The Minister of Science, Dariusz Wieczorek, met with Council members and representatives of the NCN office to discuss research funding, the work of the agency and a new team to deal with ongoing cooperation
“The NCN is essential for Polish science. We will be taking efforts to make sure that the state budget includes adequate resources to fund its tasks,” Dariusz Wieczorek said on 14 November in Kraków.
This year, the research-funding subsidy for the NCN was increased by 200 million zlotys. In September, the NCN Council issued an appeal, urging the government to raise the 2025 budget of the agency by a further 300 million for research funding and 2 million for its daily operation. However, if adopted, the current draft state budget, will only increase spending on the NCN by 50 million. During the meeting in Kraków, the Minister stressed that the legislative process is still underway, and the amount may still increase. “In this case, we are on the same side. As for the NCN, I am optimistic,” he said.
The Minister of Science, Dariusz Wieczorek joins NCN Council session, photo: MNiSW
The Minister also underscored that “our key concern right now is security” and the bulk of state resources go towards the military and weapons. Next year, the budget of the Minister of National Defence will climb up to 186 billion zlotys. “I am aware, as is any minister, that the geopolitical situation means we may need to give up on some of our aspirations,” he said.
Prof. Krzysztof Jóźwiak, the NCN Director, pointed out that, today, weaponry consists “not only of tanks and cannons,” but also of cybersecurity and social defence against manipulation and disinformation campaigns. “This is an area in which I can see an important role for basic research, and I think others would agree with me,” he said and went on to declare that the NCN would draft a strategy that would allow a certain amount of the military budget to be slated for NCN calls related to these issues. The participants in the meeting also suggested that the NCN might organise calls for proposals devoted to, e.g. health and energy security. Minister Wieczorek welcomed the offer of the new strategy with interest and promised to discuss it with the Ministry of National Defence.
Council Members and the NCN Director also emphasised the need to increase the subsidies for the NCN and allow greater flexibility in how they are spent, which would enable the agency, e.g. to raise salaries. “One of the quality indicators that measure how well funding agencies around the world do their job is a good ratio of office costs to grants. The NCN ranks very high in this respect, which shows that our agency’s staff do a great job and should be supported in their work,” emphasised Prof. Tomasz Dietl from the NCN Council.
Prof. Krzysztof Jóźwiak pointed out that the agency’s costs represent less than 3% of the total worth of awarded grants, which is “an exceptional achievement.” “The truth is that people are the most important element of the system,” he said.
Council members also indicated that the NCN should appoint a new team to deal with ongoing cooperation between the agency and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. They said it would be important to create a space for regular meetings between NCN Council and NCN office members with delegates from the Ministry, not necessarily the Minister himself, but his specially appointed representatives. “We are planning to set up a team to deal with these matters at the operational level and take the necessary decisions,” the Minister reassured them.
