Facts and figures

2011-2022

27,876 funded projects
20,094 grant winners
14.39 PLN billion in grants
53,708 applicants

Early-stage researchers

The NCN launches calls for proposals addressed to early-stage researchers at any stage of their research career. The call portfolio includes programmes designed for scientists at the onset of their career, experienced researchers as well as programmes in which early-stage researchers compete with their experienced colleagues.

Applicants are usually researchers who are 40-45 years old and whose PhD was awarded within the last 12 years.
In 2022, the NCN allocated over PLN 1.6 billion for research, 54% of which (over PLN 875 mln) was designated to support the development of early-stage researchers, which was 3 percentage points more than in 2021 and 11 percentage points more than in 2016 (when the measurement was first made).
Between 2016 and 2022, the NCN awarded a total of PLN 4.6 billion to support the development of early-stage researchers, which accounted for 47% of the total amount awarded for domestic and international calls.

Thanks to NCN grants, early-stage researchers can carry out their projects, build their own research teams, enjoy PhD scholarships and find employment in Polish research centres. There already exists a whole generation of young people (informally known as “the NCN generation”) who have come of age as researchers beneath the wings of the agency. Access to funding awarded via a reliable procedure dominated by international experts (free of nepotism or political concerns) has encouraged them to stay in Poland or return to Poland.

Number of years in research and age, in Polish (pdf)

NCN funding for early-stage researchers, in Polish (pdf)

Early-stage researchers in NCN calls (podcast)

Grant geography

In 2011-2022, proposals were submitted by a total of 807 universities, research institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences, research centres and other entities. The largest number of proposals came from the largest academic centres: 33% of the units were situated in the Masovian Voivodeship, followed by the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, which accounted for nearly 12%. A similar trend can be observed among grant winners. Most grants tend to go to Masovia and Lesser Poland, due to the larger number of entities from these voivodeships in the applicant pool.
The greatest success rate over the 12 years in question was observed for entities from Greater Poland (55%), Lublin (54%), Łódź and Masovian (53% each) voivodeships.
In 2022, 30% of all grants awarded by the NCN went to the Masovian Voivodeship, and 19% to the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, followed by the Greater Poland and the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, each with 11%.

The NCN takes measures to support smaller academic centres. It promotes academic mobility, introduces caps on the number of grants per institution, launches regular MINIATURA calls and organises applicant training courses and NCN Days outside of the largest cities.

Number of submitted proposals, budgets, entities, applicants – per voivodeship, in Polish (pdf)

Grant geography (podcast)

Equal access to funding

The NCN has consistently prioritised equal access to research funding for men and women. In 2022, we adopted a new NCN Gender Equality Plan. We also publish regular data on women’s participation in NCN-funded projects.

Gender participation in NCN-funded projects, in Polish (pdf)

Men and women in science (podcast)

NCN experts

Proposals submitted to NCN calls are evaluated by Polish and foreign researchers, who sit on Expert teams, as well as external peer reviewers, whose decisions are exclusively based on criteria of scientific excellence and involve no conflict of interest.

In 2022, proposals were evaluated by a total of 2136 experts and 9953 peer reviewers. Over 96% of reviewers and nearly 85% of experts are researchers affiliated with foreign research institutions. The largest percentage of researchers with a foreign affiliation is within Physical Sciences and Engineering, the lowest within Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. The highest internationalisation is within Life Sciences and the lowest within Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
Foreign reviewers who evaluated proposals at the NCN between 2011 and 2022 are mainly researchers employed in the United States of America, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France and Spain.
Nearly all the experts who participated in the evaluation process in the period of 2017-2022 also had prior experience as principal investigators (for an average of 96%; 93% in 2022). Most had also served as peer reviewers in other grant agencies (for an average of 85%; 93% in 2022) and NCN Expert Team members.
Nearly all experts who took part in the internal NCN evaluation process in 2021 and 2022 were also peer reviewers in scientific journals (99%) and other grant agencies (91%), and most had previously acted as principal investigators in their own research projects (for an average of 81%).

2022 NCN evaluation Report, in Polish (pdf)

Names and affiliations of NCN experts and peer reviewers.

NCN budget

A frozen budget of the National Science Centre is a huge challenge making it impossible to fund even very good research projects.

The Polish budget for science amounts to PLN 25 billion. Only 5.6% of that amount has been designated for funding of NCN projects.
In 2015, funds for research from the state budget amounted to PLN 871 million. Three years later, the amount was increased to PLN 1.226 billion, in 2022, to PLN 1.392 billion, while in 2023, it remained the same. This means that between 2015 and 2018, the NCN budget for research projects was raised by over 40%, and between 2018 and 2023, by only 13%.
A few years ago, the NCN call success rate was ca. 25%. As a consequence of the NCN being poorly funded by the state and the cost of research increasing (due to a drastic increase in the prices of services, materials and research equipment), the success rate dropped to 17% in 2022 and to 13% over the last few months.
The lowest number of proposals was recommended for funding in 2022 as compared to other years.
We are convinced that with a view of a long-term development of Polish science, we should at least strive to reach the success rate of ca. 25%. Therefore, we have been appealing to the public authorities to increase the NCN funding.

According to the current estimates, we can assume that a success rate of 25% would be achieved if the subsidy for NCN increased to ca. PLN 1.77 billion in 2023, to ca. PLN 1.94 billion in 2025 and over PLN 2 billion in 2026.

	2024	2025	2026
Special purpose fund for tasks under Financial Plan (in PLN)	1 383 144 000	1 383 144 000	1 383 144 000
Budget deficit with increased success rate (in PLN)	390 000 000	560 000 000	690 000 000
Expected value of special-purpose fund for tasks with the success rate increased to 25% (in PLN)	1 773 144 000	1 943 144 000	2 073 144 000

Success rate predictions under OPUS 25 and PRELUDIUM 22

Funding appeals by the NCN Director and Council President

Appeals by the Chairs of international panels evaluating proposals under NCN calls