OPUS is a funding opportunity intended for a wide range of applicants. The research proposal submitted under this scheme may include the purchase or construction of research equipment.

Eligible Applicants: all researchers, regardless of their experience in research

Duration: 12, 24, 36 or 48 months

Funding: 

Researchers may apply for funding of costs relevant necessary and directly connected to the proposed research, including:

  • Personnel (including scholarships for pre-doctoral researchers and post-docs positions)
  • Consumables
  • Research equipment
  • Travel and subsistence costs
  • Outsourcing
  • Other: publication costs, collective investigators, devices and software, etc.
  • Indirect costs: 2% of direct costs that may be spent on open access to publications and research data; 20% of direct costs that may be spent on the costs that are related indirectly to the research project, including the cost of open access to publications and research data.

There is no cap on funding on an individual project.

Evaluation criteria:

  • proposals from within NCN Panels, involving basic research,
  • scientific quality and the innovative nature of the research project,
  • assesment of the track record of the principal investigator (scientific achievments and the results of research projects conducted by the principal investigator, funded from the budget for science),
  • impact on the development of the research discipline,
  • relevance of the costs planned,
  • assessment of project feasibility,
  • preparation of the proposal.

Evaluation procedure: merit-based evaluation by peer review panels and external reviewers in two stages

Other: 

  • scholarships for early-stage researchers may be awarded;
  • funding may be applied for to cover research projects carried out in international cooperation;
  • once a year (in September), research projects may be carried out pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure, under which bilateral and trilateral projects may be funded, carried out in cooperation with the Austrian, Czech and Slovenian research teams, as well as bilateral projects, carried out in cooperation with German and Swiss partners, co-financed by foreign agencies based on the results of evaluation performed by the NCN.

Application: written partly in Polish and partly in English

Call timeline

Contact:

informacja@ncn.gov.pl

Tel: 0048 12 341 9000