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;
- policy on open access to research results has been updated.
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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The call is open to the entities identified in the NCN Act:
- university;
- federation of science and higher education entities;
- 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);
- research institute operating pursuant to the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2024, item 534);
- 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);
- Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences;
- other entity involved in research independently on a continuous basis (not listed in sections 1-6);
- 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;
- scientific and industrial centre within the meaning of the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2022, item 498);
- 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);
- scientific library;
- 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);
- legal entity with their registered office in Poland
- 13a. President of the Central Office of Measures;
- natural person;
- company conducting research in another organisational form than laid down in sections 1-13a.
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):
- has had at least five papers published in renowned Polish or international academic press/journals;
- 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);
- 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.
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.
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.
Funding may be requested for projects lasting 36, 48 or 60 months.
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.
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::
- full-time remuneration for the principal investigator;
- 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;
- purchase of research equipment, devices and software;
- purchase of materials and small equipment;
- outsourced services;
- business trips, visits and consultations;
- compensation for collective investigators;
- 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.
Version of 10 July 2025 – effective
Pursuant to NCN Open Access Policy, all research results should be made available, if possible, in 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:
- publication in open access journals and on open access platforms registered, or with pending registration, in the Directory of Open Access Journal (DOAJ);
- publication in subscription journals (in which the articles require payment of a subscription fee) and/or hybrid journals (in which some of the articles are open access and some require payment of a subscription fee); in case of publishing in subscription-based model, it is advisable that 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 is made available in the repository registered in Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR), while at the same time not making AAM/preprint available will not affect the settlement of the costs, nor the completion of the project;
- publication in journals covered by an open access licence within the framework of so-called transformative agreements (which are available within limited time in accordance with the rules of national publishing consortia; journals covered by Polish transformative agreements are listed on the website of the Virtual Library for Science).
Articles must be published using the following licences:
- route 1: Creative Commons (CC) licence or equivalent open licence;
- route 2: 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), AAM or preprint should be made available in the repository using CC licence or equivalent open licence;
- route 3: CC licence or equivalent open licence.
Eligibility of Article Processing Charges:
The costs are eligible for each publication route and each CC licence or equivalent licence. NCN does not recommend incurring APC fees in case of the articles published in the restricted open access model if the AAM or preprint can be made available in the repository at no charge.
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 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.
Version of 16 June 2025 – not effective
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:
- publication in open access journals and on open access platforms registered, or with pending registration, in the Directory of Open Access Journal (DOAJ);
- 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);
- 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
If you are intending to submit a proposal:
- 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;
- 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);
- if the applicant is a group of Polish entities, draft a research project cooperation agreement;
- 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:
- 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;
- check if all tabs have been completed in the correct language according to the proposal form template;
- disable the final version of the proposal to the NCN;
- download the confirmation of proposal submission to be signed by the principal investigator and authorised representative(s) of the entity;
- 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:
- evaluation of proposals will be carried out;
- after each stage of evaluation, the funding decision by the NCN Director will be communicated;
- if the proposal is recommended for funding, a funding agreement will be entered into;
- the project will be carried out pursuant to the funding agreement and regulations.
Who may submit proposals?
Who may act as the principal investigator?
What are the restrictions on submitting proposals for research projects under NCN calls?
What is the subject-matter of the call?
What is the project duration?
What are the types of positions for research team members?
How should the project budget be planned?
Open access to research results
Can proposals in this call include application for state aid?
What is the proposal evaluation procedure?
What is reviewed in the merit-based evaluation of proposals?
Who performs the merit-based evaluation of proposals?
When and how are the call results announced?
Where can additional information be found?
Useful information