The National Science Centre, together with the JPI AMR Network, is launching a call for international research projects on antimicrobial resistance. Proposals may be submitted by international research consortia composed of at least 3 research teams from at least 3 different countries participating in the call, with at least 2 from the EU member states or associated countries. The principal investigator of the Polish research team must hold at least a PhD degree.

The call for proposals is addressed in particular to the research teams applying the One Health approach:

  • Understand the impact of interventions on the development and transmission of antibiotic resistance in, and/or between, at least two One Health settings;

OR

  • Design, implement, evaluate, and/or compare innovative interventions to control the development and transmission of antibiotic resistance in, and/or between, at least two One Health settings.

Twenty one (21) countries will participate in the call: Argentina, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia Finland, France, Spain, Netherlands, Ireland, Israel, Canada, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Germany, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Hungary, United Kingdom and Italy. 

The call will support research projects that have the potential for impact in the areas where the risk and burden of AMR are greatest, such as low and middle income countries (LMIC) in Asia and Africa. The participation of the partners from the LMIC will be funded by the International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions (ICARS) from Denmark, International Development Research Centre (IDRC) from Canada and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

The estimated call budget is 24.9 million EUR. The Polish research teams participating in the call will be funded by the National Science Centre (NCN), which has allocated 500,000 EUR.

Call timeline:

  • International level (two stages)

A joint proposal is drafted by the Polish research teams in cooperation with foreign partners (in English) at the first and second stage of the international call and submitted electronically to the international submission system by the international consortium leader.

  • 1st stage: 16 March 2021, 12:00 CET (submission deadline for pre-proposals). Please note: Polish applicants submit no documents to the NCN at pre-proposal submission stage;
  • 2nd stage: 12 July 2021, 12:00 CET (submission deadline for full proposals).
  • National level (single stage)

An NCN proposal concerning the Polish part of the project is drafted by the Polish research team at the national level and submitted to the NCN electronically via the ZSUN/OSF electronic submission system. The EUR budget of the Polish part of the project in the joint proposal must be calculated according to the following exchange rate: 1 EUR = 4.3618 PLN. NCN proposals (NCN UNISONO) must be submitted by the Polish research teams within 7 days of submitting full proposals at the international level by 19 July 2021, 4 p.m. CET.

Call results:

November 2021: publishing the list of projects recommended for funding

January – March 2022: project start date  

Researchers interested in the call may:

Please read: 

  • the call documents available on the website of the JPIAMR network (applicable to all applicants);
  • information for applicants applying for NCN funding specified below and annexes hereto.  

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Who may apply for NCN funding?

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

  1. Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences,
  2. other entities involved in research independently on a continuous basis,
  3. 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),
  4. scientific and industrial centres laid down in the Act on Research Centres (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1350),
  5. research centres of the Polish Academy of Sciences laid down in the Act on the Polish Academy of Sciences of 30 April 2010,
  6. scientific libraries,
  7. 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 2019, item 1402),
  8. legal entities with registered office in Poland,
  9. natural persons and
  10. 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 and as such submit NCN proposals. NCN proposals are 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.

PLEASE NOTE: A template research project cooperation agreement was amended on 19 May 2021.
Agreements drafted according to the previous template will also be accepted

If the applicant is a natural person, the host institution cannot be a group of entities or entity for which project funding constitutes state aid.

Who may act as a principal investigator?

The principal investigator of the Polish research team must hold at least a PhD degree. Additional restrictions are described in detail in Chapter IV (§13-18) 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 137/2020 of 11 December 2020.

The principal investigator must be a person employed by the host institution for the project for the entire project duration period pursuant to at least a part-time employment contract. The principal investigator must reside in Poland for at least 50% of the project duration period. This period includes business trips necessary for the project, in particular involving fieldwork, participation in conferences and/or library and archive research.

What are the topics covered by the call ?

Projects should apply the One Health approach:

  • Understand the impact of interventions on the development and transmission of antibiotic resistance in, and/or between, at least two One Health settings;

OR

  • Design, implement, evaluate, and/or compare innovative interventions to control the development and transmission of antibiotic resistance in, and/or between, at least two One Health settings.

Projects implemented by international research consortia should concern at least two out of three One Health areas (human, animal, environment). NCN proposals submitted by the Polish research teams may concern one or more One Health areas.

NCN funding proposals must concern basic research for the purposes of Article 2 (1) of the NCN Act.

NCN basic research 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.

What is the project duration period?

Research projects may be planned in the call for a period of either 24 or 36 months.

How should the Polish budget be planned?

Polish applicants joining international consortia in the Widening Mechanism at stage two are obliged to submit the budget table of the Polish part of the project for NCN’s approval. Please e-mail the budget table in .xlsx format to jolanta.palowska@ncn.gov.pl no later than 25 June 2021.

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.

Polish research teams may be awarded funds to cover salaries for members of the Polish research team, salaries and scholarships for students and/or PhD students, purchase or construction of research equipment, devices and software and other costs crucial to the research project. NCN scholarships are awarded pursuant to the Regulations on awarding scholarships.

The proposal may be rejected if unreasonable budget is planned and/or discrepancies occur between the costs of projects to be carried out by Polish research teams in the NCN proposal and the joint proposal.

When developing the budget, the following must be taken into account:

  • the budget of the Polish research team in the joint proposal should be consistent with the budget in the NCN proposal in ZSUN/OSF;
  • the budget in the joint proposal must be quoted in EUR, while the budget in the NCN proposal in ZSUN/OSF, in PLN, rounded down to total values;
  • the EUR budget of the Polish part of the project in the joint proposal must be calculated according to the following exchange rate: 1 EUR = 4.3618 PLN.

Indirect costs may 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. The host institution must arrange with the principal investigator in the project for the distribution of at least 25% of the indirect costs’ value.

IMPORTANT NOTE

The costs of Open Access to publications may only be incurred as indirect costs. Budgeting Open Access costs as direct costs will be regarded as a formal error.

NCN funding will be awarded for research projects carried out by the Polish research in the case of which foreign partners receive parallel funding. 

Are there any restrictions on the size of the Polish research team?

The terms of the call do not specify the maximum number of the research team members. Detailed information on the costs of remuneration and scholarships is provided in the Annex "Costs in research projects funded by the NCN within the multilateral collaboration UNISONO". Please note that persons employed as post-docs in the project must be recruited in an open call procedure. Persons to be selected in an open call procedure, including post-docs, must not be named in joint proposals or NCN proposals. For more on the post-doc employment criteria, see Annex “Costs in research projects funded by the NCN within the multilateral collaboration UNISONO”.

Can proposals in this call include application for state aid?

Yes. For more information, see the State aid rules.

What is the proposal evaluation procedure?

Joint proposals are subject to an eligibility check performed by the NCN, other members of the JPIAMR network and the Secretariat of the JPIAMR-ACTION call.

NCN proposals are subject solely to an NCN eligibility check performed by the scientific coordinators, which involves verification of the proposal for completeness, compliance with all terms set forth in the call announcement and Resolution No 137/2020 of the NCN Council , including compliance of the 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 the NCN proposal must comply with information in the joint proposal and the joint proposal annexed to the NCN proposal must comply with the full proposal.

Joint proposals approved as eligible are subject to merit-based evaluation of the international expert team pursuant to the rules laid down in the call procedure (see Guide for Applicants and Call text).

Who performs the merit-based evaluation of proposals?

Only joint proposals approved as eligible are subject to merit-based evaluation performed by the international expert team appointed by the Secretariat of the JPIAMR-ACTION call pursuant to the rules laid down in the call procedure (see Guide for Applicants and Call text).

When and how will the results be announced?

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

What is the appeal procedure?


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 within 14 days of the date the decision has been served.

Open Access Policy

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:

  • 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).

Personal data protection

When submitting a proposal to the JPIAMR call, all partners of the consortium specified in the proposal must grant their consent for personal data processing by the JPIAMR pursuant to the EU Directive on the General Data Protection (UE 2016/679), including transfer of persona data to third countries (outside the EU/EEA).

Where can additional information be found?

For more on the call, see the website of the JPIAMR network. For more on the terms and regulations on awarding NCN funding in the call, see Resolution No 137/2020 of the NCN Council.  

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

International Call Secretariat:

French National Research Agency, JPI-AMRCalls@agencerecherche.fr

Call documents

The JPIAMR network:

The call documents are available here.

The National Science Centre:

  1. 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
  2. Regulations for awarding scholarships in NCN-funded research projects
  3. Costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre within the multilateral collaboration UNISONO
  4. NCN proposal form template (to be published at the full proposal submission stage when full proposals are submitted) 
  5. Budget table of the Polish research team
  6. Agreement on the formation of a group of entities for the purposes of completion of the research project [PLEASE NOTE: A template research project cooperation agreement was amended on 19 May 2021. Agreements drafted according to the previous template will also be accepted. Old template]
  7. State aid rules
  8. Guidelines for applicants to complete the ethics issues form in the proposal
  9. Guidelines for applicants to complete the data management plan form in the proposal
  10. Code of the National Science Centre on research integrity and applying for research funding
  11. Open access policy at the NCN
  1. Rules for delivering the NCN Director’s decisions
  2. Guidelines for appealing against the NCN Director’s decisions
  1. Personal data processing at NCN since 25 May 2018 (GDPR)
  2. Order on the implementation of inspection procedure at the registered office of the host institution
  3. Guidelines for entities auditing the implementation of research projects funded by the National Science Centre