M-ERA.NET 3 Call 2024

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

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),
4. research institutes operating pursuant to the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1383);
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 1-7 or at least one institution as such together with at least one company),
9. scientific and industrial centres laid down in the Act on Research Centres of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1383),
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 2019, item 1183, as amended),
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,
14. natural persons,
15. companies conducting research in other organisational form than set forth in sections 1-13.

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

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

The principal investigator of the Polish research team must hold at least a PhD degree when submitting a proposal. Additional restrictions are laid down in Chapter IV 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 24/2024 of 4 March 2024 .

The principal investigator must be a person employed at the host institution for the project for the entire project duration period pursuant to at least a half-time employment contract. The principal investigator must reside in Poland for at least 50% of the project duration period and be available to the host institution. The foregoing duration does not include evidenced project-related business trips or holiday, time off work and other excused absence at work governed by the applicable laws.

Researchers intending to apply for funding under the call must focus on the chief goals of the M-ERA.NET programme when preparing their research plan. The main objectives of the programme include:

• supporting the European Green Deal by striving to develop technologies in the area of material engineering to be used for clean energy-related applications, energy generation and harvesting, energy storage, electrolysers and fuel cells;
• striving to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), in particular SDG 7 (“Affordable and clean energy”) through fostering research on sustainable energy storage technology, SDG 9 (“Industrial innovation and infrastructure”) by upgrading the technological capabilities of industrial sectors, and SDG 12 (“Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns”) through an environmentally sound management of natural resources and reduced waste generation;
• socio-ecological benefits in the context of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). Projects funded under M-ERA.NET 3 shall aim at developing responsible research and innovation processes to systematically address socio-ecological, ethical and political dimensions of material research, development and use.
• supporting the innovation chain by making best use of the calls to facilitate the generation of knowledge along the innovation chain, from excellent science and research to innovative industrial applications; and
• strengthening interdisciplinarity through an integrative approach across disciplines and across application fields, making the initiative an attractive and efficient tool for transnational joint projects that were unlikely to be realised before.

The call covers the following topics in the field of material science and material engineering:

1. Sustainable advanced materials for energy
2. Innovative surfaces, coatings and interfaces
3. High performance composites
4. Functional materials
5. Materials addressing environmental challenges
6. Next generation materials for advance electronics

The National Science Centre and the National Centre for Research and Development are both members of the M-ERA.NET network. NCN funding can only be requested by applicants from Poland whose projects meet the basic research criterion (TRL 1-4). Involvement of an industrial partner from Poland is not required.

Researchers whose projects start from TRL 3-6 and achieve TRL 5-8 may apply for NCBR funding. Involvement of a Polish industrial partner is required.

NCN proposals covering research tasks that are overlapping with tasks specified in another proposal submitted earlier under any other NCN call or for which an appeal procedure has been initiated, may be submitted only after the funding decision has become final.

Research projects may be planned for a period of either 24 or 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 in .xlsx format to magdalena.nowak@ncn.gov.pl by 30 April 2024. Creating a project budget is one of the most important aspects in the project planning which aims to identify and estimate the resources required to perform the research tasks. The project budget must be based on realistic calculations and must comply with the guidelines laid down in the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre and 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 is assessed by an international expert team.

The budget in the NCN proposal should 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 must be calculated according to the following exchange rate: 1 EUR = 4.3463 PLN.

Eligible costs in the project 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 manufacturing 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.

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

Indirect costs must not exceed 20% of direct costs. Additionally, indirect costs of up to 2% of direct costs may be spent on open access to publications and research data. At the stage of project implementation, the host institution shall arrange with the principal investigator for the distribution of at least 25% of the indirect costs’ value.

The NCN will award funding only for those projects carried out by the Polish research teams in the case of which foreign partners also receive funding.

The terms of the call do not specify the maximum number of the research team members. For more information on the cost of salaries and scholarships, please read the Types of costs in research projects funded by the NCN and carried out as the multilateral collaboration UNISONO.

NCN scholarship recipients and/or post-docs in the project must be recruited in an open call procedure. Please read the Regulations for awarding scholarships in NCN-funded research projects.

Scholarship recipients and post-docs must not be named in either joint or NCN proposals.

Yes, they can. For more information, please read the State aid rules.

• International level 

Joint pre-proposals and full proposals are subject to an eligibility check performed by the NCN, other members of the M.ERA.NET 3 network and Secretariat of the M-ERA.NET 3 Call 2024.

Joint proposals successfully evaluated during the eligibility check are subject to a merit-based evaluation. To find out more on the merit-based evaluation of proposals submitted to M-ERA.NET Call 2024, please read the M-ERA.NET 3 Call 2024 Guide for Proposers.

• National level 

NCN proposals are subject solely to an eligibility check carried out by the 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 24/2024 , including compliance of the planned budget with the Annex - Costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre in international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration UNISONO. Information in NCN proposals and in joint proposals must be consistent.

Together with other European research-funding institutions, the National Science Centre is a member cOAlition S. Therefore, the NCN has adopted its Open Access Policy applicable to publications pursuant to which all research results stemming from NCN-funded research projects must be made available in immediate open access. The policy does not apply to monographs, anthology chapters and peer-reviewed collective works.

In accordance with the principles of Plan S, the National Science Centre recognizes 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 journals (hybrid journals), as long as the Version of Record (VoR) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) is published, by the author or publisher, in an open repository immediately upon the article’s online publication;
3. Publication in transformative 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).

Papers must be published using the CC-BY licence (in the case of transformative journals, the CC-BY-SA licence is acceptable). The CC-BY-ND licence may also be used (regardless of the publication path selected).

More information on open access publication terms / instructions can be found here, as amended.

Furthermore, please read the Open Access Policy Instructions.

The M-ERA.NET 3 Call 2024 will be concluded by the time specified in the call documents (February 2025). Firstly, project coordinators will be informed about the outcome. Polish research teams will be notified by way of NCN Director’s decisions.

In the event of a breach of the call procedure or other formal infringements, applicants may lodge an appeal against the decision of the NCN Director with the Committee of Appeals of the NCN Council. An appeal may be lodged within 14 days of the effective delivery of the decision.

For more information on the call, please go to the website of the M-ERA.NET 3 network. For the terms and regulations on awarding NCN funding in the call, please refer to the Annex to NCN Council Resolution No 24/2024 of 4 March 2024 (UNISONO).

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

Anna Kotarba, anna.kotarba@ncn.gov.pl

Tomasz Szumełda, tomasz.szumelda@ncn.gov.pl

Before calling, make an e-mail appointment.

To consult the budget, please contact:

Magdalena Nowak, magdalena.nowak@ncn.gov.pl

For Secretariat of the M-ERA.NET 3 call:

Project Coordinator:

Dr. Roland Brandenburg

FFG - Austrian Research Promotion Agency

1090 Wien, Sensengasse 1, Austria

office@m-era.net

Call Secretariat:

call-secretariat@m-era.net

Before submitting an NCN proposal to the NCN at national level:

1. make sure that the information in and annexes to the proposal are correct. Checking the proposal for completeness in OSF 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 system.