Biodiversa+ 2022

Proposals in the call may be submitted by the following entities laid down in the Act on the National Science Centre:

1. universities;
2. federations of science and HE entities;
3. research institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences operating pursuant to the Act on the Polish Academy of Sciences of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1796, as amended);
4. research institutes operating pursuant to the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1383, as amended);
5. international research institutes established pursuant to other acts and acting in the Republic of Poland;
   • 5a. Łukasiewicz Centre operating pursuant to the Act on the Łukasiewicz Research Network of 21 February 2019 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 2098);
   • 5b. institutes operating within the Łukasiewicz Research Network;
6. Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences;
7. other entities involved in research independently on a continuous basis;
8. groups of entities (at least two entities mentioned in sections 1-9 or at least one institution as such together with at least one enterprise);
9. scientific and industrial centres laid down in the Act on Research Centres of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1383, as amended);
10. research centres of the Polish Academy of Sciences laid down in the Act on the Polish Academy of Sciences of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1796);
11. scientific libraries;
12. companies operating as R&D centres laid down in the Act on Certain Forms of Support for Innovation Activities of 30 May 2008 (Journal of Laws of 2021, item 706);
13. legal entities with registered office in Poland;
    • 13a. President of the Central Office of Measures
14. natural persons;
15. companies conducting research in other organisational form than set forth in sections 1-13a.

If research projects are to be carried out by two or more Polish entities applying for NCN funding, they shall set up a group of entities (see point 8 above) and as such submit NCN proposals. An NCN proposal shall be submitted by the leader specified in the research project cooperation agreement concluded by the group of entities. An entity employing the principal investigator shall act as the leader of the group of entities.

If, pursuant to Article 27 (1) (2) of the NCN Act, Polish entities cannot set up a group of entities, they shall not be eligible to apply for NCN funding of a joint research project.

The principal investigator of the Polish research team shall hold at least a PhD degree when submitting an NCN proposal. Additional restrictions are described in detail in Chapter IV, §13-18 of the Terms and regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded or co-funded under international calls launched by the National Science Centre and carried out as multilateral collaboration UNISONO, annexed to NCN Council Resolution No 28/2022 of 2 March 2022.

This call shall address the following topics:

1. Innovation and harmonization of methods and tools for collection and management of biodiversity monitoring data
2. Addressing knowledge gaps on biodiversity status, dynamics, and trends to reverse biodiversity loss
3. Making use of available biodiversity monitoring data

Applicants shall be requested to submit proposals covering at least one aspect covered by the above-mentioned topics or combining aspects from several topics.

Furthermore, the call covers the development and application of new or evaluation and improvement of the existing methods, technologies and approaches for biodiversity monitoring, including data collection, management and analysis. Research proposed in grant proposals should fill gaps in terms of coverage of taxa, ecosystem types, regions, and sampling frequency and, where relevant, consider specific links to operational monitoring networks, research infrastructures, and other existing efforts at national, European, and global level.

NCN proposals covering research tasks overlapping tasks specified in another proposal submitted earlier to an NCN call shall only be submitted once the evaluation procedure or appeal proceedings of the previous proposal has been completed otherwise than by awarding funding.

Research projects may be planned for a period of 36 months.

We recommend that Polish applicants should consult the budget table of the Polish part of the project with the NCN. To receive NCN feedback in time, please send the budget table to anna.kotarba@ncn.gov.pl by 24 October 2022.

Creating a project budget is one of the most important aspects in the project planning which aims at identifying the required resources and estimating the costs required to perform the research tasks. The project budget must be based on realistic calculations and must comply with the guidelines provided in the Costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration UNISONO. The maximum budget of the Polish research team is not pre-determined; however, the justification of the expenses versus the scope of tasks shall be assessed by an international expert team.

The budget in the NCN proposal shall be quoted in PLN, while the budget in the joint proposal, in EUR.

The EUR budget for the Polish part of the research project in the joint proposal shall be calculated according to the following exchange rate: 1 EUR = 4.5891 PLN.

Project costs include direct and indirect costs.

Direct costs include:

1. remuneration:

• full-time employment: funds for full-time employment of the principal investigator or post-doc(s);
• additional salaries for members of the research team;
• salaries and scholarships for students and PhD students;

2. purchase or construction of research equipment, devices and software;
3. purchase of materials and small equipment;
4. outsourcing;
5. business trips, visits and consultations;
6. compensation for collective investigators; and
7. other costs crucial to the project.

Indirect costs include:

• indirect costs of Open Access of up to 2% of direct costs, which can only be spent on costs associated with publishing or making research data available in open access,
• other indirect costs of up to 20% of direct costs, which may be allocated to costs indirectly related to the project, including costs of open access to publications and research data. When the project is carried out, the host institution must arrange with the principal investigator for the distribution of at least 25% of the indirect costs’ value.

Remuneration of administrative staff and costs of conference organisation (rental of rooms, catering) may be financed solely as indirect expenses.

In the event that an unjustified budget is planned, the proposal may be rejected.

The terms of the call do not specify the minimum or maximum number of the research team members. More information on the costs of salaries and scholarships can be found in the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration UNISONO.

Persons employed as post-docs in the project and scholarship grantees must be recruited in an open call procedure. To find out more on the post-doc employment criteria, please read Point 2(1)(1) of Annex to NCN Council Resolution No 28/2022. Furthermore, please read the Regulations on awarding NCN scholarships in NCN-funded research projects.

Persons intended to be recruited in an open call procedure, including post-docs, must not be named in either joint proposals or NCN proposals.

No, they cannot. Pursuant to NCN Council Resolution No 72/2022, state aid does not apply to the call “Improved transnational monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem change for science and society.

Joint proposals shall be subject to an eligibility check performed by the NCN, other research-funding agencies participating in the call “Improved transnational monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem change for science and society and the Call Secretariat.

Joint proposals approved as eligible are subject to merit-based evaluation performed by the international expert team pursuant to the call procedure.

NCN proposals are subject solely to an eligibility check performed by the NCN Scientific Coordinators.

The eligibility check of NCN proposals involves verification of proposals for completeness, compliance with all terms set forth in the call documents and Resolution No 28/2022, including compliance of the expenses with the Annex “Costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration UNISONO. The information provided in NCN proposals and in joint full proposals must be consistent.

Only joint proposals shall be subject to merit-based evaluation The merit-based evaluation shall be carried out by an international expert team formed by the research-funding agencies participating in the call acting jointly. For more information on the evaluation of proposals, please read the documents available on the website of the Biodiversa+ Partnership.

Together with other European cOAlition S agencies, the National Science Centre has drafted its Open Access Policy. In accordance with its vision of open access to research results and publications, the NCN requires that all research results should be made available in immediate open access. In accordance with the principles of Plan S, the National Science Centre recognizes the following publication routes as compliant with its open access policy:

• • publication in open access journals and on open access platforms registered, or with pending registration, in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ);
• • publication in subscription journals (hybrid journals), as long as the Version of Record (VoR[1]) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM[2]) is published, by the author or publisher, in an open repository immediately upon the article’s online publication;
• publication in journals covered by an open access licence within the framework of so-called transformative agreements, inscribed in the Efficiency and Standards for Article Charges registry (ESAC-registry).

The call launched by the Biodiv+ Partnership shall be concluded on the date laid down in the call documents (September/October 2023). Firstly, project leaders shall be notified of the results of the call. Polish research teams will be notified by way of decisions of the NCN Director.

In the event of a breach of the call procedure or other formal infringements related to actions performed by the NCN, the applicant may appeal against the decision of the NCN Director with the Committee of Appeals of the NCN Council.

For more information on the call, go to the website of the Biodiversa+ Partnership. More information on the terms and regulations on awarding NCN funding can be found in NCN Council Resolution No 28/2022 of 2 March 2022.

Should you have any more questions, please contact us by e-mail or by phone:

• Mateusz Sobczyk, PhD
• Anna Kotarba, tel. 48 12 341 9091

Before submitting an NCN proposal at national level:

1. make sure that the information in and annexes to the proposal are correct. Checking the proposal for completeness in the OSF submission system with the Sprawdź kompletność [Check completeness] button does not guarantee that all information entered is correct and the required annexes have been attached;
2. disable the final version of the proposal to the NCN;
3. download the confirmation of proposal submission which must be signed by the principal investigator and authorised representative(s) of the entity;
4. upload the signed confirmation of proposal submission.

Once the proposal is completed and all the required annexes attached, use the Wyślij do NCN [Send to NCN] button to submit the proposal to the NCN electronically via the OSF submission system.