Advanced researchers, scholars carrying out international research projects as well as those considering forming a new research team may apply for funding under new calls by the National Science Centre. Proposals should be submitted by 15^th September 2015.

This is for the seventh time that the NCN has announced its prestigious MAESTRO call. It is addressed to eminent researchers who plan to do pioneering research, including interdisciplinary enterprises conducive to the advancement of science which may lead to discoveries. The total sum of funding earmarked for successful MAESTRO 7 candidates exceeds € 14 million.

In MAESTRO 7 projects the Principal Investigator may be a researcher with a doctoral degree who over the course of the last 10 years has had their papers published in quality journals, has acted as Principal Investigators in at least 2 completed research projects, and who can claim additional research activity, e.g. participation in international conferences. In MAESTRO 7, the projects must provide for employment of at least one post-doc and at least one doctoral student, each for a minimum of 36 months.

HARMONIA 7 is an opportunity for researchers to carry out projects in collaboration with partners from abroad or use large international research facilities. Its budget is nearly € 12 million. The cap on funding available to an individual project has been set at € 355,000 (paid to the beneficiary over the course of 3 years). Note that the funding received under HARMONIA 7 may serve to cover only the costs incurred by the Polish contribution. Additionally, the purchase, construction or upgrading of research equipment does not qualify for funding.

SONATA BIS 5 is a funding scheme where the resources serve the purpose of building a new research team. Applicants may be individuals who earned their PhD or equivalent in the years 2003-2012. The research team may include only one researcher with habilitation (as Principal Investigator); arrangements must be made for hiring at least one doctoral candidate for a period of at least 36 months. The funding available under the SONATA BIS 5 scheme totals € 16.5 million.

The calls we have now announced are an important element of the system of distributing resources that the NCN has developed: it is an efficient tool for selecting the best researchers and equipping them with necessary resources. Unfortunately, our budget is disproportionately low when compared to individual needs and this is one reason for the limitations we have introduced in the call regulations. A success rate of 16 per cent means that receiving a grant from the NCN is not only a matter of writing a good proposal, said professor Zbigniew Błocki, director of the NCN. We have been appealing for an increase in the budget for basic research in domestic finances; otherwise the system is perceived as daunting. In Poland we have many excellent researchers with very good ideas and they deserve support in developing those concepts.

The new MAESTRO, HARMONIA and SONATA BIS calls are also instrumental in introducing modifications to the catalogue of costs eligible for funding in the projects. This is a policy which the Council of the NCN has been implementing since the last edition of the OPUS, PRELUDIUM and SONATA calls. The modifications apply for the most part to salaries in grants.

The National Science Centre and BiodivERsA consortium invites researchers to the call for international research projects.

The following themes are covered (equal in relevance):

1. Understanding and managing the biodiversity dynamics of soils and sediments to improve ecosystem functioning and delivery of ecosystem services.
2. Understanding and managing biodiversity dynamics in land-, river- and sea-scapes (habitat connectivity, green and blue infrastructures, and naturing cities) to improve ecosystem functioning and delivery of ecosystem services.

The indicative global budget for this call is ca. 30 million euro.

The deadline for submitting pre-proposals is 20^th of July 2015.

Scientific teams will be invited to form transnational research consortia with teams from minimum 3 countries participating in the call, except for proposals including research groups from outermost regions and overseas countries and territories for which it suffices if the research groups come from two different countries and the proposal concerns three different funding organisations.

24 national/regional funding organisations from 15 countries are joining this call:

Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey

Polish applicants should also submit a short application via OSF system (UNISONO application) by the 27^th of July 2015. Budget of the Polish part of the research project in the OSF system should be given in PLN. The Euro exchange rate should be calculated according to the NCN Council’s Resolutions no 7/2013 and 22/2014 (1 EUR= 4,2277 PLN). 

For more information please click here: http://www.biodiversa.org/741.

Contact:

marcin.liana@ncn.gov.pl, +48 123419161

The National Science Centre has announced the results of the OPUS 8, PRELUDIUM 8 and SONATA 8 calls. Researchers from Polish research units will receive more than € 86.5 million for their projects in basic research.

There were 5,200 proposals describing projects in all fields of research. The average funding requested by a single proposal totalled € 92,783. Thus another record has been set: both the number of submissions and the average budget have steadily increased.

The proposals were reviewed by panels of Experts, supported by evaluation reports written by independent External Reviewers. Funding was awarded to 861 projects.

The largest aggregate financing was secured by researchers who submitted their proposals in response to the OPUS 8 call: over € 66 million. The money can be used to finance diverse research activities, from the creation of a research team to the purchase of specialist equipment, to covering travel expenses. The OPUS call is open to all categories of researchers, regardless of their experience or degrees held. In the eighth edition of OPUS, 444 projects qualified for funding in all three research domains (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering).

In Poland in recent years there has been enormous spending on scientific infrastructure, while for us the priority is to directly reach the individuals who carry out the research. We want to provide the best Polish researchers with optimal conditions, conducive to the most innovative endeavours, as well as to support really high-quality research teams. The best ones are selected by our Experts who are representatives of Polish and global scientific communities, said professor Zbigniew Błocki, director of the NCN.

PRELUDIUM, another of the recently concluded calls, is addressed to researchers at the beginning of their career path. Individuals submitting projects under this scheme do not have to be holders of a doctoral degree. In the PRELUDIUM 8 call, the NCN’s Expert Reviewers approved funding for 287 projects, worth over € 7 million.

The resources earmarked for SONATA 8 will be distributed among 130 researchers with a doctoral degree obtained within 5 years of submission of the proposal. The National Science Centre will transfer over € 13 million to them, to be used, among others, for  the purchase of state-of-the-art research equipment, which will enable them to carry out innovative research, using advanced equipment and facilities and/or an original methodology.

We are at the point of receiving submissions for a new edition of the OPUS, PRELUDIUM and SONATA calls; we have introduced significant changes to them, in particular to the component of eligible costs. We want to support the growth of new jobs in research and stimulate the development of basic research in Poland, said professor Michał Karoński, chair of the Council of the NCN.

The researchers active in the domain of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences will be granted ca. € 11.5 million, those representing Life Sciences – over € 37 million, and those working in Physical Sciences and Engineering – almost € 38 million.

The largest funding in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences will be given to the project titled Control deprivation, (inter)group relations, and political cognition, led by professor Mirosław Kofta from the University of Warsaw. Supported with nearly € 308,000, the project  will be carried out under the OPUS 8 call.

Among the projects funded in the domain of Life Sciences, the research by dr hab. Joanna Kargul, concerned with the structural and functional characterisation of the photosynthetic apparatus of an extremophilic red microalga Cyanidoschyzon merolae (OPUS 8) stands out for the grant of ca. € 402,000 it was awarded. The project will be carried out at the University of Warsaw.

In Physical Sciences and Engineering a record funding in excess of € 426,000 was awarded to the project New methods for precise control of a robotic astronomical 0,5-m telescope mount. The Principal Investigator of the project is professor Krzysztof Kozłowski from the Poznań University of Technology.

The National Science Centre and the JPI-HDHL consortium invite researchers to a call for international research projects: “Nutrition and Cognitive Function” Proposals have to follow a multidisciplinary approach and should cover multiple areas, such as:

1. Mechanistic / experimental research (in vitro, animal and/or human studies) focusing on how dietary factors interrelate with cognitive functions and processes.
2. Translational research (animal and/or human studies) delivering the physiological basis for the development of effective strategies to influence dietary behavior and/or to improve cognitive function and performance.
3. Epidemiological research elucidating the relationship between diet and cognitive function across the life course, exclusively based on existing cohorts or other ongoing epidemiological studies.
4. Pilot and/or proof of principle studies for interventions in humans, to develop new strategies for the maintenance and promotion of cognitive function and/or healthy dietary habits during the lifespan.

The deadline for submitting proposals is 8^th of June, 2015, 23:59 (CET).

It is also required that Polish applicants provide basic administrative data via the OSF electronic submission system (type of proposal: UNISION) no later than within 7 days since the abovementioned deadline for pre-proposals.

Funding:

Within this call the NCN Council has allocated € 500,000 (max. € 250,000 per project)

Call documentation:

1. JPI-HDHL Call 2015 Call Text
2. JPI-HDHL Call 2015 NCN Eligibility Requirements

For detailed information please see: http://www.healthydietforhealthylife.eu/index.php/joint-actions/nutricog

Contact:

Dr. Laura Bandura-Morgan, laura.bandura-morgan@ncn.gov.pl, tel. +48 12 341 9163

The National Science Centre and the JPI-HDHL consortium invite researchers to a call for international research projects: “Intestinal Microbiomics.” Topics of proposals should fall within one of the following areas:

1. The short-term and long-term functional effects of diet, dietary patterns and dietary constituents on human intestinal microbiota.
2. The functional impact of diet-related variations in the intestinal microbiota on human health and/or the development of non-communicable chronic diseases.

The deadline for submitting pre-proposals is 28^th of April, 2015, 16:00 (CET).

The deadline for submitting full proposals is 1^st of September, 2015, 16:00 (CET).

It is also required that Polish applicants provide basic administrative data via the OSF electronic submission system (type of proposal: UNISONO) no later than within 7 days since the abovementioned deadline for pre-proposals.

Funding:

Within this call the NCN Council has allocated € 500,000 (max. € 250,000 per project)

Call documentation:

1. JPI-HDHL Call 2015 Announcement
2. JPI-HDHL Call 2015 NCN Eligibility Requirements

For detailed information please see: http://www.healthydietforhealthylife.eu/index.php/joint-actions/microbiomics

Contact:

Dr. Laura Bandura-Morgan, laura.bandura-morgan@ncn.gov.pl, tel. +48 12 341 9163

The National Science Centre has published its OPUS 9, PRELUDIUM 9 and SONATA 9 calls for projects in basic research. Funds allocated exceed € 63 million.

The calls for proposals, whose new edition has just been published, are the most popular ones among programmes operated by the NCN. This is primarily due to their comprehensive profile and relatively high budget. They are published twice a year.

OPUS is a call addressed to all researchers. There are no preliminary conditions with regard to required years of experience, academic degree or the composition of the research team. The sum allocated for research projects is approaching € 48.5 million.

PRELUDIUM is intended for individuals who make their first steps in the scientific milieu and do not hold a PhD (or equivalent). The National Science Centre will distribute € 7.3 million among successful applicants.

SONATA is a call extended to researchers who have held a doctoral degree for no longer than 5 years. Its goal is to support Principal Investigators who do research using innovative equipment or methodology. The sum of funding available in SONATA equals that in PRELUDIUM.

On the 4th of March 2015, the Minister of Science and Higher Education Lena Kolarska-Bobińska appointed prof. dr hab. Zbigniew Błocki as the new director of the National Science Centre.

Prof. dr hab. Zbigniew Błocki’s bio

Since 1990 he has been affiliated with the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science of Jagiellonian University, where he took his doctoral degree in 1995. In 1999, as a recipient of the Fulbright senior grant, he worked at Indiana University Bloomington and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In 2001 he resided at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn, and in 2002 he carried out research for three months at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig. In the years 2006 and 2013 he was a visiting professor at Indiana University. He gave a number of lectures at such locations as Princeton, Harvard, Columbia University, University of Hong Kong, Peking University, Fudan University, Nagoya, Tel Aviv, Grenoble, The Indian Institute of Science – Bangalore, Uppsala, Tor Vergata, Vienna, Purdue University, Australian National University, Institut de Mathématiques de Jussieu – Paris.

In the years 2010 through 2015 he was a member of the Council of the National Science Centre, and between 2010 and 2013 – of the Board of the Polish Mathematical Society.  Currently, he is a member of the scientific board of the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences and of the Committee of Ethics of the European Mathematical Society. In the years 2011-2012 he held the office of director of the Institute of Mathematics, Jagiellonian University; he also served as deputy to the president of the Organising Committee of the 6^th European Congress of Mathematics in Krakow, in 2012. For a number of years he has been a member of the scientific committee and the main coordinator of the series of lectures in memoriam Stanisław Łojasiewicz, at Jagiellonian University. In the period between 2010 and 2015 he coordinated the research project Geometry and Topology in Physical Models, as part of the International PhD Projects Programme operated by the Foundation for Polish Science. He is involved, as Principal Investigator, in the project Pluripotential Theory and dbar under the Ideas Plus Programme.

He has received numerous prestigious state and academic awards from such bodies and institutions as the Polish Mathematical Society or Jagiellonian University.

On the 30th of March 2015 r. JPI HDHL (JPI A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life) together with the NCN will announce a call for proposals „Nutrition and Cognitive Function” (NutriCog).

The call targets research in the following topics:

1. Mechanistic / experimental research (in vitro, animal and/or human studies) focusing on how dietary factors interrelate with cognitive functions and processes.
2. Translational research (animal and/or human studies) delivering the physiological basis for the development of effective strategies to influence dietary behaviour and/or to improve cognitive function and performance.
3. Epidemiological research elucidating the relationship between diet and cognitive function across the life course, exclusively based on existing cohorts or other on-going epidemiological studies.
4. Pilot and/or proof of principle studies for interventions in humans, to develop new strategies for the maintenance and promotion of cognitive function and/or healthy dietary habits during the lifespan.

The deadline for submission is scheduled for the 8^th of June 2015.

Funding is available for research projects that involve at least three researchers from three different eligible countries.

For more information please see: http://www.healthydietforhealthylife.eu/index.php/news/177-call-for-proposals-nutrition-and-cognitive-function.

Contact:

• Dr Laura Bandura-Morgan, tel: +48 12 341 9163.

The results of the first TANGO call have just been published. Initiated by Poland’s Ministry of Science and Higher Education, operated jointly by the National Science Centre (NCN) and the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR), the scheme is a funding initiative with almost € 10 million available for distribution among the authors of the best projects.

Cooperation between the NCN and NCBR is a paragon of modern and comprehensive state policy of supporting research, said the Minister of Science and Higher Education Lena Kolarska-Bobińska.  We have created a mechanism that covers the complete process of developing innovation – from the basic research level up to commercialisation. This is how to think about research if we expect it to translate directly into economic development and progress of our country.

TANGO is a joint undertaking of the National Science Centre and the National Centre for Science and Development, set up in order to accommodate the needs of research centres and universities seeking implementation of technologies, products and services, and to reinforce cooperation between researchers and entrepreneurs. Actions eligible for funding under the programme include, among other things, developing concepts for using the results of basic research in the economy, searching for partners interested in bringing these to production, as well as protecting intellectual property rights. Market analyses, industrial research, as well as research and development work will also be subsidised.   

At the National Science Centre, we are funding some 9,000 projects in basic research. Results of many are truly fascinating and offer a promising springboard for further research and development work. TANGO comes as a sort of connector between the domains of basic and applied research;  we hope it will prove instrumental in turning ideas into useful solutions and products, to the benefit of us all as a society, said professor Andrzej Jajszczyk, director of the NCN.

Experts reviewing projects submitted to the first edition of TANGO decided to award financing of nearly € 10 million to 48 out of the total number of 210 proposals. Among those awarded there are projects such as: development, simulation research and experimental studies of a parallel delta-type manipulator with artificial pneumatic muscles; work aimed to implement the innovative technology of eco-bonding composite materials that are asymmetrically veneered and applied in furniture; the implementation of cryopreservation of semen for programmes aimed to improve breeding salmonids; the introduction of a new HydroProg system – an emergency population warning on hydrological dangers.

Assisting in innovative projects requires that we ourselves be innovative and introduce innovative approaches that facilitate the optimal use of research by Polish scientists. The cooperation between the NCN and NCBR, and the contribution from private entrepreneurs gives us a chance to significantly reduce the time it takes for ground-breaking developments to be adopted by the economy, said professor Krzysztof Jan Kurzydłowski, director of the National Centre for Research and Development.

Under the TANGO scheme, the evaluation of research proposals comprised two stages and was performed by a team of Experts appointed jointly by the NCN and NCBR. In projects approved for the second stage (the R&D stage), it is required that the partnering entrepreneur support the project with 15 per cent of the state funding granted.

See the official announcement.

The National Science Centre has published the results of the MAESTRO 6, HARMONIA 6 and SONATA 4 calls for proposals. The list of the calls’ laureates consists of the names of 122 researchers from all over Poland.

There was a total number of 920 submissions to the three calls, with a success rate of 13.3 per cent.

Assessing proposals, Experts responsible for peer review give particular consideration to the quality of the proposed research and its significance for the advancement of research in their field. Very important is the global significance of the research, which by no means excludes topics addressing local problems, related to the history, geography or geology of Poland, our culture or the social problems of Polish cities and rural areas, said professor Andrzej Jajszczyk, director of the National Science Centre.

The applicants in the MAESTRO 6 call were advanced researchers seeking to conduct ground-breaking (e.g. interdisciplinary) research, important for the advancement of science or surpassing the current state of the art. Funding was awarded to 14 projects whose Principal Investigators will carry out research worth over € 10 million. Among other things, they will investigate the causes of dyslexia, test an approach to difficult protein targets using new spectrometry-based methods, they will try applying hyphenated and combined separation techniques in metabolic studies and search for cancer markers. The biggest grant in the MAESTRO 6 call, € 946,578, was awarded to OGLE-IV: The Largest Sky Variability Survey, led by prof. dr hab. Andrzej Udalski from the Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw. The success rate, i.e. the ratio of the proposals qualified for funding to the proposals submitted, in MAESTRO 6 approached 9 per cent.

HARMONIA 6 was another edition of the NCN’s offer extended to authors of international non-co-financed research. Under the HARMONIA scheme, Polish researchers apply for funding of research carried out in direct cooperation with a partner from a research institution abroad, within the framework of international programmes involving a number of participant countries, and projects using large-scale international research infrastructure. In the aftermath of the call, funding of ca. € 12.5 million will be given to 51 projects, among them will be research consisting of participation in the upkeep, data collection and data analysis of the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in CERN; works on the role of visual displays and gestures in deductive reasoning; research on restoring brain functions in mice by neuronal transplantation. The recipient of the largest grant in the call was the project titled CDKG/Ph1: is there a common process that regulates genomic stability in grass species, led by dr hab. Robert Hasterok from the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Silesia in Katowice: the NCN has earmarked the sum of € 472,241 for its realisation. The success rate in HARMONIA 6 equalled 14.5 per cent.

SONATA BIS 4 was addressed to researchers with a doctoral degree obtained within 2-12 months of submission of the proposal. The chief purpose of the projects carried out under this scheme is to create new research teams consisting of researchers without habilitation. Funding in SONATA BIS 4 was awarded to 57 projects, worth in total more than € 17 million. The project with the largest budget, dr Rafał Czajkowski (Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences) and his team’s The Role of the retrosplenial cortex in spatial memory and navigation, received ca. € 470,000. Other laureates will conduct research on such problems and topics as the ecological genetics of the great tit in a new, long-term population study set along a rural-urban environmental gradient, the Eurolect: an EU variant of Polish and its impact on administrative Polish, or quantum information processing with severely limited memory and communication. In the SONATA BIS 4 call 13.8 per cent of the submitted proposals were approved for funding.