MAESTRO 16

Proposals in the call may be submitted by the following entities specified in the Act on the National Science Centre (NCN):

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 2022, item 498);
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 company);
9. scientific and industrial centres laid down in the Act on Research Institutes 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 within the meaning of the Act on Certain Forms of Support for Innovative Activity of 30 May 2008 (Journal of Laws of 2021 item 706 and of 2022 item 1079);
13. legal entities with registered office in Poland;

13a. President of the Central Office of Measures;

14. natural persons and;
15. companies conducting research in another organisational form than laid down in sections 1-13.

The principal investigator must be at least a PhD holder who, in the proposal submission year or over the last 10 years (i.e. between 01.01.2014 and 17.09.2024):

1. has had at least five papers published in renowned Polish or international academic press/journals,
2. has acted as the principal investigator in at least two research projects funded under national or international calls for proposals (acting as the principal investigator also means managing/ coordinating the work of a research group in international research projects or programmes);

MINIATURA, UWERTURA, ETIUDA and FUGA are not calls for research projects, therefore the second condition cannot be met on their basis.

3. meets at least three of the following criteria:

• has been a member of a scientific committee of at least one renowned international conference,
• has had at least one monograph published,
• has delivered lectures or speeches at renowned international conferences,
• has received an international award or prize,
• has been a member of renowned associations, international scientific organisations or academia,
• has other significant scientific achievements,

and in the case of research in arts, a person who is an author of works of art of international significance or works significant for the Polish culture and has actively participated in international exhibitions, festivals, artistic events in fine arts, music, theatre and film.

Scientific achievements should cover the period of the last 10 years prior to the proposal submission year (as of 2014). In specific cases, the period can be extended (§ 9 (6) (a) of the Resolution on the terms and conditions of the MAESTRO call).

Principal investigators who have managed a research project funded under MAESTRO may submit a funding proposal for another research project under MAESTRO as long as they meet at least one of the following conditions:

• they are ERC grant winners,
• they have submitted a grant proposal to the ERC over the past 5 years which has been evaluated at least in stage I of the call.

At least five papers listed in the principal investigator’s scientific achievements section should have been published in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year (as of 2014).

Restrictions on submitting proposals are described in Chapter III of the Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre as regards research projects.

One must not act as the principal investigator in more than one research project financed under the MAESTRO call at the same time. Acting as a principal investigator applies to the period from the date of signing the funding agreement to the date of submitting the final report on the project.

The principal investigator must reside in Poland for at least 50% of the project duration period and be available to the participating entity for the project. The foregoing does not apply to documented project-related business trips as well as any holiday, time off work and other excused absences governed by applicable laws.

The principal investigator must be a person employed by the host institution for the research project under an employment contract at least on a half-time basis for the entire project duration period. The employment requirement does not apply to recipients of Social Security pension.

Principal investigators who have managed a research project funded under MAESTRO may submit a funding proposal for another research project under MAESTRO in so far as they meet at least one of the following conditions:

• they are ERC grant winners,
• they have submitted a grant proposal to the ERC over the past 5 years which has been evaluated at least in stage I of the call.

Proposals may be submitted to the call covering basic research in any of 26 NCN panels comprising three groups:

• HS – Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences;
• ST – Physical Sciences and Engineering; and
• NZ – Life Sciences.

Under MAESTRO, research projects may be planned for a period of 36, 48 or 60 months.

In research projects, in addition to the principal investigator, research tasks may be carried out by co-investigators, including students, PhD students, post-docs and/or senior researchers.

A post-doc type post is a full-time post designated by the principal investigator for a person who has been awarded a PhD degree within 7 years before 1 January of the year of joining the project. This period may be extended pursuant to the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre.

• A post-doc type post can be occupied by a person who has been conferred a PhD degree by another entity than the one planning to employ him/her at this post or has completed a continuous and evidenced post-doctoral fellowship of at least 10 months in another entity than the participating entity and in another country than the one in which he/she has been conferred a PhD degree.
• A prospective post-doc must be selected in an open call.

PhD students/ students who are recipients of NCN scholarships for research must be selected in an open call.

A senior researcher position is a full-time employment position co-financed by the participating entity employing the senior researcher and scheduled by the principal investigator for a person who has been conferred a PhD degree at least 7 years before the proposal submission date and has the expertise, unique competencies and experience necessary to perform the tasks in the project.

Pursuant to the Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre as regards research projects, a specialist supporting position is a full-time employment position planned by the principal investigator for a person supporting the project, e.g. lab-managers, senior technicians, statistical analysts, etc.

However, the rationale for involvement of individual members of the research team in the project shall be evaluated by the expert team. The project must include the description of competencies and tasks to be performed by individual members of the research team. For more information on the budget for salaries and scholarships, please go to the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre.

The terms of the call do not specify the maximum number of research team members.

The project budget must be well-justified as regards the subject and scope of research, based on realistic calculations and must specify the expenditures to be covered by the NCN (eligible costs).

The terms of the call do not specify the total minimum or maximum amount of funding that can be requested.

If unjustified costs are planned, the proposal may be rejected at the stage of eligibility check and merit-based evaluation.

During the project implementation, the participating entity for the project must agree with the principal investigator the coverage of at least 25% of the indirect costs.

According to the Regulations, the project budget (eligible costs) includes direct and indirect costs.

Direct costs include funds for:

1. remuneration for the principal investigator:

• PLN 220,000 per annum if the principal investigator is employed full-time;
• up to PLN 10,000 per month if the principal investigator is employed otherwise.

2. remuneration for co-investigators:

• post-docs employed full time: PLN 140,000 per annum (which may be increased in well justified cases);
• senior researchers: PLN 70,000 per annum. The participating entity for the project must finance senior researchers in the amount of at least PLN 70,000 per annum;
• a specialist supporting position: PLN 100,000 per annum;
• salaries and scholarships for students and PhD students: a total of PLN 15,000 per each month of project implementation;
• additional remuneration for members of the research team; if the principal investigator is not to be employed full-time in the project, his/her remuneration is paid from the pool allocated for additional remuneration;

3. purchase or manufacturing of research equipment, devices and software;
4. purchase of materials and small equipment;
5. outsourced services;
6. business trips, visits and consultations;
7. compensation for collective investigators and
8. other costs crucial to the research project which comply with the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre.

Monograph publication costs are non-eligible and as such shall not be admitted.

Indirect costs include:

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

The Salaries and scholarships for students and PhD students category has been modified.

The maximum amount of doctoral scholarships for PhD students at doctoral schools that may be paid after their mid-term evaluation, shall be modified.

If the principal investigator intends to engage a PhD student from a doctoral school at the proposal submission stage, a doctoral scholarship may be paid from the budget for salaries and scholarships for students and PhD students in the amount of no more than:

• PLN 5,000 up to the month of the mid-term evaluation of a PhD student;
• PLN 6,500 after the month of the mid-term evaluation of a PhD student.

The budget for salaries and scholarships for students and PhD students under MAESTRO shall remain the same and shall be PLN 15,000 per each month of project performance set forth in the proposal. Additional PLN 1,500 may be provided in the proposal for each doctoral scholarship recipient to cover the cost of doctoral scholarship after their mid-term evaluation. The total amount of an increase per each month of project performance set forth in a proposal submitted to the MAESTRO call must not exceed PLN 4,500.

The maximum amount of:

• doctoral scholarships for PhD students before their mid-term evaluation,
• NCN scholarships for students and PhD students and
• salaries for students and PhD students,

shall remain the same.

A proposal may be rejected if unreasonable costs are planned.

More on costs in NCN-funded research projects.

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 full and 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:

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 in which some of the articles are open access and some require payment of a publication fee), as long as the Version of Record (VoR, i.e. a version of record published in a journal with its own typeface and branding. Other terms: published version or publisher’s pdf) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM, i.e. the final manuscript version created by the author, including all the revisions introduced after the peer review, and accepted for publication in the journal. Other terms: post print, author accepted manuscript) is published, by the author or publisher, in an open repository immediately upon the article’s online publication;
3. publication in journals covered by an open access licence within the framework of so-called transformative agreements that must be inscribed in the Efficiency and Standards for Article Charges registry (ESAC-registry) and in transformative journals (i.e. journals actively committed to transitioning from a subscription journal to a fully open access journal. The current list of transformative journals is available here). Transformative journals must meet the criteria laid down in the Guidelines on the Implementation of Plan S and must allow open access publication of original scientific articles.

Publication route No 3 applies only to papers accepted for publication or published before 31 December 2024.

Manuscripts must be published using the CC-BY licence. In the case of transformative journals and journals subject to transformative agreements, the CC-BY-SA licence can also be used. The CC-BY-ND licence may also be used (regardless of the publication route selected). More information on open access publication terms/ instructions can be found here, as amended.

We recommend that you read the Open Access Instructions., as amended on 31 May 2020 and 16 October 2023.

In grant agreements concluded after 1 January 2021, the data underpinning the scientific publications resulting from the project funded by the NCN must be well-documented pursuant to the FAIR Principles standing for machine or manual Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability or Reusability (the so-called “FAIR Data”). Where possible, data must be made available in the repository, according to the Creative Commons Public Domain CC0 licence (that allows the distribution of data to public domain. Pursuant to the licence, authors can give up their right to data under the intellectual property rights to the extend allowed by domestic law; the licence does not affect patent rights, rights of publicity or privacy). The data citation principles laid down in the Declaration of Data Citation Principles by FORCE 11 and the TOP Guidelines must be complied with. Metadata describing the data sets must be in line with the OpenAIRE.

Projects for which final reports are submitted to the NCN by 31 December 2025 may benefit from transitional provisions mitigating the NCN’s Open Access Policy (find out more).

We recommend that you read the presentation of the Open Access Team addressing available publication routes and any modifications (recording; presentation).

All parts of the proposal form are described in the Proposal form and in Point I of Annex 1 of the Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre as regards research projects to NCN Council Resolution No 59/2024 of 6 June 2024 („MAESTRO Proposal Evaluation Criteria”).

Information required in English:

1. details of the principal investigator, including information on their academic and research career and research experience as well as 1-10 papers published in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year (including applicable breaks); for research in art, 1-10 of the most important papers published or artistic achievements and achievements in research in art in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year; information on research project management or other research funding under NCN calls in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year; information on research project management funded under other national and international calls in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year (up to 5 projects);
2. key information on the proposal and host institution for the project (also in Polish);
3. work plan (also in Polish);
4. information on the scope of work carried out by the co-investigators in the project;
5. summary of the project;
6. abstract for the general public (also in Polish);
7. short project description (no more than 5 pages, A4) with bibliography which does not count to the page limit;
8. full project description (no more than 15 pages, A4) with bibliography which does not count to the page limit;
9. information on research projects carried out in international cooperation and related benefits (required only for projects involving research carried out in international cooperation);
10. information on the ethical aspects of the research;
11. information on the data management plan concerning data generated or used in the course of the research project, as required by the proposal; and
12. project budget drafted pursuant to the Regulations.

The proposal form is available here.

In the Oświadczenia administracyjne [Administrative declarations] tab, under Osoby wskazane we wniosku [Persons named in the proposal], enter the data of all persons who have been involved in the preparation of the proposal or will be involved in the project performance. At this point, enter the names of all persons whose data (name, affiliation) has been entered in other parts of the proposal. The applicant is required to notify such persons that their details have been disclosed in the proposal and will be processed by the NCN. This section is not subject to a review.

Proposals in the call may include an application for state aid, except where a natural person applies for funding. For more information, please refer to the State aid section.

In the case of research projects carried out in institutions for which project funding will constitute state aid, funds for students and PhD students can only be planned in the form described in the Salaries for students and PhD students category of the Types of costs in research projects funded by the NCN.

All documents concerning proposals for state aid must be signed with a qualified electronic signature in the PAdES format.

Proposals are subject to an eligibility check and merit-based evaluation.

Eligibility checks are carried out by the coordinators. Only complete proposals that meet all requirements of the call text can be recommended for a merit-based evaluation. A proposal may also be rejected as ineligible at the later stage of evaluation.

Eligible proposals are subject to a merit-based evaluation performed in two stages:

Stage I:

• individual reviews are drafted by two members of the team individually and presented at the first session. In the case of a proposal which is assigned an auxiliary NCN review panel specifying disciplines covered by NCN review panels other than the one to which the proposal was submitted, the chair of the team may decide to seek another review from a member of another team;
• the team decides on the evaluation of the proposal based on the individual reviews;
• a list of proposals recommended for Stage II is agreed upon; and
• justifications for the final decision on proposals not recommended for Stage II of evaluation, are drafted.

The data included in the proposal and annexes thereto (with the exception of the full project description) are evaluated at stage I.

Then, based on the discussions, a list of proposals recommended for Stage II is drafted by the Expert Team at the first meeting.

Please note: Proposals which are assigned at least one auxiliary review panel from another panel than the one to which they are submitted and identified by the chair as requiring an additional individual review are deemed interdisciplinary proposals. In well-justified cases, interdisciplinary proposals are subject to an additional expert review at stage I of evaluation.

Stage II:

• individual reviews are made by at least two reviewers based on the data included in the proposal and annexes thereto, with the exception of the short project description. In specific cases, derogations are allowed from the number of individual reviews;
• the reviews drafted by the reviewers are presented by the experts at the second session;
• the experts interview the principal investigator:

• the coordinator notifies the principal investigator of the interview no later than 14 days in advance;
• the coordinator provides the principal investigator with the experts’ and reviewer’s reviews of the proposal no later than 7 days in advance;
• the principal investigator must participate in the interview held in English at the premises of the National Science Centre;
• in exceptional and well-justified cases, the NCN allows for an interview to be held via available telecommunications tools;
• failure to appear for the interview is deemed as withdrawal from applying for funding of the proposal under the call;
• the final decision on the proposal is agreed upon by the team based on the individual reviews drafted by the reviewers and results of the interview;
• a ranking list of proposals is compiled, specifying proposals recommended for funding; and
• justifications for the final decisions are drafted for proposals not recommended for funding.

An interview with the principal investigator at Stage II of the merit-based evaluation will be held in English in January/ February 2025.

For more information on the proposal evaluation procedure, please refer to the Proposal evaluation procedure for the expert teams.

The short and full project descriptions must only be drafted in English.

The evaluation of proposals focuses, in particular, on:

1. compliance with the basic research criteria;
2. principal investigator’s compliance with the criteria of well-established and outstanding researcher laid down in §6 of the Resolution on the terms and conditions of the MAESTRO call,
3. quality and innovative nature of research or tasks to be performed,
4. impact of the research project on the advancement of the scientific discipline,
5. assessment of the feasibility of the research,
6. scientific achievements of the principal investigator, including publications in renowned academic press/ journals,
7. assessment of the results of other projects conducted by the principal investigator and funded by the NCN or from other sources,
8. relevance of the costs with regards to the subject and scope of the research, and
9. preparation of the proposal and compliance with other requirements set forth in the call text.

Proposals with a zero score or “no” decision agreed by the expert team in any reviewed criterion must not be recommended for funding. The foregoing does not apply to the data management evaluation criteria and evaluation criteria of ethics issues in research.

Proposals are evaluated by inter-panel teams (consisting of experts from respective panels, i.e. HZ, ST or NZ).

In the case of a proposal which is assigned an auxiliary review panel specifying disciplines covered by other NCN panels than the one to which the proposal is submitted, the chair of the expert team may decide to seek a second opinion from a member of another expert team.

Experts are selected by the NCN Council from among eminent Polish and foreign researchers who are at least PhD holders. Expert teams are established for each call edition. The composition of the expert team is subject to the number and subjects of proposals submitted to each panel.

The call results will be published on the NCN website and communicated to the applicants by way of a decision of the NCN Director within 6 months of the proposal submission date, by 17 March 2025 at the latest.

For more information on the call, read the Information for applicants on the NCN website and Guidelines for applicants to complete MAESTRO 16 proposals.

Should you have any more questions or queries, please contact us by e-mail (informacja@ncn.gov.pl).

If you are intending to submit a proposal to MAESTRO 16, you should:

1. read all call documents included in the call text, in particular:
   1. Terms and conditions of the MAESTRO 16 call,
   2. Proposal form template where you can find out about information and annexes needed to complete the electronic proposal form in the OSF submission system,
   3. Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre as regards research projects,
   4. Proposal submission procedure,

2. collect data from the applicant that is required to complete the proposal and find out about the internal procedures that may affect the proposal and project performance (project costs, procedure for acquiring signature(s) of authorised representative(s) of the institution to confirm submission of the proposal); if the proposal is submitted by a group of Polish entities, draw up a research project cooperation agreement, and
3. prepare letters of acceptance from publishers confirming that the paper has been accepted for publication (when the academic and research track record section includes papers accepted for publication but not published yet).

Before the proposal is submitted to the NCN:

1. check if all information in and annexes to the proposal are correct. Verification of the proposal for completeness in the OSF submission system by pressing the Sprawdź kompletność [Check completeness] button does not guarantee that information has been entered correctly and that the required annexes have been attached;
2. make sure that all tabs are completed in the correct language;
3. disable editing of the final version of the proposal to the NCN; and
4. download the confirmation of proposal submission that needs to be signed by the principal investigator and authorised representative(s) of the host institution.

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

Upon the end of the call for proposals:

1. proposals will be evaluated,
2. after each stage of evaluation, the funding decision of the NCN Director will be served,
3. if a proposal is recommended for funding, a funding agreement will be entered into and
4. the project will be carried out pursuant to the funding agreement and Regulations on the implementation of research projects, fellowships and scholarships.

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