OPUS 28+LAP/Weave Results for Collaborative Projects Between Poland and Luxembourg

Tue, 06/24/2025 - 11:38
Kod CSS i JS

Two collaborative projects between Poland and Luxembourg with OPUS 28 + LAP grants for research into Parkinson’s disease pathology and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma immunotherapy. The Polish part of the research is valued at over 5,500,000 zlotys.

OPUS is NCN’s largest call open to researchers at any stage of career, regardless of their age or research experience. The autumn edition follows the Lead Agency formula under which researchers may request funding of international projects carried out in multilateral Weave collaboration. This simplified application procedure involves participation of researchers from Austria, Czechia, Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Belgium (Flanders), and enhanced evaluation procedure. 

Under OPUS LAP (Lead Agency Procedure), funding proposals may be submitted by international research consortia where all partners apply for funding to their respective research-funding agencies and evaluation of proposals is performed by one agency only (in this case, the National Science Centre), while the other agencies approve the evaluation results, thereby funding their respective research teams. Polish research teams are funded by the NCN.

2,039 proposals were submitted to OPUS 28+LAP/Weave, for a total of over 3.2 billion zlotys, of which 1,823 domestic proposals for a total of nearly 3 billion and 216 proposals for over 320 million zlotys following the Lead Agency formula. The results for Polish projects funded under OPUS 28 were published at the end of May.

Collaborative Research Between Researchers from Poland and Luxembourg 

The NCN experts recommended two collaborative projects for funding, for a total of over 5.5 million zlotys. They will be performed by research teams from Poland and Luxembourg. The recommendations were approved by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR).

One of the projects will be carried out by the Polish research team headed by Prof. Leonora Bużańska from the Mossakowski Medical Research Institute Polish Academy of Sciences in collaboration with researchers from the University of Luxembourg. Researchers will study the role of aged microglia in exacerbating Parkinson’s Disease pathology. Normally, microglia help keep the brain healthy by clearing away waste and protecting neurons. But as we age, microglia can become overactive, releasing harmful substances that might damage nearby neurons and worsen diseases. The researchers will use an exciting new approach: brain organoids grown in the lab, to analyse how aging affects microglia, and how these changes interact with the toxic proteins that build up in Parkinson’s. The NCN will fund research of the Polish team valued at nearly 3 million zlotys.

The other project will be carried out by a research team headed by Prof. Iwona Inkielewicz-Stępniak from the Medical University of Gdańsk. Researchers from Poland and Luxembourg will study the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma immunotherapy. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 85–90% of all pancreatic malignancies. PDAC is a challenging cancer to treat, and in most of cases, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are inefficient treatments. In the last decade, immunotherapies have become major breakthroughs in the fight against cancer, however there is a limited efficacy of current immunotherapies against pancreatic cancer. Researchers from the Medical University of Gdańsk and the Luxembourg Institute of Health will evaluate and validate NK (Natural Killer) cell-based and graphen oxide nanoparticles immunotherapy approaches against pancreatic adenocarcinoma. The National Science Centre will award over 2.5 million zlotys for the Polish part of the project.

Projects recommended for funding by the NCN under OPUS 28+LAP/Weave include LAP proposals (pending approval) involving collaboration with researchers from Austria, Belgium-Flanders, Czechia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Germany. Publication of call results - dates.

Service of Decisions Modified 

The funding decisions by the NCN director are only served on the applicants and are not communicated to the principal investigator if the applicant is specified in Article 27 (1) - (7) and Article 27 (9) of the NCN Act. If an individual applies, funding decisions are not served on the participating entity specified in the proposal. More information on the service of decisions .

Polish Researchers to Win ERC Grants

Tue, 06/17/2025 - 16:00
Kod CSS i JS

Four researchers from Poland won prestigious ERC Advanced Grant. The winners include Prof. Paweł Moskal and Dr hab. Cezary Galewicz from the Jagiellonian University, both NCN Award winners. 

The ERC Advanced Grants are the most prestigious funding schemes that give senior researchers the opportunity to pursue ambitious projects often leading to major scientific breakthroughs. Researchers with significant research achievements can win funding of up to € 2.5 million for their research projects performed over a period of up to 5 years.

The winning applicants of the latest edition include two NCN Award winners. 

Exotic Positronium Atom

Prof. Paweł Moskal from the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy, and Applied Computer Science, Jagiellonian University received funding for his project “Can tissue oxidation be sensed by positronium?” He will work on developing a method for non-invasive assessment of hypoxia (oxygen deficiency in tissues) which is one of the major challenges in modern medical imaging. Prof. Moskal will focus on creating a novel method for measuring the level of oxygen concentration in tissues by measuring photons from positronium annihilation inside cells. The exotic positronium atom (a bound state of an electron and a positron) is produced in the human body during diagnosis performed by positron emission tomography (PET).

Voices from the Deep South 

Prof. Cezary Galewicz from the Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University will carry out the project „Voices from the Deep South: the rise of Pattu song cultures of South Asia.” The project offers a completely new perspective on the history of song cultures in South Asia, with a particular focus on southern India. It aims to create a digital archive of songs, and to study how regional song cultures impacted communities effectively resisting high cultures associated with literary languages of prestige, but also inspiring and transforming them. The project's tasks will include 'historical mapping' of the most important regional cultures of this kind, their typologisation, and articulating mutual relationships and differences. Prof. Galewicz will try to completely reconfigure the historical understanding of the coexistence of high literary cultures and those that were termed 'folk' or 'subordinate' with possible consequences for research in many other regions.

More on research performed by Prof. Paweł Moskal and Prof. Cezary Galewicz

ERC Advanced Grants 2024

2,534 funding proposals were submitted to the latest edition of the ERC Advanced Grant, of which over 11 percent were recommended for funding. The total grants of over €721 million will go to 281 researchers from 23 EU Member States and associated countries.

ERC AdvG 2024 - statistics

Thirteen researchers working in Poland have received the ERC Advanced Grants, including Grażyna Jurkowlaniec, Emanuel Gull and Thomas Skotnicki in April 2024 and Karol Życzkowski in June 2024.

The results are available on the ERC website

MAESTRO 17 and SONATA BIS 15 are now open

Mon, 06/16/2025 - 14:00
Kod CSS i JS

We are now taking in proposals under MAESTRO addressed to well-established and outstanding researchers, and under SONATA BIS for research projects aiming to create a new research team. The overall budget of the two calls is 195,000,000 zlotys.

The calls are addressed to researchers aiming to conduct research projects at research institutions across Poland. The two calls are open to basic research proposals covering any subject from 26 NCN panels in three research domains: Humanities, Social Sciences and Art Sciences (HS), Physical Sciences and Engineering (ST) and Life Sciences. NCN grants may be used to cover the cost of research and remuneration.

Grants for Well-Established and Outstanding Researchers 

Ogłoszenie konkursów Maestro 17 i Sonata Bis 15Ogłoszenie konkursów Maestro 17 i Sonata Bis 15 MAESTRO is the most prestigious call of the National Science Centre addressed to researchers aiming to conduct pioneering research, including interdisciplinary research, which is significant for the development of science, goes beyond the current state-of-the-art and may result in scientific discoveries.

The call with the budget of 25,000,000 zlotys is open to PhD holders who have had at least five papers published in renowned Polish or international academic press/ journals within the last 10 years, have acted as the principal investigator in at least two research projects funded under national or international calls for proposals, and meet other criteria concerning awarded prizes, participation in conferences, membership of committees and associations.

MAESTRO projects may be carried out over a period of 36, 48 or 60 months. There is no cap on funding per project, however project budgets are evaluated by the Expert Team and must be well justified. Apart from the principal investigator, research teams must involve participation of post-docs (up to 12 years post PhD) or PhD students, for the total period of at least 72 months in the research team is obligatory, who mut be selected in open calls. Research teams may also include senior researchers, supporting specialists persons occupying specialist supporting positions (e.g. lab manager, senior technician, statistical analyst) and students.

Principal investigators who have managed a MAESTRO project in the past may submit a funding proposal to the current edition of the call if they are European Research Council (ERC) grant winners or have submitted a grant proposal to the ERC over the past five years which has been evaluated at least in stage I of the call.

MAESTRO 17 call

SONATA BIS for Research Teams

SONATA BIS supports formation of new research teams to conduct basic research. Principal investigators must be researchers with a PhD degree conferred between 01 January 2013 and 31 December 2020 (which can be extended by evidenced career breaks).

SONATA BIS projects must be performed over a period of 36, 48 or 60 months. Apart from the principal investigator, research teams may include post-docs, supporting specialists, students, PhD students and other co-investigators. Engagement of PhD holders for 36 months is required. The terms of the call do not specify the required number of research team members or total budget. The principal investigators are free to alight the budget with project requirements.  

Apart from the principal investigator, new research teams created under SONATA BIS must not include researchers holding an academic title, title of professor, habilitation degree or equivalent degree or former collaborators involved in a project funded in a call. One can be the principal investigator of a SONATA BIS project only once.

SONATA BIS 15 has a budget of 170,000,000 zlotys.

SONATA BIS 15 call

Evaluation of Proposals 

Proposals submitted to MAESTRO 17 and SONATA BIS 15 undergo an eligibility check by the NCN coordinators, followed by a merit-based evaluation performed in two stages by the inter-panel Expert Teams (HS, ST, NZ) selected by the NCN Council.

At Stage I of the merit-based evaluation, individual reviews are drafted by two members of the Expert Team that are discussed at the first panel meeting. At the end of Stage II, the Expert Team agrees on a final score for each proposal and compiles a list of proposals recommended for Stage II of evaluation.

At Stage II, at least two reviews are drafted by external reviewers, and the principal investigator is interviewed by the Expert Team at the NCN offices in Krakow. At the second panel meeting, the Expert Team agrees upon the final score for each proposal and compiles the final ranking lists of proposals recommended for funding.

Submission Dates and Results

Proposals are submitted electronically, via the OSF submission system. Proposal forms will be available on 18 June onwards and can be submitted until 16 September, 2:00 (CEST). The call results will be published by March 2026.

In the MAESTRO calls completed to date, 297 projects have been funded for a total of over 830,000,000 zlotys. The call winners have addressed a wide range of topics, including dynamics of processes around compact star, orchids’ mycorrhizas and role of mindfulness practice in reducing intergroup aggression. More MAESTRO projects can be found here.

Under SONATA BIS, over 1,800,000,000 zlotys have been spent on projects performed by 981 researchers, whose projects involved the role of premature transcription termination in human gene expression regulation, national habitus formation and the process of civilization in Poland after 1989, nanoparticles to enhance SOFC performance, etc.  More SONATA BIS projects can be found here.

Results of previous editions of MAESTRO and SONATA BIS

MAESTRO 17 Call Text

SONATA BIS 15 Call Text  

SONATA BIS 15

Kod CSS i JS

16 June 2025

The National Science Centre (NCN) is launching the SONATA BIS 15 call for researchers with a PhD degree conferred within 5 to 12 years before the proposal submission year who intend to create a new research team to conduct basic research.

The budget call is PLN 170 million.

Proposals must be submitted electronically via the OSF submission system available at https://osp.opi.org.pl, in compliance with the proposal submission procedure. The proposal form will be available in the system on 18 June. The deadline for the submission is 16 September 2025, 14:00 CEST.

Significant changes:

  • researchers who had their PhD conferred in the year of employment in the project or within 12 years before 1 January of the year of employment in the project can apply for the post-doc position (the period may be extended by evidenced career breaks);
  • review panels have been changed.

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, pursuant to a Resolution adopted by the NCN, proposals submitted to the National Science Centre must not provide for any collaboration between Polish and Russian entities. Where any such collaboration is planned, the proposals shall be rejected as ineligible.

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Who may submit proposals?

The call is open to the entities identified in the NCN Act:

  1. university;
  2. federation of science and higher education entities;
  3. research institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, operating pursuant to the Act on the Polish Academy of Sciences of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1796, as amended);
  4. research institute operating pursuant to the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2024, item 534);
  5. international research institute established pursuant to separate Acts, operating in the Republic of Poland;
    • 5a. Łukasiewicz Centre operating pursuant to the Act on the Łukasiewicz Research Network of 21 February 2019 (Journal of Laws of 2024, item 925 and 1089);
    • 5b. institutes operating within the Łukasiewicz Research Network;
    • 5c. Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education operating pursuant to the Act on the Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education (Journal of Laws of 2024, item 570 and 1897);
  6. Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences;
  7. other entity involved in research independently on a continuous basis (not listed in sections 1-6);
  8. group of entities consisting of at least two entities mentioned in sections 1-7 or at least one institution as such together with at least one company;
  9. scientific and industrial centre within the meaning of the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2022, item 498);
  10. research centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences within the meaning of the Act on the Polish Academy of Sciences of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1796);
  11. scientific library;
  12. company operating as research and development centre within the meaning of the Act on Certain Forms of Support for Innovative Activity of 30 May 2008 (Journal of Laws of 2021, item 706 and of 2022, item 1079);
  13. legal entity with their registered office in Poland
    • 13 a. President of the Central Office of Measures;
  14. natural person;
  15. company conducting research in another organisational form than laid down in sections 1-13a.

Who may act as the principal investigator?

The principal investigator must be a researcher with a PhD degree conferred within 5 to 12 years prior to the proposal submission year (the period may be extended by evidenced career breaks, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the call).

Academic and research track record should cover the period of the last 10 years prior to the proposal submission year (the period may be extended by evidenced career breaks, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the call).

What are the restrictions on submitting proposals for research projects under NCN calls?

The principal investigator must be a person employed at the host institution for the entire project duration period pursuant to at least a part-time employment contract (the foregoing does not apply to persons receiving a pension under the social insurance scheme).

The principal investigator must reside in Poland for at least 50% of the project duration period and be available to the host institution for the project (the foregoing obligation does not apply to evidenced project-related business trips or holiday, time off work and other excused absence at work governed by the applicable laws).

A person may manage a research project funded under SONATA BIS only once.

A person named as the principal investigator in a proposal submitted to the OPUS call for which the funding decision has not become final must not be named as the principal investigator in a proposal submitted to the SONATA BIS call. The foregoing does not apply to principal investigators named in the OPUS LAP proposals.

In one edition of calls, i.e. in calls for proposals closed on the same day (in this edition these are MAESTRO 17 and SONATA BIS 15), the same person may be named as the principal investigator in one proposal only. If the same person is named as the principal investigator in more than one proposal submitted in a call edition, the proposal submitted to the OSF submission system at an earlier date will be accepted.

In one edition of calls, no proposal may be submitted with overlapping research tasks.

The total number of NCN projects managed by a researcher and proposals submitted to the NCN, which are pending evaluation or have been recommended for funding, in which the researcher is named as the principal investigator, must not be more than two. The limit may be extended to three if the researcher:

  • manages at least one project funded under an OPUS call within the framework of LAP cooperation or under a call launched by the NCN in collaboration with foreign research-funding agencies or
  • is named as the principal investigator in at least one proposal submitted to the NCN that is pending evaluation or has been recommended for funding under an OPUS call within the framework of LAP cooperation or a call launched by the NCN in collaboration with foreign research-funding agencies.

The table below illustrates the eligible funding requests.

Number of the research projects I manage1 and the proposals I have submitted2 Can I submit another proposal?
Total Research projects OR proposals in domestic calls3 Research projects OR proposals in International calls4 In a domestic call In an international call
0 0 YES YES
1 1 YES YES
2 2 0 NO YES
2 1 1 YES YES
2 0 2 YES YES
≥3 3 NO NO

 

1 Project management applies to the period from the date of signing the funding agreement under NCN calls until the date of submitting the final report on the project performance.

2 The limit applies to proposals pending evaluation or recommended for funding.

3 Research projects or proposals under NCN calls: OPUS, PRELUDIUM, SONATINA, SONATA, SONATA BIS, MAESTRO and research projects under HARMONIA, SYMFONIA, COVID-19.

4 The calls launched by the NCN in collaboration with foreign research-funding agencies:

  • calls launched under programmes co-funded by the European Union – ERA-Net and European Partnership (UNISONO, POLONEZ, POLONEZ BIS);
  • calls launched by the networks of research-funding institutions, which are not co-funded by the European Union, including within the framework of LAP cooperation (OPUS LAP/WEAVE, WEAVE UNISONO, IMPRESS-U);
  • bilateral calls of the NCN and foreign partner institutions (GRIEG, POLS, IDEALAB, BEETHOVEN, BEETHOVEN CLASSIC, BEETHOVEN LIFE, CEUS, MOZART, ALPHORN, DAINA, SHENG).

The limits do not apply to:

  • PRELUDIUM BIS, DIOSCURI, TANGO and ARTIQ projects/proposals,
  • MINIATURA research activities/proposals,
  • NAWA research components/proposals,
  • FUGA and UWERTURA fellowships,
  • ETIUDA scholarships,
  • NCN Programme for researchers from Ukraine to continue research in Poland and NCN special scholarship programme for Ukrainian students and early-stage researchers.

What is the subject-matter of the call?

Basic research proposals may be submitted to the call in any of 26 NCN panels. The panels comprise the three groups:

  • HS – Humanities, Social Sciences and Art Sciences;
  • ST – Physical Sciences and Engineering;
  • NZ – Life Sciences.

What is the project duration?

Funding may be requested for projects lasting 36, 48 or 60 months.

What are the types of positions for research team members?

In research projects, in addition to the principal investigator, research tasks may be carried out by post-docs and persons in specialist supporting position, PhD students and students, as well as by other co-investigators. The involvement of PhD student(s) for the total period of at least 36 months is obligatory.

The research team members other than the principal investigator must not hold an academic title, title of professor, habilitation degree or equivalent degree or title and must not have cooperated in the implementation of a research project funded following a call for proposals (the condition must be met on the last day of submitting proposals under the call).

A post-doc position is a full-time post, scheduled by the project’s principal investigator for a person who has been conferred a PhD degree in the year of employment in the project or within 12 years before 1 January of the year of employment in the project (the period may be extended by evidenced career breaks, in accordance with the section on the costs of the regulations on awarding funding).

A post-doc must be a person who has been awarded their PhD degree by another institution than the host institution for the project or has completed a continuous and evidenced post-doctoral fellowship of at least 10 months in another institution than the host institution for the project and in another country than the one in which they have been conferred their PhD degree. A post-doc in the project must be recruited in an open call procedure.

A specialist supporting position is a full-time employment position, scheduled by the principal investigator for a person providing support to the project, such as lab manager, senior technician, statistical analyst.

PhD students/students, who will be NCN scholarship recipients in the project, must be recruited in an open call procedure.

The terms and conditions of the call do not specify the maximum number of research team members. However, the rationale of employment of particular members of the research team in the project will be evaluated by the Expert Team. The competences and tasks to be performed by particular members of the research team must be described in the proposal.

For more information on the budget for salaries and scholarships, please refer to the section on the costs of the regulations on awarding funding.

How should the project budget be planned?

The budget is an important aspect of the proposal, which is the subject to an eligibility check and a merit-based evaluation.

The budget must be well justified as regards the subject and scope of the research and based on realistic calculations. The terms and conditions of the call do not specify the minimum or maximum amount of the project budget, however, the proposal may be rejected if unreasonable costs are planned.

The project budget (eligible costs) includes direct costs and indirect costs.

Direct costs include::

  1. full-time remuneration for the principal investigator;
  2. remuneration for co-investigators in the project:
    • full-time remuneration for post-docs,
    • full-time remuneration for a person in specialist supporting position,
    • salaries and scholarships for PhD students and students,
    • additional remuneration for research team members; if the principal investigator is not employed full-time in the project, their remuneration is paid for from the pool allocated for additional remuneration;
  3. purchase of research equipment, devices and software;
  4. purchase of materials and small equipment;
  5. outsourced services;
  6. business trips, visits and consultations;
  7. compensation for collective investigators;
  8. other costs crucial to the project which comply with the regulations on awarding funding.

Indirect costs include::

  • indirect costs up to 20% of direct costs, which may be spent on costs that are related indirectly to the research project, including the cost of open access to publications and research data,
  • indirect cost of open access up to 2% of direct costs, which may be designated only for the cost of open access to publications or research data.

In the case of entities applying for state aid, indirect costs, including indirect costs of open access and other indirect costs, must not exceed a total of 20 % of direct cost.

During the project performance, the host institution shall arrange with the principal investigator for the distribution of at least 25 % of other indirect costs. These expenses must be eligible.

For more information on the eligibility of the costs, please refer to the section on the costs of the regulations on awarding funding.

Open access to research results

Pursuant to the NCN Open Access Policy, all research results must be made available in full and immediate open access.

The policy does not apply to monographs, monograph chapters and peer-reviewed collected works.

The NCN recognizes the following publication routes as compliant with the policy:

  1. publication in open access journals and on open access platforms registered, or with pending registration, in the Directory of Open Access Journal (DOAJ);
  2. publication in subscription journals (hybrid journals in which some of the articles are open access and some require payment of a publication fee), as long as the Version of Record (VoR, i.e. a version of record published in a journal with its own typeface and branding; other terms: published version or publisher’s pdf), Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM, i.e. the final manuscript version created by the author, including all the revisions introduced after the peer review, and accepted for publication in the journal; other terms: postprint) or preprint (if AAM and VoR are embargoed) is made available in the repository registered in OpenDOAR immediately upon the article’s online publication (in case of preprints, once the embargo period is over, AAM of the same work must also be made available in the repository);
  3. publication in journals covered by an open access licence within the framework of so-called transformative agreements, which must be inscribed in the Efficiency and Standards for Article Charges registry (ESAC-registry), as long as the article has been published or accepted for publication before 31 December 2025 (Decision of the NCN Director of 15 December 2024 extending route 3 of the transformation agreements under the NCN’s Open Access Policy).

Articles must be published using the following licences:

  • route 1: CC BY 4.0 licence;
  • route 2: a preprint must be made available in the repository using CC BY 4.0 licence upon the article’s online publication on the publisher’s website (once the embargo period is over, the AAM of the same paper can be made available using any licence);
  • route 3: the following licences can be used: CC BY 4.0; CC BY-SA 4.0 or CC BY-ND 4.0.

Eligibility of Article Processing Charges:

  • route 1: costs are eligible as long as the CC BY 4.0 or CC BY-ND 4.0 licences are used;
  • route 2: costs are not eligible and must not be covered by NCN funds;
  • route 3: costs are eligible as long as the CC BY 4.0, CC BY-SA 4.0 or CC BY-ND 4.0 licences are used.

The data underpinning the scientific publications resulting from the projects must be well-documented pursuant to the standards of the machine or manual findability, accessibility, interoperability or reusability (the so-called FAIR Data). Where possible, data must be made available in the repository using CC0 (dedicating to public domain) or CC BY 4.0 licence. Other licences can also be used as long as they ensure an equivalent level of data openness as CC0 or CC BY 4.0.

The NCN understands “data” to be both collected and unprocessed data, as well as generated and processed data, other than scientific publications. The definition comprises all forms, both digital and non-digital.

What should be included in a proposal?

Proposals shall include information specified in the proposal form in the OSF submission system, the template of which is provided in the call text, including, among others (in English, if not specified otherwise):

  • research project title (in Polish and in English);
  • research project abstract;
  • research project abstract for the general public (in Polish and in English, one page for each);
  • research project descriptions, which shall include scientific goal of the project, significance of the project, general concept and work plan, research methodology and project literature (project literature does not count towards the page limit):
    • short description (up to 5 pages),
    • long description (up to 15 pages);
  • work plan presenting research tasks (in Polish and in English);
  • information on the research team:
    • information on the principal investigator, including, among others:
      • academic and research career,
      • the list of one to ten most important papers published or accepted for publication (letter of acceptance required) in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year; one to three of the papers referred to above must be annexed in pdf format,

        for research in art, the list of one to ten most important papers published or accepted for publication (letter of acceptance required) or artistic achievements and achievements in research in art in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year; if one or more publications are specified, one to three of them must be annexed in pdf format,

      • information on research project management or other research funding awarded under NCN calls in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year,
      • information on research project management awarded under other national or international calls in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year (up to five projects);
      • description of the most important research achievement;

    (the period of 10 years referred to above may be extended by evidenced career breaks, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the call)

    • information on the required qualifications and scope of work planned of each co-investigator in the research project;
  • research project budget;
  • if applicable: information on international cooperation as well as description of related advantages;
  • information on the data management plan concerning data generated or used in the course of a research project;
  • information on the ethical aspects of the project, including any consents, opinions, permits and/or approvals necessary to carry out the project in compliance with generally applicable laws and best practices adopted for a specific academic discipline;
  • in the case of research projects which include clinical trials with a medicinal product or a medical device, a detailed justification of the non-commercial nature of the trials.

In the section Individuals identified in the proposal, please enter the data of all the persons who have been involved in the preparation of the proposal or will be involved in the project implementation. The persons whose data (name, affiliation) have been entered in any other part of the proposal should be mentioned here. The principal investigator is required to notify such persons that their details have been disclosed in the proposal and will be processed by the NCN.

Can proposals in this call include application for state aid?

Proposals in the call may include an application for state aid, except where funding is requested by a natural person. For more information, please refer to the page containing the information on the state aid.

What is the proposal evaluation procedure?

Proposals are subject to an eligibility check followed by a merit based-evaluation.

Eligibility check

An eligibility check of proposals is performed by Coordinators. Only complete proposals that comply with all terms and conditions of the call can undergo a merit-based evaluation. A proposal may also be rejected on the grounds that it does not meet the eligibility criteria during the merit-based evaluation.

Merit-based evaluation

A merit-based evaluation of proposals is carried out by the Expert Teams, whose members are selected by the NCN Council, and by external reviewers who are not Expert Teams members. A merit-based evaluation is performed in two stages.

Stage I: Evaluation by an Expert Team based on information provided in the proposal and annexes to the proposal, except for the full project description. Individual reviews are drafted by two members of the Expert Team acting independently. In the case of proposals which contain at least one auxiliary NCN review panel other than the one to which the proposal has been submitted, the Chair of the Expert Team may decide to seek additional individual review from a member of another Expert Team (the so-called interdisciplinary proposals). Then, during the first panel meeting, the Expert Team, based on the individual reviews by members and the discussions, compiles a list of proposals recommended for stage II of evaluation.

Stage II: Proposals are submitted to at least two external reviewers who draft their individual reviews based on information provided in the proposal and annexes to the proposal, except for the short project description.

During the second panel meeting, the Expert Team conducts the interview with the principal investigator. The Expert Team, based on the individual reviews by external reviewers, the interview, and the discussions, compiles a ranking list of proposals recommended for funding.

For more information on evaluation process, please refer to the proposal evaluation procedure for the Expert Teams.

What is reviewed in the merit-based evaluation of proposals?

The evaluation of proposals shall focus in particular on the following aspects:

  • compliance with the basic research criterion;
  • quality of research and innovative nature of research or tasks to be performed;
  • project’s impact on the advancement of the scientific discipline;
  • evaluation of feasibility of research;
  • scientific achievements of the principal investigator;
  • reasons and manner of the new research team formation;
  • evaluation of other projects carried out by the principal investigator and funded by the NCN or from other sources;
  • relevance of the costs to the subject and scope of the research;
  • development of the proposal and compliance with other requirements of the call text.

The proposal evaluation criteria are described in detail in the regulations on funding awarding.

Who performs the merit-based evaluation of proposals?

A merit-based evaluation is performed by the Expert Teams based on the terms and conditions of the call and the proposal evaluation criteria defined by the regulations on funding awarding.

The Expert Teams are selected by the NCN Council in compliance with the rules of establishing and appointing of the Expert Teams. Experts are outstanding Polish and foreign researchers who are at least PhD holders. Expert Teams are established for each call edition. The composition of the Expert Team is subject to the number and topics of proposals submitted to each panel.

The proposals are evaluated by inter-panel Expert Teams (HS, ST, NZ). The principal investigator selects the panel. The panel cannot be changed once the proposal has been submitted and the proposal may be rejected if an incorrect panel is selected.

When and how are the call results announced?

The call results will be published on the NCN website and delivered in the form of the NCN Director’s decision within 6 months of the proposal submission date, by March 2026 at the latest.

In the event of a breach of the call procedure or other formal infringements related to actions performed by the NCN, the applicants may lodge an appeal against the decision of the NCN Director with the Committee of Appeals of the NCN Council.

Where can additional information be found?

For more information, please visit the page containing the information for applicants.

Should you have any more questions or queries, please contact us by e-mail: informacja@ncn.gov.pl.

Useful information

If you are intending to submit a proposal:

  1. read all the call documents, in particular:
    • terms and conditions of the call,
    • regulations on awarding funding, including the section on the costs,
    • proposal form template, where you can find out about the information and annexes needed to complete the electronic proposal form in the OSF submission system,
    • proposal submission procedure,
    • guidelines for applicants to complete the proposal in the OSF submission system;
  2. obtain data from the host institution for the project that is required to complete the proposal and find out about the internal procedures that may affect the proposal and project performance (cost planned in the project, procedure for acquiring signature(s) of authorised representative(s) of the institution to confirm submission of the proposal);
  3. if the applicant is a group of Polish entities, draft a research project cooperation agreement;
  4. prepare acceptance letters from publishers confirming that the paper has been accepted for publication (when the scientific achievements section includes papers accepted for publication that have not been published yet).

Before the proposal is submitted to the NCN:

  1. check if all information in and annexes to the proposal are correct. Verification of the proposal for completeness in the OSF submission system by pressing the “Sprawdź kompletność” (“Check completeness”) button does not guarantee that all information has been entered correctly and that the required annexes have been attached;
  2. check if all tabs have been completed in the correct language according to the proposal form template;
  3. disable the final version of the proposal to the NCN;
  4. download the confirmation of proposal submission to be signed by the principal investigator and authorised representative(s) of the entity;
  5. upload the signed confirmation of proposal submission.

Once the proposal has been completed and the required annexes attached, use the “Wyślij do NCN” (“Send to NCN”) button to submit the proposal to the NCN electronically via the OSF submission system.

Once the call for proposals has been closed:

  1. evaluation of proposals will be carried out;;
  2. after each stage of evaluation, the funding decision by the NCN Director will be communicated;
  3. if the proposal is recommended for funding, a funding agreement will be entered into;
  4. the project will be carried out pursuant to the funding agreement and regulations.

MAESTRO 17

Kod CSS i JS

16 June 2025

The National Science Centre (NCN) is launching the MAESTRO 17 call for research projects for well-established and outstanding researchers aiming to conduct pioneering research, including interdisciplinary research, which is significant for the development of science, goes beyond the current state-of-the-art and may result in scientific discoveries.

The budget call is PLN 25 million.

Proposals must be submitted electronically via the OSF submission system available at https://osf.opi.org.pl, in compliance with the proposal submission procedure. The proposal form will be available in the system on 18 June. The deadline for the submission is 16 September 2025, 14:00 CEST.

Significant changes:

  • researchers who had their PhD conferred in the year of employment in the project or within 12 years before 1 January of the year of employment in the project can apply for the post-doc position (the period may be extended by evidenced career breaks);
  • review panels have been changed.

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, pursuant to a Resolution adopted by the NCN, proposals submitted to the National Science Centre must not provide for any collaboration between Polish and Russian entities. Where any such collaboration is planned, the proposals shall be rejected as ineligible.

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Who may submit proposals?

The call is open to the entities identified in the NCN Act:

  1. university;
  2. federation of science and higher education entities;
  3. research institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, operating pursuant to the Act on the Polish Academy of Sciences of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1796, as amended);
  4. research institute operating pursuant to the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2024, item 534);
  5. international research institute established pursuant to separate Acts, operating in the Republic of Poland;
    • 5a. Łukasiewicz Centre operating pursuant to the Act on the Łukasiewicz Research Network of 21 February 2019 (Journal of Laws of 2024, item 925 and 1089);
    • 5b. institutes operating within the Łukasiewicz Research Network;
    • 5c. Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education operating pursuant to the Act on the Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education (Journal of Laws of 2024, item 570 and 1897);
  6. Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences;
  7. other entity involved in research independently on a continuous basis (not listed in sections 1-6);
  8. group of entities consisting of at least two entities mentioned in sections 1-7 or at least one institution as such together with at least one company;
  9. scientific and industrial centre within the meaning of the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2022, item 498);
  10. research centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences within the meaning of the Act on the Polish Academy of Sciences of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1796);
  11. scientific library;
  12. company operating as research and development centre within the meaning of the Act on Certain Forms of Support for Innovative Activity of 30 May 2008 (Journal of Laws of 2021, item 706 and of 2022, item 1079);
  13. legal entity with their registered office in Poland
    • 13a. President of the Central Office of Measures;
  14. natural person;
  15. company conducting research in another organisational form than laid down in sections 1-13a.

Who may act as the principal investigator?

The principal investigator must be at least a PhD holder who, in the proposal submission year or within the last 10 years (the period may be extended by evidenced career breaks, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the call):

  1. has had at least five papers published in renowned Polish or international academic press/journals;
  2. has acted as the principal investigator in at least two research projects funded under national or international calls for proposals (acting as the principal investigator also means managing/coordinating the work of a research group in international research projects or programmes);
  3. meets at least three of the following criteria:
    • has been a member of a scientific committee of at least one prestigious international conference,
    • has published at least one monograph,
    • has presented papers at prestigious international conferences,
    • has received an international award or prize,
    • has been a member of prestigious associations, international scientific organisations or academies,
    • has other significant scientific achievements,

for research in art, a person who is an author of works of art of international significance or works significant for the Polish culture and has actively participated in international exhibitions, festivals, artistic events in fine arts, music, theatre and film.

The principal investigator who has managed a research project funded under MAESTRO may submit a funding proposal for another research project under MAESTRO as long as they meet at least one of the following conditions:

  • they are the European Research Council (ERC) grant winners,
  • they have submitted a grant proposal to the ERC over the past five years which has been evaluated at least in stage I of the call.

What are the restrictions on submitting proposals for research projects under NCN calls?

The principal investigator must be a person employed at the host institution for the entire project duration period pursuant to at least a part-time employment contract (the foregoing does not apply to persons receiving a pension under the social insurance scheme).

The principal investigator must reside in Poland for at least 50% of the project duration period and be available to the host institution for the project (the foregoing obligation does not apply to evidenced project-related business trips or holiday, time off work and other excused absence at work governed by the applicable laws).

No person may manage more than one project financed in the MAESTRO call at the same (project management applies to the period from the date of signing the funding agreement under NCN calls until the date of submitting the final report on the project performance).

In one edition of calls, i.e. in calls for proposals closed on the same day (in this edition these are MAESTRO 17 and SONATA BIS 15), the same person may be named as the principal investigator in one proposal only. If the same person is named as the principal investigator in more than one proposal submitted in a call edition, the proposal submitted to the OSF submission system at an earlier date will be accepted.

In one edition of calls, no proposal may be submitted with overlapping research tasks.

The total number of NCN projects managed by a researcher and proposals submitted to the NCN, which are pending evaluation or have been recommended for funding, in which the researcher is named as the principal investigator, must not be more than two. The limit may be extended to three if the researcher:

  • manages at least one project funded under an OPUS call within the framework of LAP cooperation or under a call launched by the NCN in collaboration with foreign research-funding agencies or
  • is named as the principal investigator in at least one proposal submitted to the NCN that is pending evaluation or has been recommended for funding under an OPUS call within the framework of LAP cooperation or a call launched by the NCN in collaboration with foreign research-funding agencies.

The table below illustrates the eligible funding requests..

Number of the research projects I manage1 and the proposals I have submitted2 Can I submit another proposal?
Total Research projects OR proposals in domestic calls3 Research projects OR proposals in International calls4 In a domestic call In an International call
0 0 YES YES
1 1 YES YES
2 2 0 NO YES
2 1 1 YES YES
2 0 2 YES YES
≥3 3 NO NO

 

1 Project management applies to the period from the date of signing the funding agreement under NCN calls until the date of submitting the final report on the project performance.

2The limit applies to proposals pending evaluation or recommended for funding.

3Research projects or proposals under NCN calls: OPUS, PRELUDIUM, SONATINA, SONATA, SONATA BIS, MAESTRO and research projects under HARMONIA, SYMFONIA, COVID-19.

4 The calls launched by the NCN in collaboration with foreign research-funding agencies:

  • calls launched under programmes co-funded by the European Union – ERA-Net and European Partnership (UNISONO, POLONEZ, POLONEZ BIS);
  • calls launched by the networks of research-funding institutions, which are not co-funded by the European Union, including within the framework of LAP cooperation (OPUS LAP/WEAVE, WEAVE UNISONO, IMPRESS-U);
  • bilateral calls of the NCN and foreign partner institutions (GRIEG, POLS, IDEALAB, BEETHOVEN, BEETHOVEN CLASSIC, BEETHOVEN LIFE, CEUS, MOZART, ALPHORN, DAINA, SHENG).

The limits do not apply to:

  • PRELUDIUM BIS, DIOSCURI, TANGO and ARTIQ projects/proposals,
  • MINIATURA research activities/proposals,
  • NAWA research components/proposals,
  • FUGA and UWERTURA fellowships,
  • ETIUDA scholarships,
  • NCN Programme for researchers from Ukraine to continue research in Poland and NCN special scholarship programme for Ukrainian students and early-stage researchers.

What is the subject-matter of the call?

Basic research proposals may be submitted to the call in any of 26 NCN panels. The panels comprise the three groups:

  • HS – Humanities, Social Sciences and Art Sciences;
  • ST – Physical Sciences and Engineering;
  • NZ – Life Sciences.

What is the project duration?

Funding may be requested for projects lasting 36, 48 or 60 months.

What are the types of positions for research team members?

In research projects, in addition to the principal investigator, research tasks may be carried out by post-docs, senior researchers and persons in specialist supporting position, PhD students and students, as well as by other co-investigators. The involvement of post-doc(s) or PhD student(s) for the total period of at least 72 months is obligatory.

A post-doc position is a full-time post, scheduled by the project’s principal investigator for a person who has been conferred a PhD degree in the year of employment in the project or within 12 years before 1 January of the year of employment in the project (the period may be extended by evidenced career breaks, in accordance with the section on the costs of the regulations on awarding funding).

A post-doc must be a person who has been awarded their PhD degree by another institution than the host institution for the project or has completed a continuous and evidenced post-doctoral fellowship of at least 10 months in another institution than the host institution for the project and in another country than the one in which they have been conferred their PhD degree. A post-doc in the project must be recruited in an open call procedure.

A senior researcher position is a full-time employment position, co-financed by the host institution to provide employment at this position and scheduled by the principal investigator for a person who has been conferred a PhD degree at least 7 years before the proposal submission date and has expertise, unique competencies and experience necessary to perform the tasks in the project.

A specialist supporting position is a full-time employment position, scheduled by the principal investigator for a person providing support to the project, such as lab manager, senior technician, statistical analyst.

PhD students/students, who will be NCN scholarship recipients in the project, must be recruited in an open call procedure.

The terms and conditions of the call do not specify the maximum number of research team members. However, the rationale of employment of particular members of the research team in the project will be evaluated by the Expert Team. The competences and tasks to be performed by particular members of the research team must be described in the proposal.

For more information on the budget for salaries and scholarships, please refer to the section on the costs of the regulations on awarding funding.

How should the project budget be planned?

The budget is an important aspect of the proposal, which is the subject to an eligibility check and a merit-based evaluation.

The budget must be well justified as regards the subject and scope of the research and based on realistic calculations. The terms and conditions of the call do not specify the minimum or maximum amount of the project budget, however, the proposal may be rejected if unreasonable costs are planned.

Direct costs include::

  1. full-time remuneration for the principal investigator;
  2. remuneration for co-investigators in the project:
    • full-time remuneration for post-docs,
    • full-time remuneration for a senior researcher,
    • full-time remuneration for a person in specialist supporting position,
    • salaries and scholarships for PhD students and students,
    • additional remuneration for research team members; if the principal investigator is not employed full-time in the project, their remuneration is paid for from the pool allocated for additional remuneration;
  3. purchase of research equipment, devices and software;
  4. purchase of materials and small equipment;
  5. outsourced services;
  6. business trips, visits and consultations;
  7. compensation for collective investigators;
  8. other costs crucial to the project which comply with the regulations on awarding funding.

Indirect costs include::

  • indirect costs up to 20% of direct costs, which may be spent on costs that are related indirectly to the research project, including the cost of open access to publications and research data,
  • indirect cost of open access up to 2% of direct costs, which may be designated only for the cost of open access to publications or research data.

In the case of entities applying for state aid, indirect costs, including indirect costs of open access and other indirect costs, must not exceed a total of 20 % of direct cost.

During the project performance, the host institution shall arrange with the principal investigator for the distribution of at least 25 % of other indirect costs. These expenses must be eligible.

For more information on the eligibility of the costs, please refer to the section on the costs of the regulations on awarding funding.

Open access to research results

Pursuant to the NCN Open Access Policy, all research results must be made available in full and immediate open access.

The policy does not apply to monographs, monograph chapters and peer-reviewed collected works.

The NCN recognizes the following publication routes as compliant with the policy:

  1. publication in open access journals and on open access platforms registered, or with pending registration, in the Directory of Open Access Journal (DOAJ);
  2. publication in subscription journals (hybrid journals in which some of the articles are open access and some require payment of a publication fee), as long as the Version of Record (VoR, i.e. a version of record published in a journal with its own typeface and branding; other terms: published version or publisher’s pdf), Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM, i.e. the final manuscript version created by the author, including all the revisions introduced after the peer review, and accepted for publication in the journal; other terms: postprint) or preprint (if AAM and VoR are embargoed) is made available in the repository registered in OpenDOAR immediately upon the article’s online publication (in case of preprints, once the embargo period is over, AAM of the same work must also be made available in the repository);
  3. publication in journals covered by an open access licence within the framework of so-called transformative agreements, which must be inscribed in the Efficiency and Standards for Article Charges registry (ESAC-registry), as long as the article has been published or accepted for publication before 31 December 2025 (Decision of the NCN Director of 15 December 2024 extending route 3 of the transformation agreements under the NCN’s Open Access Policy).

Articles must be published using the following licences:

  • route 1: CC BY 4.0 licence;
  • route 2: a preprint must be made available in the repository using CC BY 4.0 licence upon the article’s online publication on the publisher’s website (once the embargo period is over, the AAM of the same paper can be made available using any licence);
  • route 3: the following licences can be used: CC BY 4.0; CC BY-SA 4.0 or CC BY-ND 4.0.

Eligibility of Article Processing Charges:

  • route 1: costs are eligible as long as the CC BY 4.0 or CC BY-ND 4.0 licences are used;
  • route 2: costs are not eligible and must not be covered by NCN funds;
  • route 3: costs are eligible as long as the CC BY 4.0, CC BY-SA 4.0 or CC BY-ND 4.0 licences are used.

The data underpinning the scientific publications resulting from the projects must be well-documented pursuant to the standards of the machine or manual findability, accessibility, interoperability or reusability (the so-called FAIR Data). Where possible, data must be made available in the repository using CC0 (dedicating to public domain) or CC BY 4.0 licence. Other licences can also be used as long as they ensure an equivalent level of data openness as CC0 or CC BY 4.0.

The NCN understands “data” to be both collected and unprocessed data, as well as generated and processed data, other than scientific publications. The definition comprises all forms, both digital and non-digital.

What should be included in a proposal?

Proposals shall include information specified in the proposal form in the OSF submission system, the template of which is provided in the call text, including, among others (in English, if not specified otherwise):

  • research project title (in Polish and in English);
  • research project abstract;
  • research project abstract for the general public (in Polish and in English, one page for each);
  • research project descriptions, which shall include scientific goal of the project, significance of the project, general concept and work plan, research methodology and project literature (project literature does not count towards the page limit):
    • short description (up to 5 pages),
    • long description (up to 15 pages);
  • work plan presenting research tasks (in Polish and in English);
  • information on the research team:
    • information on the principal investigator, including, among others:
      • academic and research career,
      • the list of five to ten most important papers published or accepted for publication (letter of acceptance required) in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year, including at least five publications published in prestigious Polish or international academic presses/journals; one to three of the papers referred to above must be annexed in pdf format,
        for research in art, the list of two to ten most important artistic achievements of international significance or works significant for the Polish culture and the list of up to ten the most important papers published or accepted for publication (letter of acceptance required) in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year; if one or more publications are specified, one to three of the papers referred to above must be annexed in pdf format,
      • information on research project management or other research funding awarded under NCN calls in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year,
      • information on research project management awarded under other national or international calls in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year (up to five projects);
      • description of up to three most important research achievements,
      • keynote speeches and presentations delivered at prestigious international conferences; in case of research in arts, active participation in international exhibitions, festivals, artistic events;
    • if applicable: information on the senior researcher, including, among others:
      • academic and research career,
      • the list of one to ten most important papers published or accepted for publication (letter of acceptance required) in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year,
        for research in art, the list of one to ten most important papers published or accepted for publication (letter of acceptance required) or artistic achievements and achievements in research in art in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year,
      • other significant research achievements,
      • justification of their employment as a senior researcher;

    (the period of 10 years referred to above may be extended by evidenced career breaks, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the call)

    • information on the required qualifications and scope of work planned of each co-investigator in the research project;
  • research project budget;
  • if applicable: information on international cooperation as well as description of related advantages;
  • information on the data management plan concerning data generated or used in the course of a research project;
  • information on the ethical aspects of the project, including any consents, opinions, permits and/or approvals necessary to carry out the project in compliance with generally applicable laws and best practices adopted for a specific academic discipline;
  • in the case of research projects which include clinical trials with a medicinal product or a medical device, a detailed justification of the non-commercial nature of the trials.

In the section Individuals identified in the proposal, please enter the data of all the persons who have been involved in the preparation of the proposal or will be involved in the project implementation. The persons whose data (name, affiliation) have been entered in any other part of the proposal should be mentioned here. The principal investigator is required to notify such persons that their details have been disclosed in the proposal and will be processed by the NCN.

Can proposals in this call include application for state aid?

Proposals in the call may include an application for state aid, except where funding is requested by a natural person. For more information, please refer to the page containing the information on the state aid.

What is the proposal evaluation procedure?

Proposals are subject to an eligibility check followed by a merit based-evaluation.

Eligibility check

An eligibility check of proposals is performed by Coordinators. Only complete proposals that comply with all terms and conditions of the call can undergo a merit-based evaluation. A proposal may also be rejected on the grounds that it does not meet the eligibility criteria during the merit-based evaluation.

Merit-based evaluation

A merit-based evaluation of proposals is carried out by the Expert Teams, whose members are selected by the NCN Council, and by external reviewers who are not Expert Teams members. A merit-based evaluation is performed in two stages.

Stage I: Evaluation by an Expert Team based on information provided in the proposal and annexes to the proposal, except for the full project description. Individual reviews are drafted by two members of the Expert Team acting independently. In the case of proposals which contain at least one auxiliary NCN review panel other than the one to which the proposal has been submitted, the Chair of the Expert Team may decide to seek additional individual review from a member of another Expert Team (the so-called interdisciplinary proposals). Then, during the first panel meeting, the Expert Team, based on the individual reviews by members and the discussions, compiles a list of proposals recommended for stage II of evaluation.

Stage II: Proposals are submitted to at least two external reviewers who draft their individual reviews based on information provided in the proposal and annexes to the proposal, except for the short project description.

During the second panel meeting, the Expert Team conducts the interview with the principal investigator. The Expert Team, based on the individual reviews by external reviewers, the interview, and the discussions, compiles a ranking list of proposals recommended for funding.

For more information on evaluation process, please refer to the proposal evaluation procedure for the Expert Teams.

What is reviewed in the merit-based evaluation of proposals?

The evaluation of proposals shall focus in particular on the following aspects:

  • compliance with the basic research criterion;
  • principal investigator’s compliance with the criterion of well-established and outstanding researcher;
  • quality of research and innovative nature of research or tasks to be performed;
  • project’s impact on the advancement of the scientific discipline;
  • evaluation of feasibility of research;
  • scientific achievements of the principal investigator;
  • evaluation of other projects carried out by the principal investigator and funded by the NCN or from other sources;
  • relevance of the costs to the subject and scope of the research;
  • development of the proposal and compliance with other requirements of the call text.

The proposal evaluation criteria are described in detail in the regulations on funding awarding.

Who performs the merit-based evaluation of proposals?

A merit-based evaluation is performed by the Expert Teams based on the terms and conditions of the call and the proposal evaluation criteria defined by the regulations on funding awarding.

The Expert Teams are selected by the NCN Council in compliance with the rules of establishing and appointing of the Expert Teams. Experts are outstanding Polish and foreign researchers who are at least PhD holders. Expert Teams are established for each call edition. The composition of the Expert Team is subject to the number and topics of proposals submitted to each panel.

The proposals are evaluated by inter-panel Expert Teams (HS, ST, NZ). The principal investigator selects the panel. The panel cannot be changed once the proposal has been submitted and the proposal may be rejected if an incorrect panel is selected.

When and how are the call results announced?

The call results will be published on the NCN website and delivered in the form of the NCN Director’s decision within 6 months of the proposal submission date, by March 2026 at the latest.

In the event of a breach of the call procedure or other formal infringements related to actions performed by the NCN, the applicants may lodge an appeal against the decision of the NCN Director with the Committee of Appeals of the NCN Council.

Where can additional information be found?

For more information, please visit the page containing the information for applicants.

Should you have any more questions or queries, please contact us by e-mail: informacja@ncn.gov.pl.

Useful information

If you are intending to submit a proposal:

  1. read all the call documents, in particular:
    • terms and conditions of the call,
    • regulations on awarding funding, including the section on the costs,
    • proposal form template, where you can find out about the information and annexes needed to complete the electronic proposal form in the OSF submission system,
    • proposal submission procedure,
    • guidelines for applicants to complete the proposal in the OSF submission system;
  2. obtain data from the host institution for the project that is required to complete the proposal and find out about the internal procedures that may affect the proposal and project performance (cost planned in the project, procedure for acquiring signature(s) of authorised representative(s) of the institution to confirm submission of the proposal);
  3. if the applicant is a group of Polish entities, draft a research project cooperation agreement;
  4. prepare acceptance letters from publishers confirming that the paper has been accepted for publication (when the scientific achievements section includes papers accepted for publication that have not been published yet).

Before the proposal is submitted to the NCN:

  1. check if all information in and annexes to the proposal are correct. Verification of the proposal for completeness in the OSF submission system by pressing the “Sprawdź kompletność” (“Check completeness”) button does not guarantee that all information has been entered correctly and that the required annexes have been attached;
  2. check if all tabs have been completed in the correct language according to the proposal form template;
  3. disable the final version of the proposal to the NCN;
  4. download the confirmation of proposal submission to be signed by the principal investigator and authorised representative(s) of the entity;
  5. upload the signed confirmation of proposal submission.

Once the proposal has been completed and the required annexes attached, use the “Wyślij do NCN” (“Send to NCN”) button to submit the proposal to the NCN electronically via the OSF submission system.

Once the call for proposals has been closed:

  1. evaluation of proposals will be carried out;
  2. after each stage of evaluation, the funding decision by the NCN Director will be communicated;
  3. if the proposal is recommended for funding, a funding agreement will be entered into;
  4. the project will be carried out pursuant to the funding agreement and regulations.

Call 2025 Pre-Announcement

Tue, 06/10/2025 - 14:00
Kod CSS i JS

In September 2025, the QuantERA III Consortium will launch a Call for Transnational Research Proposals – Call 2025.

The Call 2025 will support projects in the area of:

  • Quantum Phenomena and Resources,
  • Applied Quantum Science.

Projects that will be awarded funding must address at least one of the following topics:

  • Quantum communication,
  • Quantum computing,
  • Quantum simulation,
  • Quantum sensing and metrolog,
  • General quantum science.

Proposals may be submitted by international consortia consisting of at least three partners eligible for funding from at least three countries participating in the Call. The standard consortium comprises 3 to 6 partners.

To support the creation of research consortia, applicants are encouraged to use the Partner Search Tool designed for projects seeking partners and partners seeking projects.

For more information on the call, visit the QuantERA website.

Contact: quantera@ncn.gov.pl

QuantERA is a network that brings together research funding organisations from over 30 European countries, as well as Israel, Turkey, and South Korea. Since 2016, first as QuantERA I and II, and now as QuantERA III, it has been advancing quantum technologies and driving technological innovation by funding international research projects. The network actively promotes cross-border collaboration, monitors European strategies in this field, and develops guidelines for responsible research conduct. QuantERA is coordinated by the National Science Centre (NCN) in Poland. The QuantERA Call 2025 will involve 29 countries.

Suspension of the call for proposals under IMPRESS-U

Mon, 06/09/2025 - 11:00
Kod CSS i JS

The National Science Centre was notified by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) that funding to support Ukrainian research teams under IMPRESS-U was unavailable. Therefore, acting pursuant to Point 3 (4) of the NCN Council Resolution on the terms of the International Multilateral Partnerships for Resilient Education and Science System in Ukraine (IMPRESS-U) call for research projects carried out as multilateral collaboration under the IMPRESS-U programme pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure, the NCN Director has decided to suspend the IMPRESS-U call for proposals until 30 September 2025.

If the US NSF receives funding to support Ukrainian research teams by 30 September 2025, the NCN call for proposals will be reopened. Otherwise, the IMPRESS-U call for proposals will be discontinued pursuant to Point 3 (5) of the Resolution, of which you will be notified on the NCN website.

Effective Collaboration with Decision-Makers

Thu, 06/05/2025 - 11:30
Kod CSS i JS

Report on Use of Social Research in Public Administration 

The report “Understanding end-users of social research in Polish public administration” was drafted by Dr. hab. Karol Olejniczak and Dr hab. Dominika Wojtowicz, both engaged in designing effective public policy solutions on a daily basis. The report was commissioned by the National Science Centre as part of the Science and Society initiative supported by EEA and Norway Grants.

Research in the area of humanities and social sciences is particularly important against the backdrop of societal challenges, such as climate change, demographic shifts, economic inequality, and public health crisis, when hard data must be supported by insight into the attitudes, motivations, and values of various social groups offered by knowledge in humanities and social sciences. 

The report shows how researchers specialising in humanities and social sciences may effectively transform their work into practice. The key is to understand public administration, its working rhythm, decision-making processes as well as political and information challenges faced by civil servants. “We would like to help them understand decision-makers and explain why, for example, they don’t always read lengthy books or comprehensive analyses,” says Karol Olejniczak.

The report is also addressed to the National Science Centre. “Evidence-based policy-making is a challenge across Europe, which is why we need to learn how to support the use of research findings in the public policy-making and evaluation processes,” says Barbara Świątkowska from the EEA and Norway Grants Team and Social Transformations and Resilience European Partnership Team.

Dr Malwina Gębalska, STR coordinator points out that for the NCN that cooperates with researchers on a daily basis, the report is “the first step to learn the decision-makers’ perspective which can let us better design our future efforts to support collaboration between the two communities, for example in international calls.”

Surveys and Interviews 

15 representatives of public administration and 13 former prime ministers were interviewed. The team’s former research and literature review were also used. “We wanted to interview people across different levels of decision-making system, including principal investigators, high-level strategists and those bridging the gap between political priorities and public policy. We did not focus on ensuring a wide range of representatives but wanted to explore various perspectives,” says Karol Olejniczak.

Five factors determine the use of social research by public administration. “For knowledge to be useful and contribute to decision-making, one must understand the mechanisms behind it, although some things are beyond the researchers’ control. Firstly, one needs to understand the problem addressed by the public policy. Secondly, it is necessary to identify the decision-making environment and information needs of policy-makers, and thirdly, their communication preferences and ways to use knowledge,” says Karol Olejniczak. 

Problems

The problems of public administration are hardly ever clear and simple as conflicting goals need to be navigated, access to data is limited, and decisions are often taken in uncertain circumstances. These are the so-called wicked problems that are hard to define and cannot be definitively solved, but require ongoing adaptation rather than one-time solutions. Therefore, instead of offering simple answers, researchers should promote the process of learning by supporting efforts to understand the challenges of life, understand stakeholder priorities, and explore potential courses of action.

Decision-Making Process – Stages

Decision-makers need all types of knowledge, depending on the stage of decision-making process. Research findings can help them notice the problem, understand the reasons behind it, compare possible solutions or support implementation and evaluation of policies. “Sometimes, decision-makers need immediate input right away to confirm or challenge their initial assessment, and sometimes they look for technical recommendations that are ready to be put into practice,” says Karol Olejniczak.

Target Audience

Research knowledge is used by people who have different tasks, experiences and types of work, including senior politicians, policy designers and implementers with different needs and expectations as regards the form and contents of information.

Communication

Some might find short summaries, diagrams, narratives and example-based content more appealing than detailed elaborations.

Dialogue and Trust

The authors point out that successful collaboration between science and public administration depends on the quality of research as well as trust and strong working relations. Public servants more likely use the reports and analyses prepared by persons and institutions they already know and have head positive experiences with. “Effective communication starts with a dialogue. If we want research findings to truly support policy-making, we need to know more not only about the contents but also the format, timing and target, and remember that trust and relations must come first, before knowledge can be shared,” says Karol Olejniczak.

Recommendations for research-funding agencies include the development of cooperation platforms, e.g. networks addressing specific challenges combined with enhanced communication skills of researchers: training courses addressing ways of talking about research and creating brief summaries and diagrams with data addressed to specific audience.

Research on the effect of light on plants

Wed, 06/04/2025 - 12:00
Kod CSS i JS

Researchers from the University in Toruń in cooperation with researchers from Austria will carry out a research project under Weave-UNISONO. They will analyse the processes triggered by the absorption of light energy by photoreceptors.

Dr hab. Krzysztof Jaworski from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń is the principal investigator of the project “Light signalling via cAMP/cGMP second messengers in plants” carried out in collaboration with researchers from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria headed by Prof. Jiří Friml.

The Polish and Austrian research teams will study signal transmission within the cell or between neighbouring cells that determines the survival of the plant organism.

The ability of the cell to receive signals depends on the presence of appropriate receptors that are activated in response to a stimulus. This triggers a sequence of physico-chemical reactions of transmitting information to the effector and triggering a physiological response adequate to the stimulus. This process, called signal transduction, has been relatively well studied and documented. The recent studies of the research team shows that there are elements in the structure of these proteins and in the transduction of the light signal which still need to be discovered and considered. In the project submitted to Weave-UNISONO, the researchers will focus on the characteristic sequences encoding adenylate and guanylate cyclases, i.e. enzymes responsible for the synthesis of cyclic nucleotides (cNMP), cAMP and cGMP, molecules referred to as secondary messengers.

The proposal was evaluated by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and their outcome was approved by the National Science Centre under the Weave collaboration. The NCN will provide funding of over PLN 1 million to the Polish research team, while the Austrian team will fund by FWF.

Weave-UNISONO ranking lists

Ranking list No. 13/2024 (pdf)

Weave-UNISONO and Lead Agency Procedure

Weave-UNISONO is launched within the framework of multilateral cooperation between research funding agencies associated in Science Europe. The programme aims to simplify the submission and selection procedure of research proposals in all academic disciplines, involving researchers from two or three European countries.

The selection process relies on the Lead Agency Procedure (LAP) according to which a full merit-based evaluation is performed by one partner institution, whilst the other partners approve its results.

Under the Weave programme, partner research teams submit their funding proposals to the lead agency as well as their respective research-funding agencies. Joint proposals must include a coherent research programme and identify the added value of international cooperation.

Weave-UNISONO is carried out on an ongoing basis. Research teams intending to cooperate with partners from Austria, Czechia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium-Flanders are encouraged to read the cal text and submit their funding proposals.

Your Voice on the Future of Education

Tue, 06/03/2025 - 12:30
Kod CSS i JS

Contribute to a new survey on the future of education and skills development in the face of green and digital transformation. The future of education is one of the impact areas of the candidate European Partnership on Social Transformations and Resilience.

As part of the initiative, a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) is being developed to guide the Partnership activities as of 2026.

By completing the survey, you will help us validate key trends and assess their impact on the future of work as well as identify any missing trends or overlooked developments. Share this survey with relevant stakeholders in your country, in particular researchers, government ministries, NGOs, public institutions and think tanks.

The survey will take 5 – 20 minutes to complete, depending on how much information you choose to share. The responses are anonymous and will only be used for research purposes.

The survey is open until 16 June 2025.