PROGRAMME FOR RESEARCHERS FROM UKRAINE

Proposals may be submitted by: 

1. universities;
2. 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 2019, item 1183, as amended);
3. research institutes operating pursuant to the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws 2019, item 1350, as amended);
4. international research institutes established pursuant to other acts and acting in the Republic of Poland;
5. institutes operating within the Łukasiewicz Research Network;
6. Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and
7. research centres of the Polish Academy of Sciences operating pursuant to the Act on the Polish Academy of Sciences of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws 2019, item 1183, as amended).

Researchers must meet all of the following conditions:

• hold at least a PhD degree or equivalent degree (in Ukraine: Candidate of Science);
• must have worked at a Ukrainian research institution before the war and
• must have left Ukraine on or after 24 February 2022 or must intend to leave Ukraine

Please note: Researcher’s citizenship is not taken into account when reviewing the terms and conditions required to be met in order to join the scheme.

Yes, there are. The following restrictions apply to the submission of proposals:

1. The applicant must not be under receivership, in liquidation or subject to bankruptcy proceedings.
2. The applicant must not be an institution for which project funding constitutes state aid.
3. Researcher’s employment under the scheme may only be funded once.
4. An employed researcher may be named in only one proposal submitted under the scheme. 
5. The scheme is open to research proposals.

No, it is not. The main purpose of the scheme is to support researchers by creating employment opportunities at the Polish research institutions, however their scope of work should focus on research.

Proposals should cover full-time employment of the researcher pursuant to an employment contract, for a period of 12 months.

Costs in the proposal comprises two components:

1. Funds for researcher’s remuneration of 100,000 PLN and
2. Funds for research (no more than 30,000 PLN):

• up to 10,000 PLN (no justification needed),
• additional funds of up to 20,000 PLN (justification needed).

The total amount of requested funding must not exceed 130,000 PLN.

Funds for research may be spent on:

1. purchase of materials and small equipment (raw materials, semi-finished products, reagents, office supplies, stationery, small laboratory equipment, IT hardware and small office devices (e.g. computers, software licence and software development costs, printers, scanners, monitors, copiers) and other devices;
2. outsourcing (costs of purchasing research services: laboratory analyses, statistical repots, surveys, etc.), costs of purchasing other specialist services necessary for due completion of the research visit (proofreading, editing, graphics, consulting, monitoring, etc.), costs of postal, courier and transport services directly related to the completion of a programme, costs of manuscript translation and editing;
3. other (cost of purchasing data/ data bases and access thereto, specialist publications/ teaching aids, publication fees of scientific papers, except for fees of publication in hybrid journals and cost of open access to research data pursuant to the NCN’s Open Access Policy ;
4. other costs, as necessary, pursuant to the Types of costs applicable to the scheme .

Please note that:

• researcher’s remuneration amount includes non-payroll labour costs (including social and health insurance premiums) and other remuneration components paid by the institution. The funds are also used to pay the end-of-year bonus (thirteenth salary) if the institution is required to pay it. If the proposal is recommended for funding, the institution may pay higher remuneration amount from its funds;
• under the scheme in question, employed researchers will not be subject to regulations preventing them from receiving additional remuneration under other NCN-funded research projects laid down in the regulations adopted by the NCN Council
• funds for research must be planned/paid pursuant to the Types of costs applicable to the scheme. Justifications concerning additional funds for research (up to 20,000 PLN) will be evaluated. Funds will not be awarded or less funds will be awarded if the evaluation is negative;
• funds for research must not be used to cover participation in conferences, workshops, seminars, meetings, courses; costs of visits, consultations and business trips (including allowance and travel expenses); costs of collective investigators, monograph publication costs and dissemination of research and research results (except for publication fees referred to above);
• indirect costs must not be included in the costs.

No, it is not. For more information, please go to the State Aid section.

In order to draft a proposal, DOWNLOAD the proposal form and fill it in.

Once the proposal has been completed, it should be appended with the following annexes:

• Annex 1 – Researcher’s CV (in Polish or in English, no page limit): the most important publications; the most important artistic achievements or achievements in research in art (if applicable); information on workplaces, academic fellowships, ongoing projects, prizes and awards; other information crucial to research career;
• Annex 2 – Integration plan and collaboration to date (in Polish or in English; 1 page): work plan aimed at integrating the researcher with the applicant’s academic circles, e.g. involving researchers in research performed by the institution; description of researcher’s collaboration with the applicant to date (if applicable); detailed justification for planning additional funds for research up to 20,000 PLN (if applicable).

PLEASE NOTE: Only complete proposals containing the required annexes will be subject to merit-based evaluation. Proposals are not completed in the ZSUN/OSF submission system, therefore make sure that your proposal is complete before it is submitted.

PLEASE NOTE: The proposal must be signed with a qualified electronic signature or advanced electronic signature of the authorised representative of the institution. The electronic signature must be in line with the eIDAS Regulation, must include a valid qualified certificate and have a PAdES extension. Proposals with signature and required annexes (Annex 1: researcher’s CV and Annex 2: Integration plan and collaboration to date) must be submitted to the NCN pursuant to the proposal submission procedure.

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

NCN coordinators perform the eligibility checks and merit-based evaluation pursuant to the information provided in the proposals.

Only complete proposals that meet all requirements laid down in the call text are eligible for merit-based evaluation.

Proposals undergo a single-stage merit-based evaluation pursuant to the following terms and conditions:

• each proposal is reviewed by two NCN coordinators pursuant to the proposal evaluation criteria,
• in well-justified cases, the NCN coordinators may consult an NCN Council member on the merits,
• pursuant to the review performed by the NCN coordinators, proposals submitted in a specific week (from Monday to Sunday) are recommended for the list of reviewed proposals;
• the list of reviewed proposals is submitted to the NCN Director and
• the funding decision is taken by the NCN Director pursuant to the list of reviewed proposals.

Proposals on a list of revied proposals that have not been awarded funding are included on the next list of proposals, retaining the same score (agreed decision).

The following factors are reviewed in the course of merit-based evaluation: 

• researcher’s qualifications and achievements;
• work plan aimed at integrating the researcher with the academic circles of the applicant;
• researcher’s collaboration with the applicant to date (if applicable);
• justification for awarding additional funds for research (Funds will not be awarded or less funds will be awarded if the evaluation is negative).

The proposal shall be evaluated pursuant to the evaluation criteria.

The funding decision will be made within 1 month of the date of proposal submission to the NCN. In well-justified cases, the funding decision may be taken within 3 months. 

If funding is awarded, the applicant will be notified thereof as soon as possible.

The NCN Director’s decision cannot be appealed against.

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

Proposal Processing Department 

informacja@ncn.gov.pl

Coordinators:

Anna Wiktor, e-mail: anna.wiktor@ncn.gov.pl

Tomasz Szumełda, e-mail: tomasz.szumelda@ncn.gov.pl