Polish researchers will carry out one trilateral and four bilateral international projects with the participation of scientists from the Czech Republic and Slovenia thanks to OPUS 26+LAP/Weave funding. Polish research teams awarded a total of 7.5 million zlotys.
OPUS is the largest call for proposals in the portfolio of the National Science Centre. Launched twice per year, in March and September, it is open to Polish researchers seeking funds for research projects carried out in cooperation with international research teams or with the use of large international research equipment. It is now a tradition that the autumn round of OPUS includes an additional funding track for projects carried out in cooperation with international partners under the Weave programme. The OPUS 26+LAP/Weave programme allowed Polish researchers to apply for funding for bi- or trilateral projects jointly with research teams from Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovenia, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Belgium-Flanders.
Winners
Successful projects carried out in cooperation with researchers from the Czech Republic and Slovenia, which were awarded funding under OPUS 26+LAP/Weave, had been submitted by researchers based in Gdańsk, Poznań and Kraków.
In Life Sciences, one grant went to Dr hab. Marcin Gruszecki from the Gdańsk Medical University, who will be working on possible applications of machine learning with elements of physiology in medical diagnostics, specifically in respiratory disorders. Dr inż. Olga Orman from the University of Agriculture in Kraków will head a Polish team working on a project entitled “Comparative analysis of growth characteristics of beech and fir regeneration shaped by different weather, climatic and environmental conditions in different parts of their natural ranges in Europe”. In Physical Sciences and Engineering, funding was awarded to a team from the Poznań University of Technology, led by Dr hab. Inż. Mateusz Barczewski, who will investigate living hybrid materials on bioderived composite substrates. Dr hab. inż. Grzegorz Boczkaj from the Gdańsk University of Technology will head a project looking into the phenomenon of microchannel cavitation for chemical oxidant activation. In art, humanities and social science, a Polish team led by Dr hab. Michał Mencfel from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, in trilateral cooperation with Czech and Slovenian partners, will carry out a comparative study of art collecting among the aristocracy of Central Europe in the 1795-1939 period.
The work of Polish teams under the Weave programme is financed by the National Science Centre, while their Czech and Slovenian teams will get their funding from the Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) and the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (ARIS), respectively.
- List of OPUS LAP projects: bilateral projects with partners from Slovenia (pdf)
- List of OPUS LAP projects: trilateral project with partners from Slovenia and the Czech Republic (pdf)
- Ranking lists: all projects funded under OPUS 26+LAP/Weave
OPUS and OPUS LAP results
A total of 1737 proposals with a total budget of nearly 2.6 billion zlotys were submitted to the NCN under the OPUS 26+LAP/Weave programme. In the first round, grants worth 441 million zlotys were awarded to 267 researchers working on projects that did not involve any international cooperation under Weave. Results for OPUS LAP projects planned in partnership with teams in Austria, Belgium-Flanders, the Czech Republic and Switzerland were announced in July, with 29 international projects worth more than 42.34 million zlotys joining the ranks of Weave winners. In August, another grant of 1.4 million zlotys went to one Polish-Luxembourgian project.
In the current, fourth round, a total of more than 7.5 million zlotys was awarded to four bilateral projects carried out by researchers from Poland and Slovenia, and one trilateral Polish-Czech-Slovenian project, initially put on a waiting list. Its funding was made possible by the extra 200 million zlotys awarded to the NCN this year by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the NCN Council’s resolutions that increase the budget of OPUS 26.
|
|
Polish-Slovenian projects |
Polish-Czech-Slovenian projects |
|
|
First list |
Waiting list |
|
Qualified projects |
4 |
1 |
|
Total (PLN) |
6 942 672 |
566 307 |
After tallying the results of all rounds held thus far, the list of OPUS 26+LAP/Weave winners currently consists of 302 projects worth more than 492 million zlotys.
LAP procedure
The LAP procedure is a proposal evaluation standard adopted at European research-funding institutions, designed to facilitate the funding application process for international research teams and streamline proposal review. A LAP proposal submitted to the NCN in the autumn round of OPUS undergoes a full merit-based evaluation in accordance with all the terms and conditions and criteria of the call; in addition, experts assess the scientific track record of foreign PIs and their previous research projects and determine whether the contribution of all teams in the project is balanced and complementary.
International partner teams apply to secure funding for their part of the project to their respective research-funding institutions under the Weave programme. However, in accordance with the Lead Agency Procedure, they no longer need to pass a merit-based evaluation in those agencies and other partner agencies merely approve the results of evaluation performed by the NCN experts.
The approval process for proposals recommended for funding by the NCN is still underway for OPUS 26+LAP/Weave projects that involve cooperation with German partners.
Decisions
Funding decisions for bilateral projects with partners from Slovenia and trilateral projects with partners from Slovenia and the Czech Republic, recommended for funding under OPUS 26+LAP/Weave, were sent out on 4 November.
Decisions issued by the NCN Director are delivered electronically to the electronic address indicated in the proposal. How are funding decisions delivered?
Ranking lists: OPUS 26+LAP/Weave
OPUS 26+LAP/Weave: