ChistERA 2021

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 0f 2020, item 1796);
4. research institutes operating pursuant to the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of2020, 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 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 of2020, 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;
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 2020, item 706);
13. legal entities with registered office in Poland;
14. natural persons and
15. companies conducting research in other organisational form than set forth in sections 1-13.

If research projects are to be carried out by two or more Polish partners applying for NCN funding, they must set up a group of entities (see item 8 above) and as such submit NCN proposals. An NCN proposal is submitted by a 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 described in detail 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 80/2021 of 9 September 2021.

The call covers the following subjects in the area of information and communication technology (ICT):

1. Nano-Opto-Electro-Mechanical Systems for ICT (NOEMS)
2. Foundations for Misbehaviour Detection and Mitigation Strategies in Online Social Networks and Media (OSNEM)

More information on the subject of the call can be found in the CHIST-ERA call announcement.

Polish researchers may apply for NCN funding of their basic research projects, as laid down in Article 2 (1) of the NCN Act.

NCN proposals comprising research tasks overlapping with research tasks to be carried out in another proposal that has been already submitted in any NCN call or with respect to which an appeal has been initiated, may only be submitted once the funding decision has become final.

Research projects may be planned in the call 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. The budget table in .xlsx format should be sent to alicja.dylag@ncn.gov.pl. by 5 January 2022.

Creating a project budget is one of the most important aspects in the project planning which aims at identifying the required resources and estimating the costs required to perform the research tasks. The project budget must be based on realistic calculations and must comply with the guidelines provided in the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre within the 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 = 4,5315 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;
   • remuneration and scholarships for students and PhD students;
2. purchase or construction 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;
7. other costs crucial to the project.

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 implementation, the host institution will agree with the principal investigator the coverage of a minimum of 25% of the indirect costs.

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

The terms of the call do not specify the minimum or maximum number of the research team members. To find out more on the budget of salaries and scholarships, read the Types of costs in research projects funded by the NCN within the multilateral collaboration UNISONO.

Please note that recipients of NCN scholarships or persons employed as post-docs in the project must be recruited in an open call procedure.

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

Yes. To find out more, read the State aid rules.

Joint proposals are subject to an eligibility check performed by the NCN, other members of the CHIST-ERA network and the Secretariat of the CHIST-ERA Call 2021.

Joint proposals deemed eligible are subject to merit-based evaluation carried out by an international expert team pursuant to the call announcement.

NCN proposals are subject solely to an NCN eligibility check carried out by the NCN Scientific Coordinators.

The eligibility check of NCN proposals involves verification of proposals for completeness, compliance with the call documents and Resolution No 80/2021, including compliance of the budget with the Annex to Resolution thereto, i.e. “Costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre in international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration UNISONO”.

PLEASE NOTE: The information in NCN proposals and in joint proposals must be consistent and joint proposals annexed to NCN proposals must be the same as joint proposals submitted to ESS submission system.

Only joint proposals are subject to merit-based evaluation. Merit-based evaluation is performed by an expert team appointed by the CHIST-ERA network. To find out more on the evaluation of proposals, read the call announcement available on the website of the CHIST-ERA network.

Together with other European members of cOAlition S, the National Science Centre has developed its Open access policy pursuant to which all research results and publications stemming from research projects must be made available in 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:

• 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 (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;
• 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).

The CHIST-ERA Call 2021 will be concluded by the time specified in the call documents (June 2022). Firstly, project coordinators will be informed about the outcome. Polish research teams will be notified by way of decisions of the NCN Director.

In the event of a breach of the call procedure or other formal infringements related to actions performed by the NCN, the applicant may lodge an appeal against the decision of the NCN Director with the Committee of Appeals of the NCN Council.

For more information on the call, please go to the website of the CHIST-ERA network. For detailed terms and regulations on awarding NCN funding in the call, please refer to the Annex to NCN Council Resolution No 80/2021 of 9 September 2021 (UNISONO).

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

• dr Anna Wieczorek
• Alicja Dyląg, 12 341 90 69; + 48 532 086 494

Before submitting an NCN proposal on the national level:

1. make sure that the information in and annexes to the proposal are correct. Checking the proposal for completeness in ZSUN/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 host institution;
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 ZSUN/OSF system.