their research project, and a visiting fellowship at a research centre abroad of 3 to 6 months. The programme’s first edition has seen 123 proposals, of which 36 have been approved for funding. The winning projects’ budget has totalled ca € 5.75 million.

SONATINA is a new funding scheme of ours, while at the same time it comes as a continuation of the ministerial Iuventus Plus programme, said professor Zbigniew Błocki, director of the National Science Centre. Thanks to a sizeable increase in the Centre’s budget by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the success ratio of the call’s first edition reached 29 per cent, very close to the optimal 30 per cent.

The Iuventus Plus programme, taken over from the Ministry, has been incorporated in the NCN’s existing offer as an element of a coherent structure. SONATINA is a funding opportunity for those who have earned their doctorate relatively recently, and subsequently seek, on the one hand, stable employment, and on the other: investment in international cooperation. After completion of the grant, researchers may apply for funding under the SONATA scheme for more experienced doctorate holders, as well as SONATA BIS, which enables its laureates to form a research team.

44 research proposals have been submitted in the domain of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, resulting in 6 funding recommendations for projects worth over € 766,000. They include a project analysing early medieval objects related to religious worship, unearthed on Polish territories. Its principal investigator will be Paweł Szczepanik, PhD, of the Faculty of History, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, and the funding of the project comes close to € 95,000.

The domain of Life Sciences has seen 31 proposals, of which 11 have been approved, securing a total budget of more than € 2.15 million. Among them is the research on the influenza A virus, carried out by doctor Elżbieta Lenartowicz of the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences. The researcher will work with a budget of ca € 240,000.

The most numerous, 48-strong response has come from the representatives of Physical Sciences and Engineering. 19 proposals have been awarded funding, more than € 2.82 million in total. Among the beneficiaries is the Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences, Adam Mickiewicz University. This is where Arkadiusz Tomczyk, MA, will conduct his project on the significance of disturbances in the upper and middle troposphere for the forecasting of extreme air temperature values in Central Europe. The research has received funding of over € 105,000.

The National Science Centre has also published the first results of the MINIATURA call for single research activities, in which researchers holding a doctorate degree may secure funding of library and archival research, research travels and conferences. Unlike other NCN calls, MINIATURA, or the “small grant” programme, welcomes submissions on a continuous basis, and the review procedure is simplified. Ranking lists of the MINIATURA 1 opportunity will be thus regularly updated until the end of 2017. In the call’s first round, 8 projects received funding, ranging from € 1,437 to ca € 11,730.

Ranking lists of the projects recommended for funding under the SONATINA 1 and MINIATURA 1 schemes have been published in Polish on the National Science Centre’s website.

We would like to invite all researchers to participate in new international funding opportunities in Life Sciences.

In October 2017, BiodivERsA together with Belmont Forum plans to open a new funding opportunity on the following theme:

Scenarios of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Deadline for proposals submission: March 2018.

For more information please follow BiodivERsA webpage, Belmont Forum webpage and the appendix.

Contact:

Marcin Liana, marcin.liana@ncn.gov.pl, tel. +48 12 341 91 61

Joanna Komperda, joanna.komperda@ncn.gov.pl, tel. +48 12 341 91 38

On 26 July, the National Science Centre decided on the results of the 5^th edition of the ETIUDA funding opportunity. This year, the agency will contribute nearly € 2.4 million contribute to doctoral scholarships. 389 researchers have submitted their applications, and 97 will receive funding.

ETIUDA is a funding opportunity offering doctoral scholarships, addressed to researchers working on their dissertations. Laureates will receive a monthly salary of ca € 1,000 and will visit a foreign research centre of their choice as fellow.

In the fifth edition of the programme, we have decided to increase the scholarships by € 360 as compared with previous years, said professor Janusz Janeczek, chair of the Council of the NCN. This will enable young scholars to devote their full time to their research, and thanks to the fellowship component they will be able to work under the supervision of the best specialists in their respective fields.

It is paramount for our community to cooperate more closely with partners from abroad. The mobility and cooperation between different centres is a key element in the success of ambitious research projects, added professor Zbigniew Błocki, director of the NCN. This is why we are trying to provide the new generation of researchers with the conditions that will help them develop their contact networks and navigate comfortably in an international environment.

Applicants in ETIUDA 5 have represented different research disciplines. Submissions have been sent from large and small academic centres alike. Also the profiles of research centres chosen by the applicants as hosts of their fellowship visits are vastly diverse: they range from universities and research institutes to private-owned R&D businesses.

In the domain of Life Sciences, 112 proposals have been received, whereas the funding of nearly € 695 thousand will be distributed among 27 projects. One of them is the project by Bronisława Szarzyńska-Zawadzka, MSc, of the Institute of Human  Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences. The researcher from Poznań will investigate genetic factors in acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children. The project has been awarded over € 26,000, and the researcher will go for a scholarship at the Center for Medical Genetics Ghent.

120 proposals have been submitted in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Funding will go to 30 of them, with a total budget of almost € 719 thousand. The list of successful projects includes, for instance, the research proposed by Michał Żmuda, MA, of the University of Rzeszów, on the relation between digital games and literary tradition. The author will be fellow researcher at the IT University of Copenhagen, and the project’s budget is € 25,000.

Most proposals, as many as 157, have sent researchers representing Physical Sciences and Engineering, where the total funding of ca € 958 thousand will be shared by 40 winners. One of them is Ewelina Witkowska, MSc, of the Lodz University of Technology. The researcher, with interest in organic electronics, will investigate polymer electroluminescent diodes. Her project has been granted funding of € 26,500, and she will carry out her research at the laboratories of the Belgian company Imec Vzw.

List of awarded projects.

For a long time scientists have predicted the existence of Earth-mass free-floating planets, ejected from their parent planetary systems and gravitationally unbound to any star. Polish astronomers working at the OGLE survey at the Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory for the first time found hints of a population of these objects. The discovery has been published in the prestigious journal Nature.

Some planetary systems are not as stable as our Solar System. Planet-planet interactions in young planetary systems may cause collisions, smashing into the central star, or – most likely – ejections from the parent system. Free-floating (rogue) planets can also be formed as a result of other processes, like interactions in stellar clusters or stellar fly-bys. Unfortunately, rogue planets (except for very young objects) cannot be directly observed, because they do not emit light. They can be, however, detected with the technique of gravitational microlensing.

An artist's impression of a gravitational microlensing event by a free-floating planet. Credit: J. Skowron / Warsaw University Observatory

If a massive object (a star or a planet) passes between an Earth-based observer and a distant source star, its gravity may deflect and focus light from the source. The observer will measure a short brightening of the source star – explains Przemek Mróz, a PhD student at the Warsaw University Observatory and the lead author of the study.

The observed signal is independent of the lens' brightness and so dark objects, like black holes and planets, can be detected this way. Duration of microlensing events depends on the lens' mass – the less massive the lens, the shorter the microlensing event. Most of the observed events, which typically last several days, are caused by stars. Microlensing events caused by Jupiter-mass lenses usually last 1–2 days, whereas Earth-mass – barely a few hours. The probability of microlensing of a single source is very low, so modern microlensing surveys are monitoring hundreds of millions of stars in the Milky Way center every night.

The first attempt to find the free-floating planets was the 2011 analysis of microlensing events discovered by the Japan/New Zealand MOA survey. According to that work, free-floating Jupiter-mass planets should be twice as common as stars. The 2011 paper attracted considerable attention. However, over the years, serious doubts were cast over the claims of a large population of Jupiter-mass free-floating planets – says Prof. Andrzej Udalski, the principal investigator of the OGLE project.

The 2011 analysis was based on a relatively small sample of events. Moreover, infrared surveys of young stellar clusters discovered significantly less substellar-mass objects, while theorists predicted relatively few Jupiter-mass free-floating planets (most of the ejected planets should be Earth-mass objects).

New observations conducted by the OGLE survey during the years 2010–15 solved this mystery. The survey uses a dedicated 1.3-m telescope located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile, in one of the best astronomical sites in the world. Images collected using the Polish telescope are of better quality than those used in the previous analysis, which enabled astronomers to measure the microlensing timescales more precisely. Some regions of the sky were monitored once every 20 minutes. These very frequent observations enabled the team to discover very short duration microlensing events caused by freefloating planets.

We analyzed light curves of almost 50 million stars that were monitored for six years, which gives a total of 400 billion of photometric measurements – says Przemek Mróz. We did not find a significant excess of events lasting 1–2 days, which can be attributed to Jupiter-mass free-floating planets. This indicated that for every 100 stars, there should be less than 25 Jupiter-mass free-floaters, consistent with our expectations from planet formation theories.

Astronomers, however, found a handful of extremely short events, which lasted a few hours. Such events are likely caused by Earth- and super-Earth-mass objects.

The sensitivity of our experiment to such events is very low, meaning that a very few detections imply the existence of a large population of Earth-mass free-floating planets – says Udalski.

Nevertheless, we cannot exclude the possibility that some of the ultrashort events that we found may be unknown flaring stars or some other astrophysical sources – points out Dr Jan Skowron, a co-author of the study.

Currently, we reached the maximum sensitivity to short-timescale events from a single Earth-based observatory – says Przemek Mróz. Future space-based microlensing experiments, like WFIRST and Euclid, will enable the exploration of these short events in more detail.

The discovery would be impossible without long-term observations conducted by the OGLE sky survey. The project is among the largest and longest sky surveys, this year it celebrates its 25^th anniversary. One of the first goals of the OGLE survey was searching for and studying dark matter using the gravitational microlensing technique. Current studies cover a large range of topics – searching for exoplanets, studying the structure and evolution of the Milky Way and neighboring galaxies, studies of variable stars, quasars, transients (novae, supernovae, tidal disruption events, etc).

The paper that describes the discovery has been published in Nature: No large population of unbound or wide-orbit Jupiter-mass planets, Przemek Mróz, Andrzej Udalski, Jan Skowron, Radosław Poleski, Szymon Kozłowski, Michał K. Szymański, Igor Soszyński, Łukasz Wyrzykowski, Paweł Pietrukowicz, Krzysztof Ulaczyk, Dorota Skowron & Michał Pawlak, 2017, Nature, doi:10.1038/nature23276.

The National Science Centre invites research institutions to declare commitment as potential Host Institutions to Dioscuri Centres of Scientific Excellence. Applications for the establishment of Dioscuri Centres may come from basic organisational units and research centres of higher education institutions, research units of the Polish Academy of Sciences, research institutes, international research institutes established on the territory of Poland, Polish Academy of Learning, other research institutions established on the territory of Poland. The deadline for submissions expires on 2^nd October 2017.

Submissions meeting the formal requirements will be published alongside the Dioscuri call announcement, thus helping researchers find the right research institution in Poland. Researchers will be able to choose an institution from beyond the published list, provided that the institution meets the formal requirements and will commit to satisfy the basic conditions specified in the announcement.

Dioscuri is an initiative by the Max Planck Society (MPG), intended to establish Centres of Scientific Excellence in Central and Eastern Europe. The Centres will enable outstanding researchers to carry out top level research at research institutions in this part of Europe.

For details of the Dioscuri programme and all formal requirements, see the call announcement.

Kontakt:

Marcin Liana, tel. 12 341 9161

Małgorzata Jacobs-Kozyra, tel. 12 341 9173

On 4^th July at the Wawel Royal Castle in Krakow, the National Science Centre (NCN) and the Max Planck Society (MPG) signed an agreement providing for the establishment of ten Dioscuri Centres of Scientific Excellence at Polish research units.Present at the ceremony was the Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education, Jarosław Gowin, whereas the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research was represented by its Director General, Volker Rieke. On behalf of the NCN, the agreement was signed by the Centre’s director, professor Zbigniew Błocki, and professor Martin Stratmann, the president of the MPG signed the document for his institution. Also present was the Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Krakow, dr Michael Groß.

Dioscuri is an initiative by the Max Planck Society, Germany’s independent research institution, intended to establish Centres of Scientific Excellence in Central and Eastern Europe. The Centres will enable outstanding researchers to carry out research on world’s top level. The signing of the agreement between the MPG and the NCN on 4^th July will inaugurate the programme. The undertaking will help bring to Poland outstanding leader researchers, who will set up their research teams here. This will offer researchers from all around the world an opportunity to work in the best international teams.

It has been a little more than a year now since I announced a development strategy for research and higher education in Poland, the document beginning with the phrase “Strategy for scientific excellence.” It is the most important direction for both the Polish government and the country’s academic community. Today, by entering into cooperation with the Max Planck Society, we take another step towards that excellence, said Minister Gowin. Evident is the convergence of the direction of the planned reforms in Poland’s science and higher education and the solutions that have functioned in Germany for years. For this reason today’s ceremony is one of great importance. The opportunity for the Polish researchers to collaborate with the Max Planck Society is an exceptional chance for science in Poland. I am positive that today’s event will initiate a number of breakthroughs in research.

The agreement signed on 4^th July between the MPG and the NCN will significantly reinforce Polish-German ties in research. The framework agreement provides for ten research labs to be established at Polish research units specialising in different fields. Each newly established Centre will cooperate with a German Mentor Institution, and its funding will be provided by the NCN from the resources contributed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Establishing ten Dioscuri Centres of Scientific Excellence in Poland, thanks to the programme coordinated jointly by the Max Planck Society and the National Science Centre, will be a positive stimulus for research in Poland. Mobility in science is prerequisite for the rise in prestige of Poland’s scholarly community and for the progress of research at home: it does not have to be limited to leaving the country, explained professor Zbigniew Błocki. Owing to the Dioscuri programme, with the support of the Max Planck Society, we will be able to encourage world-class researchers to work in Poland.

The Centres will be set up by outstanding researchers selected following a series of international competitions. The first one will be announced in October 2017 and concluded in 2018. In the pilot edition there will be up to three winners, thus to form first three Centres.

In the event of successful application under the Dioscuri opportunity, the research institution acting as host to the planned Centre will receive annually the equivalent of € 300,000 to spend exclusively on the Centre’s operations. As a deliberate measure, the remuneration for the Centre’s investigator is supposed to be at an internationally competitive level. A project’s leader will be paid € 100,000 a year. The funding period is 5 years, and may be extended by further 5 years (on condition that it passes assessment and there is funding available).

Ten Dioscuri Centres of Scientific Excellence will be established at Polish research institutions as a result of signing a framework agreement between the National Science Centre (NCN) and the Max Planck Society (MPG). The official signing will take place on 4^th July at the Wawel Castle in Krakow.

Dioscuri is an initiative by the Max Planck Society, Germany’s independent research institution, intended to establish Centres of Scientific Excellence in Central and Eastern Europe. The Centres will enable outstanding researchers to carry out research on world’s top level. The signing of the agreement between the MPG and the NCN on 4^th July will inaugurate the programme.

The plan provides for ten Dioscuri Centres to be established in Poland, with existing organisations acting as their host institutions. Each newly established Centre will cooperate with a German Mentor Institution, and its funding will be provided by the NCN from the resources contributed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

The founding of the Centres was announced in April at Hannover Messe by the Minister of Science and Higher Education Jarosław Gowin. He stressed that Poland and Germany, under the patronage of the highly prestigious name of Max Planck Institutes, would jointly finance international research teams.

Dioscuri Centres of Scientific Excellence offer an opportunity to bring to Poland outstanding leader researchers, who will set up their research teams here. Selection of these leaders will follow a rigorous competition procedure, with international experts as referees, under the auspices of the renowned Max Planck Society. The same body of referees will later evaluate the progress of the teams’ work, said professor Marta Miączyńska, a member of the Council of the National Science Centre involved in the programme’s launch.

The Centres will be established by outstanding scholars, selected in a series of international calls. The researchers and their respective scientific institutions will be able to compete for the opportunity in October 2017. The call will be concluded in 2018. In the pilot edition there will be up to three winners, thus to form first three Centres.

The Dioscuri programme is an excellent opportunity for Polish research units to set up new teams at a truly world class level. I hope that our universities and research institutes will not fail to take it, and they will do everything they can to secure the best conditions for these largely international teams. The NCN will systematically monitor whether this actually is the case, when the programme will have started, said professor Zbigniew Błocki, Director of the NCN.

The Max Planck Society is no doubt one of the most recognisable and robust research organisations in Europe, added professor Janusz Janeczek, the Chair of the Council of the NCN. The MPG coordinates the work of several dozen research institutes in Germany and overseas. It is therefore a chance for us – both at the NCN, but also for the Polish research community as a whole – to draw on the experience and contacts of a partner who sets the standards in today’s science.

In the event of successful application under the Dioscuri opportunity, the research institution acting as host to the planned Centre will receive annually the equivalent of € 300,000 to spend exclusively on the Centre’s operations. As a deliberate measure, the remuneration for the Centre’s investigator is supposed to be at an internationally competitive level. A project’s leader will be paid € 100,000 a year. The funding period is 5 years, and may be extended by further 5 years (on condition that it passes assessment and there is funding available).

I am positive that the activity of the Dioscuri Centres will yield us important discoveries and will help us propagate Polish research achievement around the world. It’s also another chance to reinforce Polish-German ties in research, for nowadays science requires intensive international cooperation. I am also hoping that the Dioscuri Centres will influence their immediate surroundings at Polish research units, promoting high standards and scientific excellence, concluded professor Miączyńska.

The official signing of the agreement between the National Science Centre and the Max Planck Society will take place on 4^th July at the Wawel Royal Castle in Krakow. The Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education will be represented by its head, minister Jarosław Gowin. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research will be represented by the secretary of state, Cornelia Quennet-Thielen. On behalf of the NCN, the agreement will be signed by the Centre’s director, professor Zbigniew Błocki, and professor Martin Stratmann, the president of the MPG will sign the document for his institution. Also present will be the Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Krakow, dr Michael Groß.

We would like to invite all researchers to participate in DAINA – a new funding opportunity for joint Polish-Lithuanian research teams to be launched by the National Science Centre (NCN) and the Research Council of Lithuania (Lietuvos mokslo taryba, LMT). The programme aims to support research projects in all fields of science and the humanities.

Within the DAINA scheme, the NCN and LMT will fund only projects involving basic research.

Call announcement: 15^th September 2017

Call deadline: 15^th December 2017

Results: June 2018

Start of joint research projects: September 2018

Complete version of the call documents will be adopted by the NCN Council and made available on the website in September 2017.

ELIGIBILITY:

• Eligible Host Institutions in Poland: academic or research organisations, research consortia, scientific networks and university organisational institutions which are not basic organisational institutions, research and development centres, Polish Academy of Sciences research centres, university research centres, scientific libraries, organisational institutions having legal personality which have been established on Polish territory;
• Eligible Implementing Institutions in Lithuania – a Lithuanian research and study institution included in the Register of Education and Research institutions;
• Grants that are considered state aid will not be offered;
• Only projects involving basic research will be funded;
• Research project duration: 24 or 36 months;
• All costs must be eligible according to the national eligibility requirements;
• The budget of the Polish part of the project must be at least 150 000 PLN;
• The budget of the Lithuanian part of the project must not exceed 80 000 EUR (in the case of a 24 month project) or 120 000 EUR (in the case of a 36 month project);
• The Polish Principal Investigator (PI) must have at least a PhD degree when submitting a proposal. The Lithuanian PI must be a scientist.

APPLICATION PROCESS:

A complete proposal (consisting of the joint project description and the CVs of both PIs) should be submitted by the Polish PI via the OSF submission system which can be found at https://osf.opi.org.pl by December 15^th, 2017.

In addition, the Lithuanian PI should submit all documents required by the LMT via the LMT electronic submission system by December 15^th, 2017.

PROPOSAL REVIEW AND EVALUATION PROCEDURE:

Proposals will be subject to an eligibility check and peer review. The eligibility check of proposals will be carried out by the NCN and LMT Coordinators. The peer review will be performed by Expert Teams (recommended by both NCN and LMT) and by External Reviewers.

Only proposals which will have been declared eligible by the NCN and LMT Coordinators will be peer reviewed.

The peer review will be carried out in two stages:

1. Stage I – a preliminary evaluation will take place on the basis of data provided in the proposal by the External Reviewers (recommended by both the NCN and LMT) other than the members of the Expert Team;
2. Stage II – a final evaluation will be carried out on the basis of data provided in the proposal and the external reviews by the Expert Team.

The proposal evaluation will take into account in particular:

1. the research achievements of the Polish and Lithuanian PI, including their research portfolio;
2. the quality of the research or tasks to be performed;
3. the innovative nature of the project;
4. the impact of the research carried out on the development of the discipline;
5. the added value of bilateral cooperation;
6. justification of the costs requested;
7. the feasibility of the project.

ALLOCATION OF FUNDS:

Funds for Polish research teams will be allocated on the basis of the decisions issued by the Director of the NCN. Funds for Lithuanian research teams will be allocated on the basis of decisions issued by the Chairman of the LMT.

CONTACT:

POLAND, NCN:

Dr Magdalena Łopuszańska-Rusek; e-mail: Magdalena.Lopuszanska-Rusek@ncn.gov.pl, tel. +48 12 341 91 64

Dr hab. Wojciech Sowa, e-mail: Wojciech.Sowa@ncn.gov.pl, tel. +48 12 341 91 71

Dr Magdalena Godowska, e-mail: Magdalena.Godowska@ncn.gov.pl, tel. +48 12 341 9016

LITHUANIA, LMT:

Darius Grigaliūnas, e-mail: darius.grigaliunas@lmt.lt, tel. +370 5 236 0507