53 researchers will perform their research activities with funding from the National Science Centre. The second ranking list of proposals submitted to MINIATURA 8 in March has been published.

MINIATURA is a call addressed to researchers with a PhD degree employed at Polish research institutions, who may request funding of PLN 5,000 to 50,000 for a single research activity in the form of preliminary/pilot studies, library and archive searches, fellowships, research visits and/ or consultations.

The call is meant to support research activities performed by researchers with no prior experience in research project management. The aim of a research activity under MINIATURA is to prepare a research plan for a project for which funding can be requested under an NCN call, or other national or international calls. A research activity may be performed by researchers whose scientific achievements include at least one paper published or at least one artistic achievement or achievement in research in art, who have been conferred their PhD degree after 1 January 2012. The eligibility period may be extended as provided for in the Regulations, for example, by the time of childcare leave or long-term sick leave or physiotherapy leave granted to the ones who are unfit to work.

53 research ideas

The second ranking list includes 53 research activities with a total value of PLN 2,024,930.

Projects recommended for funding in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences include studies of the impact of current market conditions on workers’ personal and professional life. Dr Katarzyna Woźniak-Jasińska from the Poznań University of Economics and Business will study the attitudes, preferences and presenteeism of workers in terms of their hybrid work. Funding awarded under MINIATURA 8 will enable Dr Marcin Rojek from the University of Lodz to perform preliminary/pilot studies on educational qualities of co-working.

In the area of Physical Sciences and Engineering, researchers all over Poland will investigate numerical modelling of selected phenomena, study material properties and use of modern methods to produce substances for specific application. Dr inż. Sylwia Baluta from the Wrocław University of Science and Technology will go on a research visit to study a novel approach to stable biosensors using plasma-enhanced laccase immobilization. Dr Sebastian Jurczyk from the Institute for Engineering of Polymer Materials and Dyes at the Łukasiewicz Research Network will carry out a research activity aimed to study and evaluate the efficiency of selected biodegradable polyesters modification by reactive extrusion method to improve their physicochemical properties.

Research activities in Life Sciences recommended for funding focus on human health, animal health and plant processes. Dr Jakub Kryściak from the Poznań University of Physical Education will investigate the effects of specific soccer training on neuromuscular fatigue and acid-base homeostasis in young soccer players. Dr inż. Luiza Tymińska-Czabańska from the University of Agriculture in Krakow will pursue a research activity focusing on the use of GPR with 3D scanner to measure root system variability of Scots pine trees.

Research activities recommended for funding under MINIATURA 8 on Ranking List No 2

Ranking List No 2 under MINIATURA 8 in pdf format

Funding per research group:

• Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences: 18 research activities with a value of PLN 435,998
• Physical Sciences and Engineering: 20 research activities with a value of PLN 901,120
• Life Sciences: 15 research activities with a value of PLN 687,812

Call for proposals under MINIATURA 8 is ongoing

The call for proposals under MINIATURA 8 started on 1 February and will end on 31 July 2024, 4 p.m.. In MINIATURA, the evaluation procedure differs from other NCN calls for research projects. Proposals are processed as they are received by the NCN and do not have to wait until the end of the call for proposals. They are evaluated by the experts forming the evaluation team. A merit-based evaluation is performed in a single stage and the results are published once a month for proposals submitted in a specific month of the call.

The NCN Council has decided to designate PLN 20 million for MINIATURA 8. The call for proposals may be suspended if the total amount of requested funds exceeds PLN 40 million. 

Funds for research activities under MINIATURA 8 are divided proportionally to the number of months of the call for proposals. Funding can only be awarded if the proposal is within the pool of funds available in a month.

Dr Maciej Starostka from the Gdańsk University of Technology together with German researchers will carry out a research project funded under Weave-UNISONO. The Polish research team will be awarded nearly PLN 455,000.

“Morse theoretical methods in Analysis, Dynamics, and Geometry” is the title of the awarded project which will be headed by Dr Maciej Starostka (PI), mathematician at the Gdańsk University of Technology. The German research team will be managed by Jun. Prof. Dr Luca Asselle from Ruhr-Universität Bochum.

The Morse theoretical method is a mathematical theory that describes decompositions of differential manifolds into simple pieces, used to study differential equations admitting a variational formulation. Researchers involved in the project will build on the theory, e.g. developing a Morse homology theory for an abstract class of functionals on Banach manifolds as well as for specific classes of functionals. The project will continue the study that has already been funded under the BEETHOVEN project “Morse theoretical methods in Hamiltonian dynamics”.

The project was evaluated by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) in its capacity of the lead agency under Weave-UNISONO. The National Science Centre approved the results of the evaluation and decided to fund the Polish research team.

Weave-UNISONO ranking lists

Weave-UNISONO

The Weave-UNISONO call is the result of multilateral cooperation between research-funding agencies associated in Science Europe and aims at simplifying the submission and selection procedures for research proposals that bring together researchers from two or three different European countries in any discipline of science.

The selection process is based on the Lead Agency Procedure (LAP), under which only one partner institution is responsible for merit-based review and the others simply accept the result.

Under Weave, partner research teams apply in parallel to the lead agency and their relevant domestic institutions. Their joint proposal must include coherent research programmes and clearly spell out the added value of international cooperation.

The Weave-UNISONO call accepts proposals on a rolling basis. Polish teams wishing to partner up with colleagues from Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium-Flanders are encouraged to carefully read the call text and submit their funding proposals.

Researchers involved in the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) have summed up several years of their research into dark matter, in particular massive primordial black holes. Their research findings have been published in two articles published in prestigious scientific journals, including Nature. Their work was funded by the National Science Centre. Night over the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. The OGLE project observing station and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Credit: Krzysztof Ulaczyk

Gravitational wave detectors, LIGO and Virgo, have detected a population of massive black holes whose origin is one of the biggest mysteries in modern astronomy. According to one hypothesis, these objects may have formed in the very early Universe and may compose dark matter, a mysterious substance filling the Universe. A team of scientists from the OGLE survey from the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Warsaw have announced the results of nearly 20-year-long observations indicating that such massive black holes may comprise at most a few percent of dark matter.

Various astronomical observations indicate that ordinary matter, which we can see or touch, comprises only 5% of the total mass and energy budget of the Universe. In the Milky Way, for every 1 kg of ordinary matter in stars, there is 15 kg of “dark matter,” which does not emit any light and interacts only by means of its gravitational pull.

One of the biggest mysteries of astronomy

“The nature of dark matter remains a mystery. Most scientists think it is composed of unknown elementary particles,” says Dr Przemek Mróz from the Astronomical Observatory, University of Warsaw, the lead author of both articles. “Unfortunately, despite decades of efforts, no experiment (including experiments carried out with the Large Hadron Collider) has found new particles that could be responsible for dark matter.”

Since the first detection of gravitational waves from a merging pair of black holes in 2015, the LIGO and Virgo experiments have detected more than 90 such events. Astronomers noticed that black holes detected by LIGO and Virgo are typically significantly more massive (20–100 solar masses) than those known previously in the Milky Way (5–20 solar masses).

“Explaining why these two populations of black holes are so different is one of the biggest mysteries of modern astronomy,” says Dr Mróz.

One possible explanation postulates that LIGO and Virgo detectors have uncovered a population of primordial black holes that may have formed in the very early Universe. Their existence was first proposed over 50 years ago by the famous British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and, independently, by the Soviet physicist Yakov Zeldovich.

“We know that the early Universe was not ideally homogeneous—small density fluctuations gave rise to current galaxies and galaxy clusters,” says Dr Mróz. “Similar density fluctuations, if they exceed a critical density contrast, may collapse and form black holes.”

Since the first detection of gravitational waves, more and more scientists have been speculating that such primordial black holes may comprise a significant fraction, if not all, of dark matter.

Gravitational microlensing

Artist s impression of a microlensing event caused by a black hole observed from Earth toward the Large Magellanic Cloud. Credit: J. Skowron / OGLE Fortunately, this hypothesis can be verified with astronomical observations. We observe that copious amounts of dark matter exist in the Milky Way. If it were composed of black holes, we should be able to detect them in our cosmic neighborhood. Is this possible, given that black holes do not emit any detectable light?

According to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, light may be bent and deflected in the gravitational field of massive objects, a phenomenon called gravitational microlensing.

“Microlensing occurs when three objects – an observer on Earth, a source of light, and a “lens” object – virtually ideally align in space,” says Prof. Andrzej Udalski, the principal investigator of the OGLE survey. “During a microlensing event, the source’s light may be deflected and magnified, and we observe a temporary brightening of the source’s light.”

The duration of the brightening depends on the mass of the lensing object: the higher the mass, the longer the event. Microlensing events by solar mass objects typically last several weeks, whereas those by black holes that are 100 more massive than the Sun would last a few years.

The idea of using gravitational microlensing to study dark matter is not new. It was first proposed in the 1980s by the famous Polish astrophysicist Bohdan Paczyński. His idea inspired the start of three major experiments: Polish OGLE, American MACHO, and French EROS. The first results from these experiments demonstrated that black holes less massive than one solar mass may comprise less than 10 percent of dark matter. These observations were not, however, sensitive to extremely long-timescale microlensing events and, therefore, not sensitive to massive black holes, similar to those recently detected with gravitational-wave detectors.

In the new article in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, OGLE astronomers present the results of nearly 20-year-long photometric monitoring of almost 80 million stars located in a nearby galaxy, called the Large Magellanic Cloud, and the searches for gravitational microlensing events. The analyzed data were collected during the third and fourth phases of the OGLE project from 2001 to 2020.

“This data set provides the longest, largest, and most accurate photometric observations of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud in the history of modern astronomy,” says Prof. Udalski.

13 relatively short phenomena Expected vs. observed microlensing events by massive objects toward the Large Magellanic Cloud as seen through the Milky Way halo. Credit: J. Skowron / OGLE

The second article, published in Nature, discusses the astrophysical consequences of the findings.

“If the entire dark matter in the Milky Way was composed of black holes of 10 solar masses, we should have detected 258 microlensing events,” says Dr Mróz. “For 100 solar mass black holes, we expected 99 microlensing events. For 1000 solar mass black holes – 27 microlensing events.”

In contrast, the OGLE astronomers have found only 13 microlensing events. Their detailed analysis demonstrates that all of them can be explained by the known stellar populations in the Milky Way or the Large Magellanic Cloud itself, not by black holes.

“That indicates that massive black holes can compose at most a few percent of dark matter,” says Dr Mróz.

The detailed calculations demonstrate that black holes of 10 solar masses may comprise at most 1.2% of dark matter, 100 solar mass black holes – 3.0% of dark matter, and 1000 solar mass black holes – 11% of dark matter.

“Our observations indicate that primordial black holes cannot comprise a significant fraction of the dark matter and, simultaneously, explain the observed black hole merger rates measured by LIGO and Virgo,” says Prof. Udalski.

Therefore, other explanations are needed for massive black holes detected by LIGO and Virgo. According to one hypothesis, they formed as a product of the evolution of massive, low-metallicity stars. Another possibility involves mergers of less massive objects in dense stellar environments, such as globular clusters.

“Our results will remain in astronomy textbooks for decades to come,” adds Prof. Udalski.

Over the past few months, the NCN Council has discussed many topics, e.g. NCN call portfolio, principal investigator’s grace period and mentoring programme. Prof. Alicja Kazek-Kęsik writes about the work of the Council.

“Notes from Council Meeting” are articles published in Forum Akademickie, in which members of the NCN Council explain and discuss their work.

In her second article, Prof. Alicja Kazek-Kęsik writes that the principal investigator’s grace period is discussed over and over again. Under the applicable regulations, a principal investigator whose proposal is not passed on to stage two (merit-based evaluation) must wait one round of the call to resubmit their proposal. This will give them time to read the review and modify their proposal will also help reduce the processing costs of weaker proposals. 

Prof. Kazek-Kęsik says that the quality of proposals has recently evolved, while researchers highlight the urge to have the restrictions relaxed. Therefore, the NCN Council has considered to amend the regulations pertaining to the grace period. “It happens more and more often that proposals submitted to stage one are evaluated very well or well, their number is higher than ever before, and it is not uncommon for only exceptional proposals to reach stage two of evaluation. (…) Therefore, the doubts raised by the scientific community are well justified,” says a member of the NCN Council.

The article also addresses NCN Council’s discussions on other restrictions of grant proposals, call portfolio and MINIATURA monitoring programme.

Notes from Council Meeting: grace period, call portfolio, mentoring programme, Forum Akademickie, 20 June

Prof. Karol Życzkowski has been awarded the prestigious ERC Advanced Grant for his research in quantum mechanics. The ERC Advanced Grant was awarded to a researcher working in Poland for the thirteenth time. 

Prof. Karol Życzkowski from the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science at the Jagiellonian University has received funding of EUR 2.25 million for his project “Typical and Atypical structures in quantum theory (TAtypic)”. His research focuses on quantum mechanics, particularly structures that may be crucial for the development of quantum information theory and quantum technologies. The main objective of the project is to investigate the properties of typical quantum states and quantum channels, and to identify distinguished structures with extreme properties useful for quantum information processing.  

The ERC Advanced Grant is a competition, in which experienced researchers with an established track record and experience in managing a research team can apply for grants of up to EUR 2,5 million for ambitions research projects to be performed over a period of up to 5 years. The first decisions in the ERC Advanced Grant 2023 were made in April. Prof. Życzkowski has received funding for his project as part of the additional funding of the ERC Advanced Grant 2023.

Prof. Karol Życzkowski works at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the Jagiellonian University and at the Centre for Theoretical Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences and serves as the President of the Krakow Branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences. You can find out more about his scientific achievements on the website of the Jagiellonian University. He is a winner of numerous NCN calls, e.g. he performs a DQUANT project “Quantum computing and dissipative quantum chaos” in collaboration with researchers from Portugal, Slovenia, Germany and Norway funded under the international QuantERA Call 2021.

“I came from the debate feeling really reassured, because it seemed to me that the NCN had thought through its principles really well”, says Michał Żmihorski. “The fact that the NCN decided to host the meeting at all shows that it is open to voices coming from the scientific community, which is not necessarily an attitude typical of many public institutions in Poland”, adds Wojciech Jasiński.

Researchers from different centres took part in a meeting held on 4 June in the headquarters of the NCN in Kraków, where they were joined by NCN Council members and employees to discuss the role of the NCN and basic research funding. More specifically, the panellists addressed the NCN call portfolio, proposal and peer review procedures, grant spending and billing, open science, and grant-related team employment and remuneration policies. They also touched on the role of the NCN in the broader research and higher education system, its cooperation with other institutions and the need for regular increases in its budget.

We asked five participants for their feedback. Here are some important insights from Wojciech Fendler, Wojciech Jasiński, Magdalena Stobińska, Artur Obłuski, and Michał Żmihorski.

How do you rate the meeting? Which threads of the discussion did you find the most important? Meeting at the NCN headquarters, 4 June 2024

Prof. Magdalena Stobińska, specialised in quantum technologies, quantum optics and quantum information, University of Warsaw

One theme revolved around the fundamental question of NCN policy: whether its grants should be elitist or egalitarian or, in other words, whether we should invest in science done by experienced scientists at top research centres or strive to raise the level of Polish science evenly, as a whole.

Poland has a huge research potential, but it is underfunded. In general, we should follow the example of developed countries and bet on the best of the best, on people who have completed international fellowships, already have large networks of contacts and enjoy community recognition. But there should also be a way to offer a chance to gifted researchers who, for various reasons, have not followed a typical research career path. At every career stage, there should be an option that would allow them to “enter the system”, without any limits as to age or years that have passed since earning a PhD.

The other theme had to do with the need to increase funding for Polish research if we want to be competitive in the world. We need to think, for instance, about how to attract graduates from top European or American universities. We need to be able to offer salaries that would ensure a decent standard of life for them and their families. Researchers from top research centres would arrive here with their contacts and their know-how; this would be an investment in Polish science.

Prof. Michał Żmihorski, specialises in land ecosystem ecology and science-based environmental protection, Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Białowieża

Being able to take part in the debate was already interesting enough. I was positively impressed by how thoroughly the panellists set about analysing different ways to address moot issues. It was evident that the NCN Director and the NCN Council are very knowledgeable about similar grant agencies abroad and they explained clearly and convincingly why the NCN had adopted some solutions and not others. I came from the debate feeling really reassured, because it seemed to me that the NCN had thought through its principles really well.

If I were to name the themes I was particularly interested in, I would probably mention the call for a more liberal assessment of how the grants have been used (for example, how closely the products of a project should be linked to its initial theme) and the issue of Open Access. I’m happy to see a mounting criticism of such high fees for open access publications.

Prof. Wojciech Jasiński, specialises in criminal procedure, law of evidence and human rights in criminal proceedings, University of Wrocław

Generally speaking, the fact that the NCN decided to host the meeting at all shows that it is open to voices coming from the scientific community, which is not necessarily an attitude typical of public institutions in Poland. On the one hand, this culture of openness sensitises the NCN to community voices who, after all, are the voices of those who benefit from its resources but, on the other, also allows the community to understand certain (institutional, financial, etc.) limitations faced by the NCN, which are not normally raised in public discourse, but which mean that even rational requests of reform will occasionally come up against implementation stumbling blocks.

Second, the meeting showed that the problems faced by grant applicants and holders vary across different disciplines (HS, NZ, ST). Accordingly, in its grant policy, the NCN needs to make choices that are always bound to seem unconvincing to some. It is also a good idea to ask whether grant requirements should be the same across the board or perhaps they should vary, and if so, to what extent?

Third, I think that the debate showed that the NCN will not be able to meet all the reasonable expectations of the research community on its own. Disagreements over whether it should fund only calls for proposals targeted at a wide audience of researchers or bet on, e.g. centres of excellence, whether its calls should be elitist or egalitarian, whether it should support basic or applied research (assuming that this distinction should matter at all) or if there is any room for funding high risk high gain projects, clearly showed that Poland needs a sensible research policy vision at the level of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, coupled with an adequate institutional system. We need to think about whether and how we could synchronise the actions of the NCN with those of other institutions (NCBR, ministerial programmes) within the framework of a broader national system, as well as with fund allocation schemes and opportunities for external funding. Even though the NCN has taken some action in this area (e.g. creating joint programmes with other institutions), without institutional support and a sensible research policy, it won’t be able to succeed on its own.

What are your expectations of the NCN? What role should it play in the research system as a whole?

Prof. Wojciech Fendler, Medical University of Łódź, set to take over as the President of the Medical Research Agency in July

The way I see it, the grant system is crucial for motivating researchers to take risks and put forward ambitious hypotheses. It cannot be the sole source of research funding, but neither should it be a marginal addition to subsidies (this model fails to provide incentives for risk-taking and growth). If we were to imagine the research support system in the form of a pyramid, the subsidies should lie at the base. Weaker teams that are just starting out or work in smaller centres should have access to some form of seed grants. Up a notch, there would be the NCN, with its mission to support good and very good projects. And at the top of the pyramid, we would see the sources of funding with a very low success rate, targeted only at the very best research teams and high-risk projects that require well-organised structures and experience (ERC, FNP). I also anticipate an important role for foundations and societies: every year, for instance, the Polish Diabetological Society awards 3-5 grants to young researchers. Many of the winners then go on to secure grants under NCN’s PRELUDIUM and NCBR’s LIDER schemes or more “grown-up” calls. This domain-focused, targeted support allows us to support individuals who already have the potential but still lack the organisational culture or recognisability to break through the 10% success rate at the NCN. Generating preliminary results, gaining project experience and publishing a paper gives them the wherewithal to later join the mainstream of NCN-funded projects.

Michał Żmihorski

My main expectation has to do with priorities: what I find particularly important is that the NCN should never compromise on scientific excellence in its strategy or action; scientific excellence should remain the supreme goal in its work. After the meeting in Kraków, I got the impression that this is what they are doing.

Magdalena Stobińska

Personally, I would expect more flexibility, both at the application stage, e.g. simpler forms, and during the grants phase proper. Following the ERC model, a grant should be tied to the researcher, so that they can change their project location or even transfer an entire team. Also, similar to new European grants, the NCN should introduce a flat fee, a so-called “lump sum”, that could be spent by principal investigators without the need to account for its use in detail.

I would also want the NCN to abolish the cap on the maximum number of grants headed by one researcher. Of course, principal investigators should be held accountable for a diligent performance of each contract. Sometimes, however, they need to follow different paths, e.g. fund a research team or international cooperation and, at the same time, purchase research equipment from another grant. But I understand this is a temporary situation due to insufficient funds.

At many points in the discussion, opinions were clearly divided; there were, for instance, disagreements as to whether the NCN should be more elitist or more egalitarian.

Michał Żmihorski

Opinions will always be divided, because there is no system that can satisfy all actors from all the disciplines of science. These differences of opinion over many issues are not alarming. My takeaway from this diversity of opinion is that we should allow researchers to take various paths to scientific excellence, because they are all different and their disciplines have specific concerns. 

Wojciech Fendler

I don’t understand why we should support average research centres just because they exist and need our assistance. If a research centre has 2 or 3 good teams, rather than stubbornly trying to raise its overall level, it would make more sense to support researcher mobility or consolidate teams into IRAs or other structures. Today, we simply cannot afford to support weak institutions and even if we could, resources for such groundwork should come from subsidies rather than calls for proposals, which should be reserved for the best.

What should the NCN take away from the debate? What changes and improvements should it make?

Prof. Artur Obłuski, archaeologist, interested in Nubian studies and monasticism, University of Warsaw

Improvements? This, of course, depends on priorities. For me, one such priority is to give young researchers the best chance of achieving research independence. Of course, this is why PRELUDIUM grants are crucially important, because they usher young people into the system of independent research. I think that SONATINA and SONATA calls could be reformed. While I think researcher mobility is important, in the current economic situation, with current home rental prices, the NCN will simply not have enough resources to ensure a decent living standard, e.g. for a young PhD holder who needs to relocate to Warsaw. At the same time, we cannot allow a two-year gap in the career of researchers who have just earned their PhD. So it makes sense to move funds from SONATINA to SONATA and extend the duration of the latter by two years; you would be able to apply for a SONATA grant a day after earning your PhD and for up to 7 years after that.

Wojciech Jasiński

On a more detailed level, what I found very valuable was our discussion of how we could optimise the fund allocation system so as to make sure resources would not flow exclusively to researchers who have already acquired a certain renown in the community, but also to those who are still building their international renown. This was the tenor of the debate on the MINIATURA call and how it can be reformed to give a chance to more elaborate projects that could accelerate research careers. Another important theme was NCN’s key policy of funding young researchers. It is worth emphasising that the panellists didn’t just air their subjective intuitions, experiences and expectations, but heavily relied on hard data on the level of NCN funding in various calls, success rates and repeat application rates. This reassures me that the postulates of the research community will be thoroughly analysed and taken into account before any future grant system reforms.

It seems that everyone agreed on only one thing: NCN funding. What actions should the research community take? How can we work together in this context?

Magdalena Stobińska

Poland has a very high intellectual potential and the prosperity of our country can be based on knowledge and innovation. This is especially true of STEM disciplines, e.g. computer science, including artificial intelligence, physics, mathematics, cryptography, where we have a longstanding research tradition and excellent people, and no particularly elaborate infrastructure is required. But we need to prevent a brain drain and create the conditions for ideas to be converted into startups and industrial innovations.

I believe the research community and the NCN should speak in unison, calling for greater state spending on science.

Michał Żmihorski

The research community, including the NCN, could be more present in the media. I see a great potential here for increasing the pressure on politicians and state officials; I am personally active on social media and even though they take a lot of time and mental energy, they are a really effective communication channel where you can really have your voice heard. Another good idea is to try to reach out to students with knowledge about how research funding works, so that, apart from learning factual knowledge, they will also understand how that knowledge is created. This area is still plagued by many harmful myths, and it is important to neutralise them so as to build up social support for basic research funding.

Wojciech Fendler

We should be aiming to ensure that the share of grants increases in the funding system and that it is seen as the main path to individual growth, even if it happens at the expense of basic funding. It would make sense to move some NCBR resources to the NCN. The NCN seems more effective at spending them, and without good basic research, any investment in R&D seems pointless anyway. Cooperation between research-funding agencies should also be improved; the Medical Research Agency is ready for the challenge and we have now resumed the talks around translational projects that were suspended in 2022.

Artur Obłuski

European case studies clearly show that every euro invested in science generates 10 euros more. We should be investing in research infrastructure because it will attract foreign researchers and companies that invest in research and development. The Minister of Science and Higher Education should announce his own strategic investment plan and set aside funds to set up and ensure the stability of research teams and centres in priority disciplines for the next 10-15 years. This ministerial programme could be modelled on NCN’s Dioscuri, but with a better budget.

However, most importantly, the budget of the NCN should be doubled. If we don’t increase research funding, our country is bound to become a mere consumer of knowledge and goods produced by others. By doubling the budget, we will enable our scientists to stay in the vanguard of global research in many disciplines and make sure the Polish people remain competitive. The NCN is a beacon that shines the light of top-quality science and it needs to be allowed to grow. This is what allows the best Polish scientists to develop their careers.

 

Feedback collected by: Anna Korzekwa-Józefowicz

We are now taking in proposals under the SONATA BIS 14 call for researchers planning to set up new research teams and MAESTRO 16 for advanced researchers involved in pioneering research. The total budget of the two calls is PLN 170 million.

The two calls are an opportunity for researchers working or planning to work at Polish centres to acquire funding for the most ambitious project in the field of basic research.

Masterclass projects

It is now the sixteenth time that we have the pleasure of inviting experienced researchers to apply to the MAESTRO call for proposals for research projects that involve pioneering research of great interest to science, often interdisciplinary in nature, which goes beyond our current state of knowledge and is likely to bring important scientific discoveries. A total budget of PLN 20 million is up for grabs for PhD holders who can demonstrate at least five publications released by renowned Polish or international academic publishers/journals in the last 10 years, and have served as principal investigators in at least two research projects selected in international or domestic calls. Applicants also need to meet at least three other research record criteria, such as having published a monograph, sat on a scientific committee of a renowned academic conference or won an international award.

The projects may be planned over 36, 48 or 60 months. There is no official cap on the budget of any single project, but all its costs must be well justified and will be carefully assessed during the evaluation procedure. The grant can go toward funding salaries for the research team, including scholarships for students and PhD students, research equipment and other necessary project expenses.

A good start for new teams

SONATA BIS 14 is targeted at researchers planning to set up new teams in order to conduct innovative basic research projects. The principal investigator must have earned their PhD degree 5 to 12 years prior (i.e. between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2019) and is expected to be able to demonstrate at least one research paper published or pending publication.

SONATA BIS14 projects may also be planned over 36, 48 or 60 months. The terms and conditions of the call do not set a limit on the maximum number of members in the research team, but the grant must employ one or more PhD students for a total period of at least 36 months. Other team members may also be hired, including post-docs or students.

The budget of SONATA BIS 14 is PLN 150 million.

Proposal intake, evaluation procedure, results

Proposals under MAESTRO 16 and SONATA BIS 14 can be submitted via the OSF system until 4pm on 17 September 2024.

All proposals that have passed our eligibility check will go on to undergo a merit-based evaluation by Expert Teams appointed by the NCN Council, which consists of two stages.

At stage one, each proposal is individually reviewed by at least two team members. The team then agrees on a final score, based on these individual expert reviews, and draws up a list of projects passed forward to stage two. At stage two, each proposal is again evaluated by at least two reviewers. Moreover, under MAESTRO and SONATA BIS specifically, the principal investigator is also invited to an interview (held in English) at the main offices of the NCN. The final score is agreed on during the second team meeting, based on all individual reviews and the interview results. The team then draws up the final ranking lists of proposals recommended for funding.

MAESTRO 16 and SONATA BIS 14 interviews will take place in January/February 2025; principal investigators will be notified of the date at least 14 days prior.

The review process at the NCN is based on the following criteria: research excellence and innovation; the impact of the project on the advancement of the discipline; the project’s feasibility, and the research record of the principal investigator, including publications in renowned journals; and the necessity and manner of setting up a new team in SONATA BIS.

The results of the two calls will be published by March 2025.

 

Dr Ludwik Gąsiorowski is the third researcher to receive funding for his research component under Polish Returns NAWA 2023 this year. He will receive PLN 200,000.

Dr Ludwik Gąsiorowski from the Faculty of Biology at the University of Warsaw studies the evolution of invertebrates. The NCN funding will enable him to pursue a research project on the ecological and developmental causes of asexual reproduction and colony formation in flatworms. 

Ranking list

The Polish Returns NAWA 2023 programme enables Polish researchers who have conducted research abroad to continue their scientific work at Polish universities and research institutions.

The National Science Centre conducts a continuous call for proposals to fund research components in the project from the date the funding decision is issued by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) under the Polish Returns NAWA 2023 programme until the last proposal recommended for funding in the call is submitted to the NCN. Proposals submitted to the NCN are only subject to an eligibility check. 

Research components can be carried out by returning scientists or project team identified in a proposal submitted to the Polish Returns NAWA 2023 programme. 

The NCN Council has awarded PLN 2 million for basic research projects carried out under the Polish Returns NAWA 2023 programme.

The European Biodiversity Partnership Biodiversa+ will soon launch a new transnational joint research call on Biodiversity and Transformative Change: BiodivTransform. The call is embedded in the Flagship Programme “Supporting societal transformation for the sustainable use and management of biodiversity,” and will help to achieve one of Biodiversa+’s strategic objectives: producing actionable knowledge for transformative change to halt and reverse biodiversity decline.

Main steps of the call

• Launch of the call: 10 September 2024
• Pre-proposal submission date: early November 2024
• Full proposal submission date: early April 2025
• Recommendations for funding: Autumn 2025

Researchers from Bydgoszcz, Gliwice, Lodz, Szczecin, Warsaw and Wroclaw among winning applicants of prestigious IMPRESS-U. Projects will be carried out in international collaboration with US and Ukrainian scientists. NCN will award over 7.3 million zlotys for that purpose. 

IMPRESS-U opens up new opportunities for cooperation between Polish researchers and their colleagues from Ukraine and USA as well as, optionally, Baltic countries: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The International Multilateral Partnerships for Resilient Education and Science System in Ukraine (IMPRESS-U) has been initiated by the US National Science Foundation (NSF). The National Science Centre and the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange are the programme partners.

IMPRESS-U aims to support excellence in science and engineering research, education, and innovation through international collaboration, and to promote and catalyse integration of Ukrainian researchers in the global research community.

The NCN is open to proposals for basic research projects covering the subject area of the EAGER call. IMPRESS-U projects must be based on a balanced and complementary contribution from all the research teams involved in the project. The principal investigator of the Polish research team must hold at least a PhD degree. Co-investigators can be involved in the project work, including students, PhD students and post-docs. Projects must be performed over 24 months and the budget must include the cost of salaries and scholarships, research equipment, devices and software. 

Joint proposals are subject to a merit-based evaluation pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure performed by the National Science Foundation acting as the Lead Agency. furthermore, Polish research teams must submit a funding proposal to the NCN, identifying their research tasks.

How to improve remote sensing – satellite lidars + machine learning 

Remote sensing is a process of measuring objects or areas from a distance, typically from aircraft, space or Earth’s terrestrial area. Apart from radars and sonars, satellite lidars are an important element of remote sensing systems enabling measurement of the topological structure of the Earth's surface (including forests, rivers and water reservoirs, desert, grassy and urbanised areas). The analysis carried out on such data allows us to deepen our understanding of many phenomena taking place on Earth, in particular the processes occurring in the ecosystem that determine the circulation of nutrients, water and carbon on Earth. However, the current measurement capabilities of satellite lidars are limited both in terms of spatial resolution and range.

Prof. Krzysztof Okarma, photo credit: Aurelia Kołodziej Researchers from the West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin under the supervision of Prof. Dr hab. inż. Krzysztof Okarma, in collaboration with their partners from the United States and Ukraine, have received an IMPRESS-U grant for exploratory research on generative compression for compressive lidars. They will receive 400 thousand zlotys for their research from the National Science Centre.  

Krzysztof Okarma studies the field of digital image quality assessment and image similarity, as well as other problems of machine and computer vision, and application of image analysis methods, including interdisciplinary ones. Under IMPRESS-U, he will carry out a research project in tandem with the research team of Prof. Volodymyr Lukin from the National Aerospace University in Kharkiv with whom he has already worked. They will study the image quality assessment under the project funded by the Polish National Agency of Academic Exchange in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

“During our talks it turned out that these issues can be applied in the generative compression used to measure data from satellite lidars studied by the research team of Prof. Gonzalo Arce from the University of Delaware, USA. We have discussed the requirements of the American team and possible collaboration with the Ukrainian team in the development of the loss function in view of our prior experience and decided to apply for IMPRESS-U funding,” says Krzysztof Okarma.

The aim of the international project is to investigate the possibility of using machine learning methods, in particular for deep neural networks, to reconstruct a three-dimensional image of the terrain based on data from a compression satellite lidar obtained from an altitude of several hundred kilometres with a quality comparable to the results obtained from an altitude of several hundred metres. The Polish team, acting in close cooperation with the team from Ukraine, will develop appropriate loss functions, in particular based on the adaptation and modification of previously proposed combined image quality metrics for various types of images, and will verify them for satellite and aerial measurement data provided by the team from the University of Delaware.

“I hope that the implementation of the IMPRESS-U project will let us strengthen cooperation with the research teams from Kharkiv and the University of Delaware. A few young researchers will be involved in the research work, so hopefully they will get involved in the subject of our research and my team will expand their research interest,” concludes Krzysztof Okarma. 

Reconstruction and environmental sustainability

Dr hab. Eng Maciej Dutkiewicz, prof. PBŚ The war in Ukraine caused by the Russians aggression inflicts damage to infrastructure, public facilities, and residential buildings day after day. Therefore, researchers need to develop construction technologies with the use of readily available materials of sufficient quality and resilience to effectively rebuilt what has been destroyed in a short period of time. 

The research team headed by Dr hab. inż. Maciej Dutkiewicz, prof. PBŚ from the Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology will develop new approaches and structural materials to rebuild damaged Ukrainian infrastructure with environmental sustainability considerations. The researchers will carry out an IMPRESS-U project in collaboration with research teams headed by Prof. Alexander Orlov from the New York University, USA and Prof. Maryna Sukhanevych from the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture. The NCN will award nearly 1.3 million zlotys for the research tasks of the Polish research team.

Maciej Dutkiewicz’s research focuses on cement-based and cement-free eco-friendly composites, metallic and non-metallic fibre-reinforced concretes and mortars, structural health monitoring using the modal analysis, spectral method as well as machine learning and digital image correlation. He also monitors and reduces structural vibrations and investigates fracture resistance of structural components.

“I have had a long-standing research relationship with the Ukrainian partners. The current situation has already prompted me to get involved in various aid activities, and IMPRESS-U is a great opportunity to take up an important research subject and continue our previous collaboration,” says Maciej Dutkiewicz.

The main research goal is to develop eco-friendly technologies of 3D printed and tradition concrete structures using a combination of highly and moderately processed waste materials. In the project, the researchers will analyse the possibility of using recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) for the concrete production as well as other waste materials, such as fly ash, bricks, glass, and even processed food or agricultural waste. The number of components in a mixture will depend on designation for the construction of individual infrastructure facilities. The utilisation of waste materials in construction will pose unprecedented technological challenges. Due to the inhomogeneous nature of components used to design composites, they will be meticulously examined in terms of durability as well as mechanical and thermal properties and even self-healing properties achieved by using waste with variable particles. The research team will also conduct an innovative Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) analysis for the waste-based aggregates’ preparation as a function of their size and chemical composition.

“The main purpose of our project is to use the research findings to support reconstruction of Ukraine’s damaged infrastructure,” emphasises Maciej Dutkiewicz.

Deep below the surface – groundwater resources in Europe

Dr hab. Tatiana Solovey, Professor at the Polish Geological Institute, National Research Institute is among the winning applicants of the IMPRESS-U call. Her daily work involves satellite gravimetry-based monitoring of groundwater resources. She also pursues the issue of water management in transboundary regions.

Dr hab. Tatiana Solovey, Prof. PIG –PIB “Applying for IMPRESS-U funding was a logical consequence of my earlier research conducted under the “EU-Waterres” project by the consortium of ten partners from five countries.

The project enabled us to create a tool for coordinated management and integrated protection of transboundary groundwater which is closely connected with the subject of IMPRESS-U due to knowledge gaps that I managed to identify”, says Tatiana Solovey.

The NCN funding of nearly PLN 1.42 million will enable Dr hab. Solovey together with Dr Justyna Śliwińska-Bronowicz from the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences to take part in the international research project GRANDE-U. Researchers from Poland, Ukraine, the United States, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will join their knowledge and experience to assess groundwater resilience through integrated data exploration for Ukraine. Groundwater is one of the most important natural water resources and a primary source of freshwater on Earth. Compared to surface water, groundwater is generally of higher quality, more resistant to possible contamination, less susceptible to fluctuations and much more evenly distributed. Groundwater can be used for consumption purposes, as well as for agriculture and industry. In response to the observed climate changes, it is crucial to continuously monitor Earth’s groundwater resources and to develop and share acquired data so that it could be used by relevant agencies for decision-making that affects the economy and society.

“I had the pleasure of working with most of the partners before. The consortium coordinator Dr Ilya Zaslavsky from the University of Californian San Diego contacted me last year when she found online information on the EU-Waterres project,” says Tatiana Solovey.

The aim of the GRANDE-U project is to develop a high-resolution database on groundwater resources for the Baltic countries, Poland and Ukraine, with particular emphasis on the border areas of Ukraine. Researchers from six different countries will join their forces in order to integrate the data acquired from many sources using various methods for a detailed analysis of changes in groundwater resources and integrated assessment of water balance and transboundary flows from the Poland-Ukraine border area.

“I hope that my work will result in many scientific publications and development of a new groundwater measurement method that will be frequently used by the world geological authorities. I also look forward to enhancing the position of my Institute as a recognisable and respected establishment in pioneering hydrogeology research,” Dr hab. Solovey concludes.

 

Pioneering solutions vs delicate quantum states – how to improve quantum computers

Quantum computers are cutting-edge devices underpinning the principles of quantum mechanics. Researchers and commercial companies all over the world have been working on quantum computers for years, taking part in the race to achieve the highest possible computational efficiency, far beyond the capabilities of traditional computers. At the heart of this advanced technology is the quantum bit, or qubit, which is the basic unit of quantum information processing. Apart from their tremendous potential, they also face an inherent obstacle: qubit decoherence, a phenomenon causing the loss of delicate quantum states and introducing computational inaccuracies.

The research team headed by Prof. Dr hab. Ryszard Buczko from the Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, will be involved in the international project “Quantum dynamics in novel chalcogenide materials and devices” with funding granted under IMPRESS-U.

In his research work, Ryszard Buczko performs theoretical studies of crystal properties and low-dimensional nanostructures. He has recently shown an interest in narrow-gap IV-VI semiconductors.

“Our project funded under IMPRESS-U aims to explore the potential of lead- and tin-chalcogenide (IV-VI) semiconductors, nanostructures fabricated on their basis and nanostructures coupled with superconductors. So far, they have not been extensively studied in the field of quantum information science. We assume that their unique physical properties, i.e. strong spin-orbit interactions, high electron mobility, and effective electrostatic control, enable the reduction of qubit decoherence. Additionally, they may be used to investigate new quantum phenomena in nanoscale devices,” explains Ryszard Buczko.

“Research teams headed by Prof. Denys Bondar from the Tulane University, USA and Prof. Sergey Frolov from the University of Pittsburgh, USA as well as researchers from Ukraine headed by Andrii Terekhov from the B. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering (ILTPE) in Kharkiv will also be involved in the project work.

“I found out about the project from Valentyn Volobuiev with whom I have co-authored a number of publications. In our Institute, Valentyn grows IV-VI nanostructured materials by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). I was keen to explore if they could be used for quantum computing,” says Ryszard Buczko.

Our project partners include theoreticians, experimentalists, and crystal growers representing various fields and disciplines. Our common mission involves fabricating and characterising new nanostructures, as well as constructing and studying prototypes of quantum devices. Researchers from the Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences will support theoretical work to design appropriate nanostructures, fabricate them and characterise them in situ. Coupled with the structures fabricated by the researchers from Kharkiv, they will be used for samples to investigate quantum dynamics of spin qubits in quantum dots and Joseph junction transmons.

The National Science Centre will allocate over 1.34 million zlotys for research conducted at the Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences.

Epidemics in military conflicts under international scrutiny

Military conflicts provide a fertile ground for infectious diseases to spread. In times of war, the mechanisms allowing a stable epidemiological situation of a country to be maintained in peacetime are disrupted, e.g. access to health infrastructure is hindered, epidemiological and sanitary situation is worsened. Relocation and migration are among the reasons why people are crowded in temporary shelters and refugee camps, which is why they have less access to food and water, drugs and healthcare. Furthermore, migration facilitates dissemination of new pathogen mutations and weak immune system caused by conflict-related stress makes people more susceptible to diseases. Not only conflict zones but also other areas are at risk of epidemics, for example due to mass migration. In this situation, forecasting epidemics spread holds paramount significance.

Doc. Dr hab. Sergiy Yakovlev The research team headed by Dr hab. Sergiy Yakovlev will carry out the following IMPRESS-U project: “Modelling and forecasting of infection spread in war and post war settings using epidemiological, behavioural and genomic surveillance data”. The researchers from the Institute of Mathematics, Lodz University of Technology will cooperate with the scientists from the Łukasiewicz Research Network – PORT Polish Centre for Technology Development headed by Heng-Chang Chen, partner research teams from the Georgia State University, USA headed by Alexander Kirpich and University of Connecticut, USA headed by Pavel Skums, and research team from the Kharkiv National Medical University headed by Tetyana Chumachenko and Lyubov Makhota from the Kharkiv Regional Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Ministry of Health of Ukraine.

Sergiy Yakovlev’s research interest includes modelling and development as well as AI implementation in healthcare and related areas.

“Researchers from the Universities of Connecticut and Georgia State University approached me and suggested that I should take part in the IMPRESS-U call. They learnt about my achievements from the papers I had published in prestigious academic journals. I have never met them before. I got very interested in their idea. I was also familiar with the research focus of the Ukrainian research team and knew that they had a large amount of statistical data on the transmission of infectious diseases in the Kharkiv Region and throughout Ukraine. I have contacted the Kharkiv National Medical University, and we organised an online meeting with the American research team. This is how our team was created,” says Sergiy Yakovlev.

The primary objective of this project is to create epidemiological models and optimisation algorithms for analysing epidemiological dynamics under conflict and post-conflict scenarios. The project findings will support public health decision-making during conflicts, reducing the overall health impact.

Our international research team applies an interdisciplinary approach that integrates current advances in computational biology, mathematical epidemiology, machine learning, and operations research. The Polish team includes experts in mathematical modelling in epidemiology, dynamical systems and nonlinear analysis, machine learning and fractal analysis, optimisation and operations research. US scientists specialise in mathematical epidemiology, genomic epidemiology and computational biology projects, while our Ukrainian colleagues have contextual knowledge and will provide statistical data, which will be complemented by information from publicly available sources.

Polish researchers from the Lodz University of Technology and Łukasiewicz Research Network – PORT Polish Centre for Technology Development will receive nearly 1.67 million zlotys from the National Science Centre for their research conducted under IMPRESS-U. 

Resilience in volatile times

Recent years have seen many events, such as COVID pandemic, supply chain interruptions, geopolitical conflicts, and military conflicts. They have significantly impacted the infrastructure of individual countries as well as entire regions. Therefore, it is paramount to analyse the capability of systems to recover from disruption. The research team under the leadership of Dr hab. inż. Krzysztof Grochla from the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Informatics, Polish Academy of Science will participate in a research project “Infrastructure Recovery through Resilience Stress Testing in Ukraine”. The project will be funded under IMPRESS-U. Krzysztof Grochla will carry out his research in collaboration with the research teams of Dr Rafael Munoz-Carpena from the University of Florida, USA, Dr Volodymyr Artemchuk from the G.E. Pukkov Institute for Modelling in Energy Engineering NAS in Ukraine, Prof. Marius Laurinaitis from the Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania and Dr Andrii Chuba from the Tallin University of Technology.

Under his daily work, Krzysztof Grochla studies performance evaluation of wireless networks, protocol design and development of communication methods in such networks.

“IMPRESS-U appeared to me as a great opportunity to expand our research and find new applications thanks to the international collaboration. We have cooperated with Ukrainian researchers in the past and they helped us liaise with scientists from the United States and develop a project for which other partners were acquired”, says Krzysztof Grochla.

The goal of the project is to validate the hypothesis that the recovery and resilience of systems can be quantified via stress-testing of interconnected networks representing their systemic functions. Researchers will apply the Resilience-Recovery Under Attack (RRUA) method to quantitatively explore distinct system response stages to attacks and serious failures. They will employ a multi-faceted methodology combining network science, resilience analytics, explainable AI (xAI), and digital twin technologies. The team from the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Informatics, Polish Academy of Science will focus on creating mathematical models and computer simulations to show how various systems, such as communication and power networks, recover after major failures or disasters.

“We hope to use research methodology developed for wireless network modelling to analyse the reliability of energy grid and other complex systems. International collaboration will hopefully enable us to generalise our models to capture the recovery of complex systems after a collapse and verify them based on airport and power grid data,” emphasises Krzysztof Grochla.

Under IMPRESS-U, the Polish research team will receive over 1.23 million zlotys from the National Science Centre for their research conducted in cooperation with foreign partners from the United States of America, Ukraine, Lithuania and Estonia.