Announcement of the SONATINA 5 call for proposals

In this edition of the call, the proposal submission date is 15 March 2021, 4 p.m.

Proposals for funding of a research project under the SONATINA call may be submitted by any entity laid down in the Act on the National Science Centre (hereinafter: “applicants”), for whom funding of the research project will not constitute state aid, namely:

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 2019, item 1183, as amended),
4. research institutes operating pursuant to the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1350, 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, item 534);

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 Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2019, items 1350, 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 2019, items 1183),
11. scientific libraries,
12. companies operating as R&D centre within the meaning of the Act on Certain Forms of Support for Innovative Activity of 30 May 2008 (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1402),
13. legal entities with registered office in Poland, and
14. natural persons.

The principal investigator must be an individual: 

• who has been granted his/her PhD within 3 years prior to the proposal submission year (between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2020) or will be granted his/her PhD by 30 June 2021. The 3-year period may be extended by any career breaks specified in the Resolution

and/or

• for whom employment under a full-time employment contract is planned, on terms and conditions laid down in the Regulations, for the research project performance period. Employment must be planned in another institution than the one from which the principal investigator has earned a PhD degree.

The applicant must meet the following terms and conditions:

1. the applicant must submit a proposal to carry out research that neither is nor was funded by the NCN nor from any other sources; and
2. employment under a full-time employment contract must be planned in the proposal for the principal investigator, in a position dedicated to research tasks covered by the project, on terms and conditions laid down in the Regulations.

The project must cover either basic research or applied research. 

Proposals may be submitted to the call covering research in any of 25 NCN panels, within the three core areas: HS – Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; ST – Physical Sciences and Engineering; NZ – Life Sciences.  

A research project can be planned for a period of either 24 or 36 months.

A foreign fellowship can last anywhere between 3 and 6 months.

No budget is planned for the purchase or manufacturing of research equipment, devices and/or software. 

Under the SONATINA 5 call for proposals, funds must be planned to cover:

1. principal investigator’s employment under a full-time employment contract for the research project performance period pursuant to the Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre as regards research projects;
2. research projects in accordance with the budget specified in the proposal; and
3. foreign fellowship of the principal investigator in a research institution selected thereby:

1. flat-rate funds of PLN 12,000 per month, multiplied by the percentage correction rate set for a given country, to cover the principal investigator’s living expenses at the research institution hosting the foreign fellowship, and
2. flat-rate funds of PLN 1,000 to PLN 10,000 to cover the travel expenses to and from the research institution hosting the foreign fellowship.

State aid cannot be applied for under the call.

Proposals must include:

1. research project title (in Polish and in English);
2. project’s abstract (up to 4500 characters in English);
3. project’s abstract for the general public (up to 1 standard page in Polish and up to 1 standard page in English);
4. descriptions of the research project: short description (up to 5 standard pages in English) and long description (up to 15 standard pages in English);
5. work plan (in Polish and in English) presenting research tasks;
6. information on the research team (in English), including:

a) information on the principal investigator, including:

• academic and research career;
• 1-10 most important papers published and/or accepted for publication (for research in art, artistic achievements and achievements in research in art) in the proposal submission year and/or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year. This period may be extended by the period of leave, sickness benefits or physiotherapy benefits specified in the Resolution;
• information on research project management and/or other funding awarded under NCN calls or other national or international calls in the period referred to above;
• description of the most important research achievement;
• research experience gained in Poland and/or abroad; and
• information on the most important national and/or international distinctions for research and/or other activity in research in art, and

b) information on the required qualifications and scope of work planned by each investigator in the research project;

7. document confirming that the principal investigator has earned a PhD degree and if the principal investigator is yet to earn a PhD degree, a declaration by the PhD supervisor or certificate of the forecasted award date of the PhD issued by a competent institution;
8. information on the foreign research institution hosting the fellowship as well as justification for the choice of the institution in terms of reputation, equipment or specific scientific achievements, description of research conducted, compliance of research with research performed under the project, research/tasks to be conducted during the fellowship, and potential use of knowledge and skills acquired during the fellowship in the principal investigator’s future career as a scientist (up to 2 standard pages in English);
9. document confirming approval by the research institution to host the foreign fellowship of the principal investigator, as required by the proposal (in English);
10. research project budget (in English) drafted according to the Regulations;
11. in the case of a research project to be carried out in cooperation with a partner from a foreign research institution, information on international cooperation as well as description of benefits that may result from such international cooperation (in English);
12. information on the data management plan concerning data generated or used in the course of a research project (in English);
13. information on the ethical aspects of the project, including any consents, opinions, permits and/or approvals necessary to carry out the project in compliance with generally applicable laws and best practices (in English);
14. in the case of research projects which include clinical trials with a medicinal product or a medical device, a detailed justification of the non-commercial nature of the trials (in English);
15. in the case of research projects covering research being performed or completed by the principal investigator, or with respect to which the principal investigator applies for funding under other NCN calls or from other sources, description of similar research tasks with reasons justifying the need to have them funded under the project (in English);
16. in the case of research projects to be carried out in a host institution that does not receive any operating support for research, information on research carried out over the last 2 years, together with a list of publications and information on research equipment and other instruments crucial to research (in English);
17. in the case of research projects to be carried out by a group of entities, a research project cooperation agreement including information and annexes detailed in the Resolution (in Polish); and
18. administrative declarations by the principal investigator and the host institution for the project, as required by the proposal.

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

The eligibility check shall be performed by the scientific coordinators. Only complete proposals that meet all the requirements set forth in the call announcement shall be recommended for merit-based evaluation. A proposal may also be rejected as not eligible at a later stage of evaluation.

The merit-based evaluation of proposals is performed in two stages.

During stage I, proposals undergo a preliminary evaluation based on the data included in the proposal and annexes thereto, with the exception of the full project description. The preliminary evaluation consists in:

• individual reviews made by two members of the Expert Team and
• Expert Team’s verdict at the first meeting based on the discussions about individual reviews.

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 Expert Team may decide to seek anotheropinion from a member of another Expert Team.

Following the discussions on all proposals, a ranking long list of proposals approved for stage II of merit-based evaluation is compiled.

During stage II, proposals shall undergo a specialist evaluation based on the data included in the proposal and annexes thereto, with the exception of the short project description. It shall consist of:

• individual opinions made by at least two reviewers who are not members of the Expert Team reviewing the proposal in stage I;
• evaluation by the Expert Team in the form of a discussion on the individual opinions;
• result of an interview with the principal investigator by the Experts.

Following the discussions on all proposals, a ranking short list of proposals recommended for funding is compiled.

The interview with the principal investigator at stage II of merit-based evaluation will be held in Polish or in English in June/ July 2021.

For more information on the proposal evaluation procedure, read the Detailed procedure of evaluating proposals by Expert Teams.

PLEASE NOTE! The short and full project description must only be drafted in English.

In the evaluation of proposals, the following criteria shall be reviewed:

1. compliance with the research criteria, as described in the Resolution;
2. scientific quality and novelty of research or tasks to be performed;
3. the project’s impact on the advancement of the scientific discipline;
4. feasibility of the research project;
5. scientific achievements of the principal investigator, including papers published in renowned academic press/ journals;
6. justification of the choice of the host institution for the foreign fellowship, including academic rank of a foreign research institution, accuracy of the choice of the research institution and impact on the development of the principal investigator’s scientific career;
7. justification of the costs as regards the subject and scope of research;
8. development of the proposal, quality of the presentation and interview; and
9. compliance with other requirements presented in the call announcement and detailed in the Resolution.

PLEASE NOTE: At stage I and stage II, it will be evaluated whether or not the ethics issues in the research have been duly addressed and the data management plan has been duly prepared.

PLEASE NOTE: Proposals with a zero score or “no” decision agreed by the Expert Team in any reviewed criterion cannot be recommended for funding. It does not apply to the evaluation criteria applicable to the data management and ethics issues in research .

Proposals are evaluated by inter-panel teams comprising experts appointed under a given research domain, i.e. HS, ST or NZ.

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 Expert Team may decide to seek another opinion from a member of another Expert Team.

Experts are selected by the NCN Council among outstanding Polish and foreign researchers holding at least a PhD degree. Expert Teams are appointed for each individual edition of the call. The composition of the Expert Team depends on the number and subjects of proposals submitted under a specific domain. 

Proposals are evaluated pursuant to the proposal evaluation criteria applicable to the SONATINA call.

The call results shall be announced on the NCN website and communicated to the applicants by way of a decision by the NCN Director within 6 months of the proposal submission date, in September 2021 at the latest.

Pursuant to Plan S signed by cOAlition S, of which the National Science Centre is a member, the open access policy governs the open-access publication of research results obtained in research projects funded or co-funded from public research sources.

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 to be used by public at large free of charge. Therefore, 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 (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;
• 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). 

Read the Information for applicants available on the NCN website.

Should you have any questions, please contact us by e-mail: informacja@ncn.gov.pl or by phone: +48 12 341 90 00.

Read our Call and International Programmes Timeline and follow news on our website: https://www.ncn.gov.pl/.

1. Additional evaluation of interdisciplinary proposals. 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 Expert Team may decide to seek another opinion from a member of another Expert Team.
2. Amended proposal evaluation criteria, including joint evaluation of the scientific quality and novelty of research or tasks to be performed as a single criterion.

If you plan to submit a proposal under the SONATINA 5 call:

a)    Resolution on the terms and conditions of the SONATINA call for proposals,

b)    specimen proposal form, where you can find out about information and annexes needed to be drawn up to complete the electronic proposal form in ZSUN/OSF;

c)    Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre as regards research projects;

Before the proposal is submitted to the NCN:

Once you have filled out the form and attached the required annexes, the electronic proposal must be submitted to the National Science Centre in ZSUN/OSF via the Wyślij do NCN [Send to NCN] button.

Once the call for proposals has been closed:

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

1. read all call documents included in the call announcement, in particular:
   2. read the proposal submission procedure;
   3. decide how long the project should last: 24 or 36 months;
   4. decide on the research institution to host the foreign fellowship and duration thereof: 3 to 6 months;
   5. obtain a document confirming approval by the mentor from the research institution hosting the fellowship (in English);
   6. draw up a document confirming that the principal investigator has earned a PhD degree and if the principal investigator is yet to earn a PhD degree, a declaration by the PhD supervisor or certificate of the forecasted award date of the PhD issued by a competent institution;
   7. obtain data from the host institution that is required to complete the proposal and find out about the internal procedures that may affect the proposal and the project (procedure for acquiring signature(s) of authorised representative(s) of the institution to confirm submission of the proposal);
   8. draw up the following documents:
   1. in Polish:
   • description for the general public (up to 1 standard page);
   • work plan presenting research tasks;
   • in the case of research projects to be carried out by a group of entities, a research project cooperation agreement;
   • administrative declarations by the principal investigator and the host institution for the project;
   2. in English:
   • project’s abstract (up to 4500 characters);
   • description for the general public (up to 1 standard page);
   • work plan presenting research tasks;
   • descriptions of the research project: short description (up to 5 standard pages) and long description (up to 15 standard pages);
   • information on the research team, including information on the principal investigator specified above (item 6: Information to be included in the proposal and documents to be attached);
   • information on the foreign research institution hosting the fellowship and justification therefor (up to 2 standard pages in Polish);
   • document confirming approval by the research institution to host the foreign fellowship of the principal investigator;
   • research project budget. PLEASE NOTE! The cost of open access to publications may only be incurred as indirect costs. The cost of open access planned as direct costs will be regarded as a formal error. 
   • in the case of a research project to be carried out in cooperation with a foreign partner, information on international cooperation as well as description of benefits that may result from such international cooperation;
   • information on the data management plan concerning data generated or used in the course of a research project;
   • information on the ethical aspects of the project, including any consents, opinions, permits and/or approvals necessary to carry out the project in compliance with generally applicable laws and best practices;
   • in the case of research projects which include clinical trials with a medicinal product or a medical device, a detailed justification of the non-commercial nature of the trials;
   • in the case of research projects covering research being performed or completed by the principal investigator, or with respect to which the principal investigator applies for funding under other NCN calls or from other sources, description of similar research tasks with reasons justifying the need to have them funded under the project; and
   • in the case of research projects to be carried out in a host institution that does not receive any operating support for research, information on research carried out over the last 2 years, together with a list of publications and information on research equipment and other instruments crucial to research.
   1. check if all information in and annexes to the proposal are correct. Verification of the proposal for completeness in ZSUN/OSF by pressing the Sprawdź kompletność [Check completeness] button does not guarantee that all information has been entered correctly and that the required annexes have been attached;
   2. disable editing of the final version of the proposal to NCN;
   3. download and sign the confirmation of submitting the proposal in the call (signature of the principal investigator and authorised representative of the institution); and
   4. attach the confirmation of submitting the proposal with a signature.
   1. evaluation of proposals shall be carried out;
   2. after each stage of evaluation, the funding decision of the NCN Director shall be delivered;
   3. if the proposal is qualified for funding, a research project funding agreement shall be entered into; and
   4. project shall be performed pursuant to the funding agreement.