BiodivERsA+

Proposals in the call may be submitted by the following entities specified in Article 27 (1) of the NCN Act (the “Applicants”):

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 2020, item 1796);
4. research institutes operating pursuant to the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1383);
5. international research institutes established pursuant to other acts and acting in the Republic of Poland;
6. Łukasiewicz Centre operating pursuant to the Act on the Łukasiewicz Research Network of 21 February 2019 (Journal of Laws 2020, item 2098);
7. institutes operating within the Łukasiewicz Research Network;
8. Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences;
9. other entities involved in research independently on a continuous basis;
10. groups of entities (at least two entities mentioned in sections 1-9 or at least one institution as such together with at least one enterprise);
11. scientific and industrial centres laid down in the Act on Research Centres of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1383);
12. research centres of the Polish Academy of Sciences laid down in the Act on the Polish Academy of Sciences of 30 April 2010;
13. scientific libraries;
14. 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 2021, item 706);
15. legal entities with registered office in Poland;
16. natural persons;
17. 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 entities applying for NCN funding, they must set up a group of entities 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 a group 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 an NCN proposal. 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.

This call aims to support transnational research projects (3-years duration) addressing one or more of the three (non-exclusive) themes below:

1. THEME 1 – Knowledge for identifying priority conservation areas, establishing effective and resilient ecological networks, enhancing species-based protection and preserving genetic diversity
2. THEME 2 – Multiple benefits and costs of biodiversity and ecosystem protection: synergies and trade-offs
3. THEME 3 – Effective management and equitable governance to deliver bold conservation outcome

Projects combining aspects from several themes are encouraged. This call is focused on the protection of biodiversity in the wild. This does not, for example, include efforts for restoration of habitats and species, or ex-situ conservation.

NCN proposals covering research tasks overlapping tasks specified in another proposal submitted earlier under an NCN call or with respect to which an appeal has been initiated, may only be submitted after the funding decision has become final.

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

We recommend that Polish applicants should consult the budget table of the Polish part of the project with the NCN. To receive NCN feedback in time, please send the budget table to anna.kotarba@ncn.gov.pl by November 19, 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 Costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as 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 = 4.5414 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:

• Open Access indirect costs of up to 2% of direct costs, which can only be spent on costs associated with publishing or making research data available in open access,
• other indirect costs of up to 20% of direct costs, which may be allocated to costs indirectly related to the project, including costs of 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.

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

In the event of unjustified costs and/or discrepancies between the costs planned for Polish research teams in the NCN proposal and the joint proposal, the proposal may be rejected.

The terms of the call do not specify the maximum number of the research team members. More information on the costs of remuneration and scholarships can be found in the Costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration UNISONO.

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

Researchers to be recruited in an open call procedure, including post-docs, must not be named in either joint or NCN proposals.

More information on the post-doc employment criteria can be found in the Costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration UNISONO.

Also, please read Regulations for awarding NCN scholarships for NCN-funded research projects.

No. Pursuant to NCN Council Resolution No. 88/2021, dated September 30, 2021, applicants for which project funding constitutes state aid shall not be eligible to apply to the Call.

Joint pre-proposals and joint full proposals are subject to an eligibility check performed by the NCN, other research-funding agencies from the partner countries cooperating in the research project and the Call Secretariat of the BiodivERsA+.

Joint proposals approved as eligible are subject to merit-based evaluation performed by the international expert team.

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

The eligibility check of NCN proposals involves verification of proposals for completeness, compliance with all terms set forth in NCN Council Resolution No 80/2021 and in the call documents, including compliance with the Costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration UNISONO. The information provided in NCN proposals and in joint full proposals must be consistent.

Only joint proposals approved as eligible are subject to merit-based evaluation The merit-based evaluation is carried out by an international expert team elected jointly by the research-funding agencies participating in the call. For more information about the evaluation of proposals, please see the documentation on the BiodivERsA+ Partnership website.

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 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[1]) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM[2])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 call will be concluded in September/October 2022. Firstly, project leaders will be notified of the results of the call. 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 appeal against the decision of the NCN Director with the Committee of Appeals of the NCN Council.

For more information on the call, go to the BiodivERsA+ website. More information on the terms and regulations on awarding NCN funding can be found in NCN Council Resolution No 80/2021 of September 9, 2021 and NCN Council Resolution No 88/2021 of September 30, 2021.

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

• dr Mateusz Sobczyk
• Anna Kotarba,48 12 341 9091, +48 695 211 482

Before submitting an NCN proposal:

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 entity;
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.