IMPRESS-U

The IMPRESS-U programme is organised in a multilateral collaboration by the partner institutions (specified in the call text) pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure (“LAP”) with the National Science Foundation (NSF) acting as the lead agency. The National Science Centre is one of the partner institutions participating in the programme.

The IMPRESS-U call for proposals has been launched by the National Science Centre for the purposes of the IMPRESS-U programme. The call is addressed to Polish research teams applying for co-funding of joint projects in collaboration with foreign research teams from Ukraine, the United States of America and, optionally, Lithuania, Latvia and/or Estonia.

Under the IMPRESS-U call, foreign research teams may apply for co-funding of their joint research projects to the following partner institutions:

• National Science Foundation, NSF (the United States of America) as the lead agency;
• US National Academy of Sciences (US NAS) for researchers from Ukraine;
• Research Council of Lithuania (LMT);
• Latvian Council of Science (LCS); and
• Estonian Research Council (ETAG).

The Lead Agency Procedure is a new standard applied by the research-funding agencies to evaluate proposals. It is to facilitate international research teams applying for funds for joint research projects and to simplify the evaluation of proposals by research-funding agencies.

The key principles of the procedure include:

• the use of domestic calls carried out by the lead agency to perform merit-based evaluation not only of domestic proposals, but also international ones, which compete with domestic proposals on an equal footing;
• trust in the quality of peer-review among cooperating institutions.

Hence, projects involving three or more research groups from different countries are only evaluated by the lead agency. Other partner institutions approve the results of merit-based evaluation performed by the lead agency and award funding to research projects recommended for funding as a result of such evaluation.

Under the IMPRESS-U call for proposals, the American National Science Foundation (NSF) will act as the lead agency.

NCN proposals may be submitted by entities set out in Article 27 (1) (1), Article 27 (1) (2), Article 27 (1) (4), Article 27 (1) (5), Article 27 (1) (7) and Article 27 (1) (8) of the Act on the National Science Centre, hereinafter referred to as the “applicants”, for which project funding will not constitute state aid, i.e.:

1. Higher Education entities;
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 2022, item 498);
5. international research institutes established pursuant to separate Acts, operating in the Republic of Poland:

5a. the 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 institutions involved in research independently on a continuous basis;
8. groups of entities (at least two entities mentioned in sections 1-7 or at least one institution as such together with at least one company);
9. research centres of the Polish Academy of Sciences as defined in the Act on the Polish Academy of Sciences of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1183, as amended);
10. scientific libraries;
11. legal entities with their registered office in Poland;

11a. President of the Central Office of Measures; and

12. natural persons.

The call is open to proposals covering the subject area of the EAGER call, within the framework of which joint proposals submitted to the IMPRESS-U call can be submitted to the NSF.

PLEASE NOTE: Only basic research proposals for the purposes of Article 2 (1) of the Act on the National Science Centre can be submitted to the NCN.

The Polish part of the project must be performed over a period of 24 months.

PLEASE NOTE: The duration of the foreign project parts must be the same as the duration of the Polish project parts.

The duration of a project carried out by the Polish and partner research teams may be changed on the terms and conditions of the NCN and respective partner institutions involved in the project.

The call is addressed at researchers who are at least PhD holders.

Each research team involved in a project must name its principal investigator, whereas the Polish part of the project must be managed by a member of the Polish research team identified in the proposal as the principal investigator.

The principal investigator of the foreign research team must meet the requirements of the respective research-funding partner agency.

The terms of the call do not specify the number of Polish research team members. Apart from the principal investigator, research tasks in the project may also be performed by co-investigators, including students and PhD students as well as post-docs.

Remember that:

• NCN scholarship recipients or post-docs employed in the project and remunerated from the NCN budget must be selected in an open call procedure;
• post-doc regulations are laid down here.

PLEASE NOTE: NCN proposals must be consistent with joint proposals, otherwise the proposal may be rejected as ineligible.

The terms of awarding funding for research tasks funded by the NCN under the IMPRESS-U call are laid down in the Regulations.

NCN scholarships are awarded pursuant to the terms and conditions laid down here.

The proposal may be rejected if an unreasonable budget is planned and/or discrepancies occur between the costs of the project carried out by the Polish research teams in the NCN proposal and the joint proposal.

NCN proposals in the OSF submission system must specify the budget for tasks performed by the Polish research teams and in the joint proposal – for tasks performed by all research teams involved in the project according to the terms and conditions of the lead agency.

NCN proposals made in and sent to the NCN via the OSF submission system by 31 December 2023 and between 1 January and 31 May 2024 may cover research projects that will be carried out by the Polish research teams from 2024 onwards.

NCN proposals processed in the OSF submission system between 1 June and 31 December 2024 (inclusive) may cover research projects that will be carried out by Polish research teams from 2025 onwards.

NCN proposals processed in the OSF submission system as of 2023 must be sent via OSF by 31 December 2023, 23:59:59. Otherwise, the applicants will no longer be able to edit their proposal in the OSF submission system and sent them to the National Science Centre via OSF.

To find out more on the budget, read the Guidelines for Polish research teams (Budget for tasks to be performed by Polish research teams).

The budget of the Polish part of the project must be well-justified as regards the subject and scope of the research and must be based on realistic calculations. The exact amount of the project budget has not been specified.

The project budget is subdivided into direct and indirect costs.

The direct costs include:

1. cost of salary of the principal investigator;
2. cost of salary of co-investigators in the project;

• full-time post-doc position (in well-justified cases, this amount may be increased);
• scholarships and salaries for students and PhD students;
• additional remuneration for research team members; if the principal investigator is not employed full time in the project, their salary is paid from the pool for additional remuneration;

3. purchase of research equipment, devices and software;
4. purchase of materials and small equipment;
5. outsourcing;
6. business trips, visits and consultations;
7. collective investigators;
8. other costs crucial to the project in compliance with the Types of costs.

PLEASE NOTE: The cost of publication of monographs (for the purposes of §10 of the Regulation on the Evaluation of the Quality of Research Activity by the Minister of Science and Higher Education of 22 February 2019 (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 392) resulting from research projects can only be borne following a positive review by the NCN.

Indirect costs include:

• indirect cost of Open Access (up to 2% of direct costs) that may be designated only for the cost of open access to publications or research data;
• other indirect costs (up to 20% of direct costs) that may be spent on costs that are related indirectly to the research project, including the cost of open access to publications and research data.

During the project's implementation, the host institution must agree with the principal investigator the coverage of at least 25% of the indirect costs.

PLEASE NOTE: The cost of open access publication can only be incurred as an indirect cost. The cost of open access planned as a direct cost will be regarded as a formal error.

NCN funds will be awarded to those research projects carried out by the Polish research teams for which the foreign partner/cooperating institutions award funds to the partner/cooperating research teams.

PLEASE NOTE: Read the NSF’s guidelines concerning budgets of foreign research teams included in the joint proposals and justifications of the costs planned for such research teams. We suggest that the Polish principal investigators first prepare the budgets of the Polish research teams in their NCN proposals and in the OSF submission system and then annex them to the joint proposals submitted to the NSF. The NSF does not require the budgets of the foreign research teams to be converted into USD.

State aid must not be applied for under the IMPRESS-U call.

According to the NCN requirements, the Polish research teams submit their NCN proposals to the OSF submission system and append them with the same joint proposals that have been submitted to the lead agency.

PLEASE NOTE: NCN proposals must be consistent with joint proposals, otherwise the proposal may be rejected as ineligible.

Joint proposals must be drafted by the co-applicants according to the terms of the lead agency’s call and must include the documents required by the lead agency.

PLEASE NOTE: NCN proposals submitted to the call may include joint proposals submitted to the lead agency (NSF) as part of the EAGER call.

The terms of the call, joint proposal development criteria and guidelines applicable to the merit-based evaluation of the lead agency are laid down in the documents applicable to the EAGER call (PAPPG and DCL) .

A complete joint proposal must be submitted to the NSF by the coordinating applicant affiliated in the United States by the date set thereby.

PLEASE NOTE: Each research team involved in a project must submit a set of required documents to its respective research-funding partner agency.

Restrictions to submitting NCN proposals are laid down in Chapter III of the Regulations.

PLEASE NOTE: There are no restrictions as to the total number of proposals pending evaluation/recommended for funding/research projects under way, in which one is identified as the principal investigator.

However, proposals submitted to IMPRESS-U will be counted towards the limits applicable to other NCN calls for research projects.

The IMPRESS-U call is open to NCN proposals submitted pursuant to the Regulations to which joint proposals are attached.

PLEASE NOTE: NCN proposals must be consistent with joint proposals, otherwise the proposal may be rejected as ineligible.

The Resolution on the terms and conditions of the international IMPRESS-U call for research projects lays down the documents and information that must be included in NCN proposals. Make sure to include the following information and documents:

• the research project title provided in the joint proposal (in Polish and English in the NCN proposal; the title in the NCN proposal must be consistent with the title in the joint proposal);
• the joint proposal in PDF format, including the required documents according to the terms and conditions of the lead agency’s call consistent with the proposal submitted to the lead agency’s submission system;
• the research project’s abstract for the general public (1 page in Polish and 1 page in English);
• a research plan presenting the research tasks to be carried out by the Polish research team (in Polish and in English);
• information on the required qualifications and scope of work planned by each co-investigator of the Polish part of the project (in English);
• the budget of the Polish part of the research project drafted pursuant to the Regulations (in English);
• information on the international cooperation covered by the project, including cooperating foreign research institutions and description of related benefits (in English);
• information on the data management plan concerning data generated or used in the course of the Polish part of the research project, as required by the proposal (in English); and
• information on the ethical aspects of the Polish part of the project, including any consents, opinions, permits and/or approvals necessary to carry out the project in compliance with the generally applicable laws and best practices adopted for a specific academic discipline, as required by the proposal (in English).

The NCN does not require any documents (agreements) confirming cooperation between Polish and foreign research teams to be submitted nor signatures to be affixed by members of the foreign research teams on NCN proposals or other documents annexed thereto.

PLEASE NOTE: More information on how to complete NCN proposals in the OSF submission system can be found in the Guidelines for Polish Research Teams and Proposal Submission Procedure.

Under the IMPRESS-U call, NCN proposals must be submitted to the NCN electronically via the OSF submission system (https://osf.opi.org.pl/).

To find out more on the subject, please read Chapter IV of the Regulations.

PLEASE NOTE: Under the IMPRESS-U call, a joint proposal may only be annexed to one NCN proposal.

The NCN accepts only complete NCN proposals that meet all the requirements set forth in the call text.

The Polish research teams must ensure that their proposals submitted to the NCN are complete. An NCN proposal that has been submitted to the NCN via the OSF submission system cannot be amended and annexes thereto cannot be modified in the OSF submission system.

The principal investigators are recommended to verify that all parts of their NCN proposals are properly completed and appended with the joint proposal submitted to the NSF. If any part of the joint proposal or NCN proposal is left blank, the proposal may be rejected as ineligible by any partner institution involved in the project.

Under the IMPRESS-U call, NCN proposals must be submitted to the National Science Centre electronically via the OSF submission system as soon as possible following submission of the joint proposal to the lead agency, within 7 calendar days.

If, on the day the joint proposal is submitted to the lead agency, an NCN proposal form is not available in the OSF submission system, it must be submitted to the NCN within 7 calendar days of the date the information is published on the NCN website (https://www.ncn.gov.pl/) that the NCN proposal form is available in the OSF submission system.

Proposals are evaluated according to the documents governing the evaluation of joint proposals submitted to the lead agency’s call (PAPPG and DCL), Regulations and Additional Proposal Evaluation Procedure.

Proposals are subject to an eligibility check at the NCN and partner institutions as well as merit-based evaluation of the NSF.

NCN proposals are subject to an eligibility check performed by the scientific coordinators.

Only joint proposals that have been found eligible by the NCN and other partner institutions are subject to a merit-based evaluation.

PLEASE NOTE: NCN proposals must be consistent with the joint proposal, otherwise the proposal may be rejected as ineligible.

Joint proposals are subject to a merit-based evaluation. Only proposals that have been found eligible by all partner institutions performing the eligibility check are subject to a merit-based evaluation performed by the NSF according to the rules applicable to its EAGER call.

The lead agency provides the NCN and other partner institutions with information on the results of the merit-based evaluation and the list of projects recommended for funding.

PLEASE NOTE: Proposals submitted to IMPRESS-U may be subject to an auxiliary evaluation at the NCN in the cases laid down in §30, §38 and §40 of the Regulations, in particular evaluation of the Polish part of the project in terms of:

• basic research;
• compliance of the cost with the subject and scope of research in proposals recommended for funding by the lead agency;
• ethical aspects of proposals recommended for funding by the lead agency; and
• non-commercial nature of research that includes clinical trials with a medicinal product or a medical device.

The funding decision by the NCN Director will be taken within 12 months of the NCN proposal submission date.

The Polish research teams will be awarded funding for those research projects only for which foreign research teams receive funding from their respective foreign partner institutions.

In the event of a breach of the call procedure or other formal infringements related to actions performed by the NCN, the applicants may appeal against the decision of the NCN Director with the Committee of Appeals of the NCN Council within 14 days of the date the decision is served. The appeal procedure is laid down in the Regulations.

As a member of cOAlition S alongside other European research-funding agencies, the National Science Centre has adopted its Open Access Policy to publications according to which publications resulting from research projects funded by the National Science Centre must be made available in immediate open access. The Open Access Policy does not apply to monographs, monograph chapters and peer-reviewed collected papers. In accordance with the principles of Plan S, the National Science Centre recognises the following publication routes as compliant with its Open Access Policy:

1. publication in open access journals and on open access platforms registered, or with pending registration, in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ);
2. publication in subscription (hybrid) journals, as long as the Version of Record (VoR2) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM3) is published, by the author or publisher, in an open repository immediately upon the article’s online publication; and
3. 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).

PLEASE NOTE: The cost of open access to publications may only be incurred as an indirect cost. The cost of open access planned as a direct cost will be regarded as a formal error.

More on Open Access publication terms/instructions can be found here, as amended.

You can also read our Open Access Instructions.

Contact at the NCN

Should you have more queries on the NCN eligibility criteria, having read the call text and call documents, contact the NCN officers.

Contact details:

• Magdalena Dobrzańska-Bzowska

Show number

(Office Hours: 9:00-13:00)

• Tomasz Szumełda

Before calling, please make an e-mail appointment.

Contact at partner institutions

On matters relating to the preparation and submission of joint proposals, contact the partner research team affiliated in the USA or Ukraine or lead agency (NSF or National Research Foundation of Ukraine (NRFU).

• CONTACT AT THE NSF (USA): Maija M. Kukla, Program Director, OISE/OD/NSF
• CONTACT AT THE NRFU (UKRAINE): Olga Polotska
• CONTACT AT THE US NAS: Dr. Franklin Carrero-Martinez