On 21-26 May, the Copernicus Festival will be held in Krakow and online. This year, the festival will focus on “Machine”. The National Science Centre is a partner of the event, and our grant and award winners will participate in the festival discussions.

The Copernicus Festival aims to promote science and to explain its impact on social life. It is addressed to the public at large and has been co-launched by the Copernicus Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of the Jagiellonian University, the Copernicus Centre Foundation, the “Tygodnik Powszechny” Foundation and the publisher of “Tygodnik Powszechny”. The festival has been underway since 2014 and this year it will focus on “Machine.”

Our grant winners and NCN Award winners will mark their appearance at the event. 

The “Confrontation” programme, created jointly with the National Science Centre, will feature talks and discussions with:

• 21 May: Radosław Zyzik, Wojciech Załuski (Are people rational?)
• 22 May: Alicja Puścian, Marek Binder (Is brain a machine)
• 23 May: Katarzyna Jaśko, Jan Argasiński, Łukasz Lamża (The future of science, the future of AI)
• 24 May: Marek Kuś, Karol Życzkowski (The harmony of the spheres: chaos and order of the cosmos)
• 25 May: Anna Łosiak, Marcin Gawroński (The search for life in the cosmos)
• 26 May: Mariusz Gogól, Łukasz Opaliński (Is biology a machine science?)

The meetings will start at 5.30 p.m.

The Copernicus Festival will be held in the Museum of Engineering and Technology at ul. Wawrzyńca 15 in Krakow and online. The admission is free. You can follow the event on the Copernicus You Tube channel:

The latest issue of “Tygodnik Powszechyny” features a supplement on the Festival, including a profile on the NCN.

In the first episode of the second series of our podcast, we will discuss scientific cooperation with, inter alia, Switzerland. Our guests today are Barbara Świątkowska and Justyna Woźniakowska who are in charge of our international programmes.

MAPS is an initiative launched by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) to support multilateral research projects of Swiss researchers, carried out in collaboration with research teams from Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary and Romania. We discuss the terms that must be met by Polish researchers who would like to join the programme and suggest how to search for project partners. Barbara Świątkowska from the EEA and Norway Grants Team, who handles similar funding mechanisms as well as MAPS, explains what to look out for when preparing proposals submitted to the SNSF and talks about the project review. She reiterates the fact that the programme is also available to researchers who have already reached the limit of proposals submitted to the NCN, as MAPS is not subject to the limits imposed by the NCN Council.

My guests acknowledge that interest in the MAPS call is very high. “It honestly surprises me how many people ask about the call, while the Weave programme, where cooperation with Switzerland was also possible, attracted much less attention,” says Justyna Woźniakowska, Head of our International Cooperation Department. Weave was launched in 2021 to promote bilateral or trilateral cooperation of researchers from Poland, Austria, Czechia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium (Flanders) and Luxembourg. Justyna Woźniakowska explains the programme principles and encourages Polish researchers to join it.

Join us for our online courses on open science that will be held by our Open Science Team in 2024. The courses are addressed to:

• researchers applying for NCN-funding of their research projects,
• researchers carrying out NCN-funded projects,
• Open Science managers,
• data stewards,
• Open Science officers, and
• staff supporting researchers to prepare proposals submitted to the NCN and to manage projects funded by the NCN. 

The first meetings will be held on 8 and 9 May 2024.

1. Research Data Management Plan (introduction) on 8 May, from 10 a.m. till noon
2. NCN’s Open Access Policy on 9 May, from 10 a.m. till noon

Webinars will be held on the ClickMeeting platform. Registration is not required but a limit of 200 persons per meeting applies. The topics and dates of other meetings and links to the courses are available on our website at Schedule of 2024 Online Open Science Courses.

Should you have any questions or queries, please contact Ms. Gabriela Czarny at

Show number

Dr hab. Grigor Sargsyan from the Institute of Mathematics, Polish Academy of Sciences is the winner of the Weave-UNISONO call. He will receive nearly 975 thousand zlotys for a research project carried out jointly with Austrian researchers.

Dr hab. Grigor Sargsyan together with Dr hab. Eskew Monroe from the University of Vienna will carry out a research project “Generic large cardinals and determinacy”. The researchers aim to describe the connections between the set theory where generic cardinals are analysed and the study of the models of the Axiom of Determinacy (AD stating that certain infinitive games are determined). The researchers also intend to develop dense ideals by forcing (a technique for proving consistency and independence results), with the assumption that large cardinals exist. To achieve their goals, they will use classical methods that will be extended and generalised, as well as novel methods.

The proposal has been evaluated by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) in its capacity of the Lead Agency. The National Science Centre has approved the results of the evaluation within the framework of collaboration under the Weave programme.

Weave-UNISONO and the Lead Agency Procedure

The Weave-UNISONO call is the result of multilateral cooperation between research-funding agencies that make up the Science Europe association. It aims to simplify submission and selection procedures for research proposals that bring together researchers from two or three different European countries in any academic discipline.

The selection process is based on the Lead Agency Procedure (LAP), under which only one partner institution is responsible for a merit-based evaluation 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 plans 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 read the call text and submit their funding proposals.

„So, what’s new in (research) politics, sir?” is a series of meetings organised by Prof. Dariusz Jemielniak. The Vice-President of the Polish Academy of Sciences hosts researchers, representatives of research institutions, institutes promoting research, and ministries responsible for science and higher education.

In a series of podcast meetings organised by Prof. Dariusz Jemielniak, Vice-President of the Polish Academy of Sciences, hosts researchers, representatives of research institutions, institutes promoting research, and ministries responsible for science and higher education.

Next Thursday, the podcast will feature Prof. Krzysztof Jóźwiak, Director of the National Science Centre. Prof. Jóźwiak will talk about the NCN grant procedure and Open Access requirements. The podcast participants will also discuss the system of basic and applied research funding in Poland and the future of Polish science. 

The meeting will be streamed on 18 April, at 6 p.m. and will be available on the PAS profile on social media (Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube). Prof. Jóźwiak will answer questions asked during the podcast chat.

The World Quantum Day, celebrated on 14 April, is an international celebration featuring researchers from 65+ countries dedicated to spreading awareness about quantum technologies (QT). Scientists predict that within a decade these technologies will significantly impact our daily lives. Medical diagnostics will be expedited and more precise, data security in networks unparalleled and new materials boasting revolutionary properties will be developed.

The global landscape of quantum technologies is experiencing rapid expansion, with Europe aspiring to be the world’s first Quantum Valley. To this end, researchers are supported by, inter alia, the Quantum Flagship and QuantERA, with Poland playing the key role.

Europa of new ideas

photo: Krzysztof Magda The Quantum Technologies Flagship, initiated by the European Commission, with a budget of over EUR 1 billion, is one of the most important endeavours in the field of research and innovation that aims to put Europe at the forefront of quantum technologies. In February, representatives of the Quantum Technologies Flagship presented a new quantum development agenda 2023, in which they defined their ultimate goal as turning Europe into the world’s first “Quantum Valley” thanks to its scientific and industrial potential and qualified workforce. “Many concepts and ideas in quantum technology were born on our continent,” says Prof. Konrad Banaszek, scientific coordinator of the QuantERA Network.

QuantERA, which works in close cooperation with the Quantum Flagship, is Europe’s largest quantum research-funding programme. QuantERA promotes ambitious, foundational and cutting-edge engineering research projects in quantum technologies (QT), monitors activities and strategies in quantum technologies, and creates responsible research guidelines. So far, the Network has funded over 100 international projects in the field of basic and applied research involving 550 research groups.

The National Science Centre is the Network coordinator. “We are well aware of what’s going on in quantum technologies, we know what projects are underway in Europe at the moment and, most importantly, we can influence the directions of development in the field,” says Sylwia Kostka, programme coordinator from the National Science Centre.

Pushing the boundaries

In the latest QuantERA call, concluded at the end of 2023, the highest-ranked proposals included research into quantum imaging, colour-centre quantum sensors and quantum-dot single-photon sources.

Dr Radek Łapkiewicz from the University of Warsaw studies how quantum effects can be used in imaging. He was awarded funding for his project “Quantum Multi-Modal Microscopy” carried out in tandem with researchers from France, Germany and Switzerland. When asked what changes quantum technologies may bring to imaging in the nearest future, he says that it would be only natural to use quantum instruments to push the boundaries of what can be done in biomedical imaging. “Advanced biomedical imaging is often limited by the amount of light available. For instance, if you want to look at the structures deep inside a tissue, it is often difficult to introduce enough light there in a non-invasive way and it is just as hard to detect the light coming out. Quantum optics scientists specialise in detecting even very weak light pulses, while quantum metrologists know how to plumb each photon for maximum information,” he explains, adding that “the scientific community has already witnessed the first demonstrations of the quantum advantage”.

Dr hab. Adam Wojciechowski Dr hab. Adam Wojciechowski from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow works on a project that can also be used for biomedical purposes. Together with researchers from Germany and Spain, Dr Wojciechowski aims to develop novel quantum sensing protocols tailored for use with nanodiamonds (NDs). “Our objective is to enhance the material properties of nanodiamonds and introduce advanced measurement techniques to obtain detailed information about their surrounding environment. Ultimately, our goal is to embed those nanodiamonds into biological cells and measure signals related to the presence of specific substances delivered to the cells” explains Wojciechowski.

Knowledge and competencies all over Europe

Prof Banaszek emphasises “the abundance of promising research endeavours underway” across our continent, advocating for their “parallel support.” In that regard, QuantERA stands as a direct facilitator, incentivising collaboration among European scientists and fostering partnerships between countries participating in the programme.

At the stage of merit-based evaluation of proposals submitted in the QuantERA calls, emphasis is placed solely on their scientific merit. However, in cases where two or three projects receive equally high ratings, priority is given to the one involving researchers from the countries where the level of research and innovation is lower than the EU average – the so-called “widening countries.” The same approach is used to ensure more balanced participation of women and men in the research teams giving priority to projects involving participation of female researchers.

According to Prof. Katarzyna Roszak from the Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences, winner of the call in 2023, formation of research consortia by researchers from less prominent research centres, often including young researchers, is possible due to the rules and regulations adopted by the Network. “This team formation improves the quality of research, allowing less conventional research directions to be developed, which can lead to important discoveries,” she says. Researchers from Czechia, Germany, Poland and Italy are involved in research under the leadership of Prof. Roszak.

Dr hab. Adam Wojciechowski hopes that participation in the projects of the Network will improve the significance of researchers from the widening countries. “Many quantum technologies in Poland are developed at the world-class level. QuantERA programmes increase our chance for international recognition and may as such enhance our participation in top European projects which now mostly include large consortia,” he explains.

“Strengthening scientific excellence in the widening countries is crucial for fostering a Europe without borders and gaps. Spreading of excellence across the entire European Research Area should play a major role in evaluating the long-term impact of individual funding programmes,” adds Prof Ticijana Ban from the Institute of Physics in Zagreb. The project “QNet: Transport, metastability, and neuromorphic applications in quantum networks” under her management involves participation of researchers from Croatia, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.

QuantERA brings together 41 research-funding agencies from 31 countries and will continue until 2026. Representatives of the Network are already working with the European Commission on the continuation of the programme.

Anna Korzekwa-Józefowicz

Researchers in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences are strongly encouraged to take part in a survey on Social Transformations and Resilience. The goal of the survey is to boost promotion of Poland’s priority areas. The survey can be completed by the end of April.

The European Partnerships are initiatives introduced in the Horizon Europe Framework Programme that aim to address Europe’s most pressing challenges of health, digitalisation, environment climate, energy, agriculture or mobility by joint R&I initiatives. In the light of the upcoming European Partnership on Social Transformations and Resilience, the European Commission has launched a survey for potential stakeholders.

The survey aims to identify potential stakeholders in the partnership and to collect suggested objectives and subject for the partnership. Representatives of institutions, departments and heads of research groups in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences are all welcome to take part in the survey. Information collected will feed into the process of partnership formation at international level. The contribution of Polish researchers will help promote Poland’s priority areas in research and relevant to Polish society.

Link to the survey: Stakeholder Survey ST&R

End date: 30 April 2024

Contact details:  malwina.gebalska@ncn.gov.pl