We have just launched the first round of the FLAMENCO call for researchers working in Poland who wish to collaborate with Spanish researchers. The call budget is PLN 15.6 million.
FLAMENCO is a joint initiative of the National Science Centre and the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI). Funding is available to researches at any stage of their career, who are interested in collaborating with Spanish research teams. The call is open to all research domains, as long as they fall within the scope of basic research.
Projects may be carried out over a period of 24, 36 or 48 months. The project budget may include funds for salaries of research team members (including post-docs), scholarships for students and PhD students, purchase or manufacturing of research equipment and other cost crucial to the Polish part of the project. The maximum budget of a single project is not predetermined but the expenditures must be well-justified.
Joint Polish and Spanish research projects must include a coherent research program with the added value of the international cooperation clearly identified.
Call Timeline
Submission of a joint proposal by the Polish and Spanish research team via the AEI’s electronic submission system: 24 November 2026
Submission of an NCN proposal by the Polish research team via the OSF submission system: as soon as possible following submission of the joint proposal to AEI, within 7 calendar days
Publication of call results: November 2027
Project start date: January2028
Evaluation of proposals
Proposals drafted jointly by Polish and Spanish research teams are evaluated by AEI as the lead agency according to its rules. NCN approves the evaluation results and awards funding to the Polish research teams accordingly.
Polish and Spanish research cooperation
The Polish and Spanish scientific communities have expressed interest in bilateral cooperation on ambitious research projects for years. FLAMENCO is the first tangible outcome of the Memorandum of Understanding signed at the beginning of July between the National Science Centre and Agencia Estatal de Investigación. The collaboration between the two institutions has provided researchers with two types of funding opportunities for their joint research projects: the bilateral FLAMENCO call with AEI acting as the lead agency and OPUS 32+LAP/Weave, with NCN responsible for the merit-based evaluation of funding proposals.
88 researchers have joint the winning applicants of MINIATURA 10. NCN grants totalling nearly PLN 3.3 million will enable them to conduct preliminary studies, library and archive searches or research visits.
The call is addressed to researchers with a PhD who wish to enter the grant system. The funding of research activities will enable them to validate their research ideas, conduct preliminary studies, and establish new research contacts during research trips that may help them develop a comprehensive research project. They may also benefit from the support of experienced NCN mentors.
To become a winning applicant, a researcher must hold a PhD awarded over the past 12 years, must have an academic track record including at least one paper published or accepted for publication and at least one artistic achievement or achievement in research in art, and must be employed by a Polish research institution. They must have no prior experience as a principal investigator in NCN-funded calls, and must not be prior winners of NCN scholarship or fellowship calls.
Grants ranging between PLN 5,000 and 50,000 are awarded for research activities in the form of preliminary studies, library and archive searches or research visits. The duration of a research activity must not exceed 12 months. One may become a MINIATURA call winner only once.
Topics pursued by successful applicants
The topics selected by the winning applicants who submitted their proposals in May cover a wide range of aspects of human life in social, economic, and environmental contexts.
In Humanities, Social Sciences and Life Sciences, recommended activities included preliminary studies and library and archive research scheduled by Dr Renata Pomerańska from The Jonh Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. She will address communication in the foster care system for children of incarcerated mothers, analysing triadic relationships and model conceptualization. Dr inż. Alicja Kozarzewska from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences will pursue preliminary studies on the determinants of ground-floor service selection. She will conduct a pilot comparative field study in Poland and Eastern Germany. Dr Piotr Bogacki from the Academy of Humanities and Economics in Łódź will study the impact of information obtained from unmanned aerial vehicles on the medical triage process in mass casualty incidents.
The winning applicants in Physical Sciences and Engineering include Dr inż. Ada Orłowska from the Silesian University of Technology, who will work on sequential chemical etching of highly porous Ti6Al4V scaffolds manufactured by DMLS as a tool for controlling the surface and mechanical properties of bone implants. Dr Tetiana Manyk from the Military University of Technology will conduct preliminary studies on system engineering. She will perform an advanced theoretical analysis of avalanche photodiodes based on type-two superlattice (T2SL) InAs/InAsSb at high-temperature operation (HOT) for MWIR and LWIR detection. A MINIATURA grant will enable Dr inż. Dominik Niewieś from the Wrocław University of Science and Technology to complete preliminary studies on the role of microplastics in microwave-assisted extraction of humic-like substances from compost through modelling and multiparametric optimisation using response surface methodology.
The winning applicants in Life Sciences include Dr inż. Katarzyna Bobkowska, who will apply citizen science methodology in the analysis of urban heat island and light pollution during a research visit to the Ibercivis Foundation in Saragossa which will be possible thanks to the MINIATURA grant funding. Dr Jarosław Rachuna from the Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce will perform preliminary studies to asses the mutational profile of selected oncogenic genes in Hashimoto's thyroiditis and papillary thyroid cancer through. He will conduct a comparative analysis using targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS). A MINIATURA grant will enable Dr Katarzyna Jaśkiewicz from the Institute of Horticulture – National Research Institute to study the importance of pollen from wind-pollinated plants for bees. She will compare phenolic compound composition and antioxidant capacity of pollen of selected wind-pollinated and insect-pollinated plants.
The topics of research activities recommended for funding under MINIATURA 10 are available on the ranking lists.
Humanities, Social Sciences and Art Sciences (HS): 33 research activities with a total value of PLN 861,302
Physical Sciences and Engineering (ST): 26 research activities with a total value of PLN 1,085,698
Life Sciences (NZ): 29 research activities with a total value of PLN 1,317,306.
88 research activities with a value of PLN 3,264,306 will be funded.
Peer review and results
Proposals submitted to MINIATURA are reviewed on a monthly basis. The call budget is divided proportionally to the number of call months. Successful proposals are funded as long as they are within the pool of funds available for a month. Proposal evaluation procedure .
RAMKA
We have already published three ranking lists of proposals recommended for funding under MINIATURA 10. The results for proposals submitted in February, March and April.
The next researcher in the series, Maciej Grzybek, studies pathogens transmitted by ticks, mosquitoes, and rodents, and analyses how climate change is driving the spread of tropical diseases northwards.
The NCN Generation is made up of researchers whose work pushes back the frontiers of knowledge and changes our lives, improving health, protecting the environment, advancing technology and deepening our understanding of the world.
Prof. Maciej Grzybek, parasitologist and epidemiologist from the Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, studies rodent-borne diseases and emerging infectious diseases. He is a member of the Advisory Group for Neglected Tropical Diseases at the World Health Organisation. His project on urban rodent-borne pathogens is funded by the National Science Centre.
Diseases crossing climatic boundaries
Pathogens do not respect state or climatic boundaries. Bacteria, viruses and parasites travel with the goods, travellers, and pets. This process is speeded up by climate change and human activity, therefore tropical diseases are now emerging in Europe and in Poland alone. The researcher points out that tick-borne diseases and mosquito-borne diseases pose two major threats to public health. He says that we may soon experience an outbreak of West Nile virus infection and dengue. He also mentions Lyme disease which has already emerged in Poland. Alongside these diseases, new vectors are emerging in Poland, including migrating ticks, that have not previously been found here.
Virom of urban rats
A research project carried out by Maciej Grzybka together with […] focuses on urban rat-borne pathogens. Urban rats have shared space with humans for generations, and their growing population in cities such as Krakow, Wrocław and Gdańsk provides valuable research material. The research team analyses their distribution and population density, as well as the bacteria and parasites they may carry. The starting point is the assumption that every city is a unique ecosystem, with different access to water, infrastructure, as well as different food sources for rats, which can affect the pathogens they carry. The project aims to create a map of their distribution and associated threats, enabling local and national measures to be taken to prevent the spread of zoonotic disease.
One Health approach and path from research to decisions
In his research, Prof. Grzybek applies the One Health strategy according to which human health cannot be safeguarded without also protecting animal health and the environment. Biomonitoring, which is an observation of pathogens and their vectors in the environment allows us to acquire key knowledge to implement corrective and preventive measures. Prof. Maciej Grzybek emphasizes that basic research answers fundamental questions, such as what, where, how, and when. Their findings can then serve as a basis for applied or implementation research. He refers back to June 2023, when research teams from Gdańsk, Kraków and Helsinki detected that cats were infected with avian influenza virus and passed this information on to the sanitary and veterinary services. He believes that the effective transfer of knowledge among local authorities and public institutions is essential when developing measures to ensure public health security.
Selected excerpts
Pathogens without borders
We certainly need to remember that parasites, bacteria, viruses, and fungi know no borders. They move. They move together with the goods we trade, together with travellers who go abroad and move from place to place, and also together with us, with our four-legged friends.
One Health approach
I use the so-called One Health in my research and in my work in general. (…) If we know what microorganisms and pathogens are present, where they occur, what transmits them, and in which locations they occur, then, such knowledge would enable us to implement corrective or preventive measures.
From basic research to application
In basic research we always answer a very, perhaps not simple, but precisely fundamental question: what, where, how, and when. Our findings can then be implemented or applied.
The #NCNgeneration series comprises 15 conversations with 15 researchers to mark the 15th anniversary of the National Science Centre. Each conversation hosted by Anna Korzekwa-Józefowicz lasts around 15-20 minutes.
In earlier episodes we spoke with Aleksandra Rutkowska, Michał Tomza, Małgorzata Kot, Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska, Maciej Trusiak, Agata Starosta, Karolina Safarzyńska and Karolina Kremens. The tenth episode will feature Rafał Szabla. The episodes are released on our YouTube channel every third Thursday of the month and will continue through the end of the year.
Join us for an information webinar dedicated to the GRIEG BIS call and the upcoming LANGSPIL call, implemented under the Basic Research Programme within the fourth edition of the EEA and Norway Grants.
The webinar will take place on 3 September 2026 at 10:00 CEST via the ClickMeeting platform and will be held in Polish.
During the meeting, we will discuss the GRIEG BIS call, including the key participation rules and procedures for proposal preparation and submission. The most frequently asked questions will also be addressed.
The webinar will also feature a presentation of the matching tool, which supports cooperation with partners from Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Participants will receive key information on the upcoming LANGSPIL call, dedicated to interdisciplinary basic research projects.
Prior registration is required to participate in the webinar. The number of participants is limited.
The European Partnership for Resilient Cultural Heritage (RCH Partnership) is a new initiative aimed to preserve cultural heritage in the face of climate change and rapidly evolving social challenges. This international initiative, supported by the EU Commission between 2026-2036, brings together over 100 organisations from over 30 countries.
The main purpose of the RCH Partnership is to create a bridge between climate science, humanities, innovations and public policy, by striving to develop knowledge, skills and technologies necessary to preserve cultural heritage, artworks, and traditions, while leveraging heritage potential as a driving force for sustainable development and climate adaptation. The initiative involves a wide range of European and non-European entities, including universities and research institutes, research-funding agencies, museums, libraries, archives, public authorities and tech institutions.
The Partnership will be built on strong financial support for the scientific community through calls for international research projects aimed at developing modern conservation technologies, environmental threat monitoring techniques, and digital solutions.
Polish entities participating in the RCH Partnership include the National Science Centre (NCN)and the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Centre (PCSS). As the national coordinator, NCN funds international research projects carried out by Polish research teams under calls launched within the framework of the Partnership. PCSS is responsible for the technological aspect, including the development and management of digital platforms to support consultations and cooperation with the RCH Partnership’s partners and stakeholders.
The research team led by Professor Marcin Poręba from the Wrocław University of Science and Technology in collaboration with the American researchers from Genentech led by Professor Vishva M. Dixit have found a way to prevent a dying cell from breaking apart. Their research findings have just been published in Nature. NCN has funded the research conducted by Polish researchers.
Dr hab. Marcin Poręba, Wrocław University of Science and Technology’s Professor, is a successful applicant in multiple NCN calls. The research of his team, which lead to a publication in Nature, was funded from one of his first grants awarded under OPUS 15. The project aimed to dissect the mechanisms of proteolytic cross-talk underlying pyroptosis, a programmed inflammatory cell death.
When a defence mechanism gets out of control
Prof. Marcin Poręba, photo by Łukasz Bera
“Pyroptosis is one of the ways in which the body defends itself against infections and other threats. It is a controlled mechanism of cellular self-destruction accompanied by the activation of a powerful inflammatory response,” explains Professor Marcin Poręba. “This response helps the body combat a threat. The problem arises when pyroptosis becomes excessive or uncontrolled. It can then intensify inflammation and lead to tissue damage.”
How can pyroptosis be stopped even after it has begun? Previous trials aimed at blocking the responsible enzymes known as inflammatory caspases have had limited efficacy because the compounds also entered healthy cells, resulting in insufficient therapeutic effect and unwanted off-target activity.
The scientists turned the problem on its head. Rather than developing an inhibitor capable of crossing cell membranes as easily as possible, they focused on compounds that penetrate healthy cells very poorly. They discovered that when pyroptosis begins, pores are formed in the cell membrane by gasdermin D. The same pores that cause cell death can serve as gateways through which inhibitors can be selectively delivered to vulnerable cells.
The project’s most important discovery was demonstrating that pyroptosis can be stopped even after it has begun. Once the inhibitor enters the cell through the first pores, it blocks caspases and prevents the formation of further pores. It also reduces cytokine release. Some of the cells genuinely survived and retained their ability to continue growing. Cell studies and a study in a mouse model demonstrated a marked reduction in the inflammatory response. The researchers emphasise that, although treatment has not been discovered yet, this new strategy may support the development of treatments for diseases such as sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome and COVID-19.
International, intersectoral, and cross-generational success
The publication in the prestigious journal Nature is a result of collaboration between of the research groups led by Prof. Marcin Poręba from the Wrocław Tech and Prof. Vishva M. Dixit from Genentech, USA, named as the paper’s corresponding author. The research team of Professor Poręba combines the expertise of experienced scientists with the talent of early-career researchers.
Dr. Eng. Katarzyna Groborz, photo: PWrA pivotal role in the research was played by the first author of the research paper Dr inż. Katarzyna Groborz, a graduate of and PhD student at the Wrocław University of Science and Technology who continued her research during her post-doctoral fellowship at Genentech.
“The project’s most important discovery was demonstrating that pyroptosis can be stopped even after it has begun. We showed that there is a short therapeutic window during which caspase inhibition interrupts the process and enables cells to regain their ability to grow and divide. By using pores formed by gasdermin D, we were able to deliver inhibitors selectively to cells in which pyroptosis had already begun,” says Dr Katarzyna Groborz.
The other co-author is Melissa E. Truong from Genentech. Doctoral students Julia Nguyen and Małgorzata Kalinka also participated in the project, contributing to the synthesis of the inhibitors and their kinetic analysis. Their research was funded under OPUS. Another co-author is Professor Marcin Drąg, the developer of the HyCoSuL technology used in the research.
Prof. Marcin Poręba with PhD student Julia Nguyen“It is so special to me that I had the opportunity to join the project when I was still a master’s student and then continue as a PhD student and NCN scholarship grantee. My first task was to contribute to the synthesis of the inhibitors for cell studies and, over time, my responsibilities also expanded to developing methods for their preparation on a multi-gram scale for in vivo studies. This experience gave me the opportunity to see the entire process of chemical compound development, from design and synthesis to application in advanced biological studies,” emphasises Julia Nguyen.
Those interdisciplinary studies combined biological chemistry, enzymology, cell biology and in vivo experiments. The research team from the Wrocław Tech was responsible for designing and synthesising caspases inhibitors, and analysing their properties, while the Genentech team was in charge of, among other things, advanced cell models, pharmacokinetic studies, and animal experiments. Their collaboration resulted in the discovery of a novel strategy of inhibiting pyroptosis and reducing the inflammatory response in a living organism.
The research project described in Nature is a result of international collaboration between Polish and American researchers, and proves that that academia and business, as well as youth and experience, can successfully complement one another.
Ten researchers from the best research centres worldwide have received funding under the TOP200 NAWA pilot programme. NCN will fund research components of nine winning applicants worth over PLN 3 million.
The TOP200 programme is a new initiative of the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) aimed to attract outstanding research talent to Poland from universities ranked among the world’s top 200 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities, QS World University Rankings or Times Higher Education World University Rankings. It is part of the European Commission’s Choose Europe for Science initiative, which promotes researcher mobility and the attraction of outstanding research talent.
Successful applicants include seven accomplished researchers who applied under the Senior Fellow track, and three researchers under the Junior Fellow track. They mainly represent Humanities, Social Sciences and Art Sciences (history, historiography, philosophy and linguistics) but also Physical Sciences and Engineering (astronomy, chemistry, material engineering), and Life Sciences (topics of recommended projects include cancer, childhood obesity and human brain function). The total value of projects recommended for funding is nearly PLN 19 million. The National Science Centre will fund nine research components with a value of PLN 3,171,149, while the tenth component will be financed by the National Centre for Research and Development.
Beneficiaries will travel to six academic institutions, that are among NCN’s largest grantees, namely the Jagiellonian University (3 recommended projects), Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (3 projects), Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology (1 project), Institute of Physical Chemistry, PAS (1 project), Gdańsk University of Technology (1 project), and Warsaw University of Technology (1 project). Involvement of researchers from the Harvard University, University of Oxford or Michigan State University will create new development opportunities for the Polish researchers.
Under the Senior Fellow track, principal investigators must have been foreign researchers with at least a PhD who had conducted research abroad for at least 36 months over the past 4 years in a research centre outside of Poland, ranked among the world’s top 200, as stated above. The Junior Fellow track was available to foreign early-career researchers who had worked at such research centres for at least 12 months over the past two years and had been conferred their PhD no earlier than 7 years before the proposal submission date.
NCN has cooperated with NAWA for many years, funding research components under the NAWA Polish Returns. For the first time, NAWA will fund foreign fellowships of early-career researchers under NCN’s SONATINA programme. In order to encourage foreign researchers to pursue their research at Polish research institutions, cooperation was extended by introduction of TOP200 to support the transfer of knowledge, development of international cooperation networks, and to increase the presence and recognition of Polish researchers abroad. TOP200 is a pilot programme and its potential continuation will be subject to a decision by the Minister of Science and Higher Education.
The next researcher in the series, Karolina Kremens, studies the impact of new technologies on the criminal process and asks what procedural rules would look like if groups historically overlooked had been involved in shaping them.
The NCN Generation is made up of researchers whose work pushes back the frontiers of knowledge and changes our lives – improving health, protecting the environment, advancing technology and deepening our understanding of the world.
Dr hab. Karolina Kremens, a professor at the University of Wrocław, heads the Scientific Excellence Incubator – Digital Justice at the university. Her research interests include comparative and international criminal procedure, the impact of new technologies on the criminal process, the role of gender in that process, and the organisation and operation of the public prosecution service. She has served as principal investigator on four NCN projects, and in June this year she was awarded an ERC Advanced Grant.
New technologies in the criminal process
New technologies have been changing the criminal process for a long time. DNA testing and fingerprint identification were once innovations too, the researcher points out. Today, however, their reach is expanding. Evidence is increasingly moving away from traditional forms: searches of handbags and homes are giving way to searches of phones and cloud storage, while geolocation data now appears in case files alongside witness statements. The range of people supplying evidence has also changed, as recordings and other records are now submitted by those involved in an incident and by witnesses themselves. This raises questions about who collected the material and whether it may have been manipulated. This is particularly evident in evidence submitted to the International Criminal Court, an area studied by the Centre headed by Kremens.
The change goes deeper, reaching the very foundations of procedure. “Technology is profoundly changing long-settled procedural principles, including the principle of immediacy and equality of arms” says Karolina Kremens.
Remote proceedings and digital evidence
The researcher identifies two areas in which digital transformation is having the greatest impact on the criminal process. The first is remote proceedings, which became widespread after the pandemic and have since been regulated in many countries. She does not view them in black-and-white terms. She sees benefits where distances are considerable and remote participation saves witnesses from having to arrange childcare, for example. But she also points to the costs: witnesses give evidence from locations over which the authority conducting the proceedings has no control, making it impossible to know whether someone is influencing them, while barriers relating to equipment and digital skills may be overlooked. “Yet, as relatively affluent and educated participants in the criminal process, we assume that everyone has access to a computer, a phone or the internet, and a stable connection,” says Karolina Kremens.
The second area is digital evidence, which is regarded as more reliable than witness testimony. Kremens asks whom we trust to confirm that evidence was created under particular circumstances, and who is even in a position to create it. To illustrate the point, she gives the example of a married couple in a domestic abuse case: only one spouse controls the family's cloud storage and therefore also controls the recordings made on the other spouse's phone. In such a case, access to the data, rather than its content, determines whose version of events is accepted.
Feminist proceduralism
These inequalities are the starting point for the project for which Kremens received the ERC grant. The project aims to reconstruct the criminal process and develop the concept of feminist proceduralism: a model of the procedural principles that might have emerged had marginalised groups also been invited to shape them. “Feminist proceduralism is what I will develop at the very end of this project,” says the researcher.
Her tool is feminist legal theory viewed through an intersectional lens, taking account of class, education, wealth, ethnicity and sexual orientation. The research will cover Poland and Canada, which offers perspectives unavailable in Poland, including those relating to the rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. In Kremens's view, digital transformation itself offers an opportunity to reshape procedural principles, since it is changing them regardless.
She brought two objects into the studio. The first was an illustration by Łukasz Kubiński depicting the structure of the project. “The laboratory is the criminal process, the tool is feminist legal theory, and the opportunity is the digital age,” Karolina Kremens explains. The second was a Taylor Swift record. The project's theme song will be her track “mad woman”. “I think it captures very well what the project is about and how much energy I will have to put into persuading people that the seemingly mad idea at its heart is, in fact, viable,” says the researcher.
Before ERC, there were NCN grants
Karolina Kremens has served as principal investigator on four NCN projects. She began with SONATA, followed by SONATA BIS and PRELUDIUM BIS, and is currently carrying out an OPUS project. These projects involved teams of varying sizes, including students and PhD students, and it was through them that she learnt how to manage research teams. The reviewers of her ERC proposal noted that she had never led a European grant, but nevertheless considered her national track record proof that she could manage a budget of EUR 2.5 million over five years. Kremens therefore regards NCN grants as a prerequisite for a successful ERC proposal and increasing NCN's budget as the most urgent priority.
Selected excerpts
Unequal access to creating digital evidence
In many different types of proceedings, we often think that witness statements may be flawed because someone may remember events differently or may even be lying. But we assign a somewhat different weight to DNA evidence and, more recently, to digital evidence. The question, then, is whether we all have equal access to the means of creating evidence. (...) One partner may have greater control over what the family stores in the cloud. This means that everything recorded on the other partner's mobile phone, everything documented in some way, may remain under the control of the person with sole access to the cloud or its security settings.
An intersectional approach to feminist legal theory
I would like to emphasise very strongly that this is feminist legal theory viewed through an intersectional lens. I do not want to repeat the mistake feminism made for many years: looking solely from a woman's perspective, and primarily that of a white, educated and affluent woman. An intersectional perspective allows us to see other dimensions of disadvantage. It means looking not only at white women, but also at women of different racial and ethnic backgrounds and from different social classes.
NCN grants as a prerequisite for ERC funding
All the reviews placed in the ERC system after I received the grant make it clear that my previous experience of leading a range of NCN grants is what assures the reviewers that I can deliver an ERC Advanced project worth EUR 2.5 million over five years. (...) I believe that a sine qua non for receiving an ERC grant is being able to demonstrate that you have secured external funding and successfully conducted research with it. In Poland, these external grants are awarded by NCN.
The #pokolenieNCN series consists of 15 conversations with 15 researchers to mark the 15th anniversary of the National Science Centre. Each conversation lasts 15–20 minutes. They are hosted by Anna Korzekwa-Józefowicz.
Earlier episodes featured Aleksandra Rutkowska, Michał Tomza, Małgorzata Kot, Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska, Maciej Trusiak, Agata Starosta and Karolina Safarzyńska. Coming episodes will feature Maciej Grzybek and Rafał Szabla. New episodes appear on the NCN YouTube channel every three weeks, on a Thursday. The series will run until the end of the year.
Researchers from the Jagiellonian University, in collaboration with partners from Belgium-Flanders, will carry out an international research project on performance monitoring and feedback processing. They were awarded PLN 1.5 million under OPUS LAP for their research.
The Polish research team, managed by Dr hab. Magdalena Senderecka, Jagiellonian University Professor, will carry out a research project in cooperation with the research team managed by Prof. Gilles Pourtois from the Ghent University in Belgium. They will study human brain, which is capable of monitoring performance and processing feedback. This is crucial for the process of learning and adaptation to the changing demands of the environment. Polish and Belgian researchers will investigate whether these processes depend on motivation and learning. They will track the processes using electroencephalography (EEG), a diagnostic method that measures changes in brain electrical activity, conducting large-scale EEG experiments with over 200 participants in Poland and Belgium-Flanders. Their findings might provide valuable insights into how people with different psychological profiles respond to feedback on success and failure, which may, in the long run, pave the way for the development of more effective ways of learning and coping with challenges.
Selection of winning applicants
The project was evaluated pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure which is common for European research-funding agencies. The Lead Agency Procedure (LAP) allows research teams to apply for funding of joint research projects and simplifies the evaluation procedure performed by research funding agencies. The proposal was fully assessed in one country only, in this case in Poland, and the evaluation was performed by the National Science Centre. The evaluation results were then approved by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), which subsequently awarded funding thereunder to the research team from Belgium.
The results published today only apply to bilateral projects involving research teams from Poland and Belgium-Flanders. Approval is pending for OPUS LAP proposals involving bilateral or trilateral cooperation with partners from Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland and Luxemburg. The results will be published following approval by the partner agencies from the respective countries.
It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our valued colleague and mentor Ks. Prof. Andrzej Szostek, a distinguished ethicist and philosopher, Professor at the Catholic University of Lublin and NCN Council Member from 2010 to 2018, who died on 21 July 2026.
Ks. prof. Andrzej Szostek Ks. Prof. Andrzej Szostek was one of Poland’s foremost ethicists, an active researcher, teacher and theologian. Throughout his career, he held numerous positions of responsibility. His association with the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublinspanned over half a century, during which he served as Rector from 1998 to 2004, headed the Department of Detailed Ethics, served as Vice Rector for International Affairs for eight years, and led the Department of Ethics from 2002 until his retirement in 2018.
Professor Szostek’s research focused on the rational foundations of ethics, the nature of conscience, human dignity, freedom, love, and social responsibility. He also studied the anthropological and ethical thought of Karol Wojtyła. Professor Szostek inspired others and encouraged reflection. His publication track record comprised almost 200 publications. In recognition of his academic achievements and public service, he received many honours and awards.
He served on the NCN Council for two terms, from the very beginning of the National Science Centre until 2018. He actively participated in the development of the grant system in Poland, shaping the NCN’s grant portfolio, and laying down the proposal evaluation procedures and project performance processes. His involvement and contribution into the formation and development of the National Science Centre was immeasurable.
We mourn the passing of Ks. Prof. Andrzej Szostek.
FLAMENCO is a joint initiative of the National Science Centre and the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI). Funding is available to researches at any stage of their career, who are interested in collaborating with Spanish research teams. The call is open to all research domains, as long as they fall within the scope of basic research.
