| Narodowe Centrum Nauki

Impact of abrupt climate change on peatland ecosystems

Principal Investigator :
Dr hab. Mateusz Grygoruk
Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW

Panel: ST10

Funding scheme : GRIEG
announced on 17 June 2019

Peatlands are one of the largest carbon stores on the continents. However, due to abrupt climate change, it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain them in good condition. Hydrological processes have the greatest impact on the condition of peatlands beyond direct human influence. Hydrological processes are caused by an increase in global air temperature and changes in the temporal and spatial differentiation of precipitation and evapotranspiration. Climate change disruptions result in, inter alia, subsidence of peatlands that are drying out), increased emission of greenhouse gases, and reduction of methane emission as well as changes in the rate of growth and decomposition of dead organic matter. These changes occur differently at different latitudes, and their complexity and relationships with other natural processes make them difficult to describe and forecast.

Dr hab. Mateusz Grygoruk, photo by Michał Łepecki In the FORCE project, we decided to look into these complex phenomena by close examination of hydrological processes of five peatlands located between Northern Norway (Finnmark) and Northeastern Poland (Podlasie and Suwałki regions). Researchers from Polish and Norwegian universities have analyzed climate changes in the studied peatland regions. During extensive field research, we have collected data on the location of the water table in the peatlands and on the type of peat-fed water. Geophysical surveys allowed us to determine the structure of peatlands, including permafrost core palsa peatlands that are gradually disappearing. Thanks to independently developed measuring devices (greenhouse gas measurement chambers and piezometers for measuring greenhouse gas concentration at different depths of the peatland) and thorough analyses of gas samples originating from the studied peatlands, we were able to assess the variability of greenhouse gas emissions. In botanical studies, we determined peatland vegetation types and their features indicative of adaptation to unique environmental conditions of such ecosystems. Using hydrological and statistical modeling tools, we tried to describe the relationships between climatic and hydrological processes that may impact the other components of the peatland environment described above.

Based on our research, we have determined that rapid climate changes in the late 20th century and early 21st century harmed the peatlands. The degradation of palsa peatlands results in the formation of other hydrologically stable peatlands in their place, which accumulate carbon effectively. Gradual acidification of the peatlands in Central and Southern Norway is caused by rainfall pattern changes, although irregular rainfalls cause peatlands to dry, increase carbon dioxide emissions. We have also noticed a reduction of peatlands acidifying in their top layer in the temperate zone due to rapid and negative water balance changes (a significant increase in evaporation with temporally unstable precipitation supply). The conclusions of our research form the basis for continued peatland protection planning. Although due to rapid climate changes some peatlands (e.g. palsa) cannot be preserved, proper water management of peatland catchments, especially in Poland, could increase the chance of their preservation in the right hydrological conditions.

Dr hab. Mateusz Grygoruk, photo by Michał Łepecki

Project title: FORCE - FORecasting hydrological response Carbon balance and Emissions from different types of mires in arctic-to-temperate zone transect in abrupt climatic change

Dr hab. Mateusz Grygoruk

Professor at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW. Hydrologist researching water cycle processes in wetlands (individual sites and catchments). Focused on research combining various environmental disciplines with other research fields to ensure better river and wetland protection and restoration planning. He has researched rivers and wetlands in Poland (mainly in Northeastern Poland), as well as Norway, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, and Canada. Member of the State Council for Environmental Conservation, Scientific Council of the Białowieża National Park, and PAS Committee on Climate Crisis.

Polish-Austrian project funded under Weave-UNISONO

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.

Ranking list

Weave-UNISONO announcement

NCN Director in a podcast from the Polish Academy of Sciences

„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.

Technologies paving the way to revolutionary changes

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

Achievements of Polish researchers in quantum technologies and public policies in this regard were addressed in our recent news: Quantum Poland awaits a strategy

European Partnership on Social Transformations and Resilience: Survey

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

The goal of Social Transformations and Resilience: response to social challenges of climate, demography, digitalisation and unexpected crises (war, pandemic), knowledge and tools to deal with the challenges in international and interdisciplinary cooperation and systemically.

The Partnership is designed to help develop research-based policies in the following areas:

fostering modernisation of social protection systems and core services,
future work,
fostering education and developing necessary skills in the context of green and digital transformation,
equitable transformation towards climate neutrality.

The European Partnerships are initiatives supporting R&I initiatives through:

calls for research projects and
other actions combining public policies and latest scientific knowledge.

Link to the survey

Survey invitation (PDF)

In vivo non-invasive assessment of arterial stiffness in humans

Principal Investigator :
Prof. Dr hab. inż. Ryszard Białecki
Silesian University of Technology

Panel: ST8

Funding scheme : GRIEG
announced on 17 June 2019

The project focuses on the non-invasive measurement of arterial stiffness. The walls of healthy arteries are very flexible and their cross-section changes under the pressure produced by the heart. With age or due to illness, arterial walls change causing loss of elasticity. Elastin fibers, the main building block of arterial walls responsible for their elasticity, are replaced by less elastic collagen fibers, whereby arterial walls lose their elasticity. Furthermore, arterial walls thicken thus reducing their susceptibility to blood pressure changes in the arteries.

Prof. Ryszard Białecki, photo by Michał Łepecki Arterial stiffness may have many adverse effects. It can be a symptom of certain kidney diseases, hypertension, diabetes, and atrial fibrillation. As a result of decreased absorption of energy of the pressure wave generated by the contraction of the left ventricle of the heart, the wave reaches delicate tissues of organs, such as the brain and kidneys, causing their mechanical destruction. Furthermore, the increased velocity of the pressure wave in rigid vessels , whereby the wave generated by the ventricle and the wave reflected from arterial branches overlap, causing hypertension. Whereas increased blood flow resistance in rigid vessels can cause left ventricle hypertrophy.

Assessment of arterial stiffness is a valuable diagnostic indicator with a significant prognostic value in cardiovascular diseases. So far, arterial stiffness has been measured by estimating the pressure wave velocity in the blood vessels, whereby average stiffness values can be determined between distant points in the human body, for example between the carotid and femoral arteries. Many diseases change the local stiffness that cannot be detected by standard methods.

The project seeks to determine the local stiffness of any part of the carotid artery by an ultrasound scan of its wall deformation during the cardiac cycle. Clinical trials follow experiments using a phantom made specifically for that purpose. The key element of the phantom is a flexible conduit of specific stiffness deformed due to cyclic pressure changes. The purpose of the measurement is to evaluate the accuracy of vessel deformation measurement with an ultrasound scanner on the one hand, and to validate the stiffness determination method on the other. In the clinical part of the project, an electronically transformed image of changes in the carotid artery diameter is combined with the local blood pressure measurement and measurement of the rate at which the blood flows. The data set is then entered into the model of changes in the blood vessel diameter. Material properties of the wall that determine its rigidity are unknown in the model. The parameters are determined by successive approximation methods by way of special stabilization techniques to ensure convergence of the process.

Project title: Non-invasive in-vivo assessment of local stiffness of human artery walls

Prof. Dr hab. inż. Ryszard Białecki

Prof. Białecki is affiliated with the Silesian University of Technology (SUT), Gliwice, Poland.

The thrust of his research is in thermofluids in industrial processes and biomedical engineering. He was a Fulbright Commission fellow in the USA and spent 3.5 years as a research fellow at the Erlangen-Nuremberg University in Germany. He is a corresponding member of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

He has coordinated two international research projects within the EU Framework Programs, was a local coordinator of three other projects and principal investigator in a number of projects funded by Polish agencies.

Prof. Białecki has published over 100 articles citated more than 1800 times, with the Hirsch-index factor of 23 (Scopus). He has authored one UK-published book and chapters in Wiley and Springer encyclopedias.

Prof. Ryszard Białecki, photo by Michał Łepecki

Project performed by Polish, Austrian and German researchers funded under Weave-UNISONO

Dr hab. Jakub Urbanik from the University of Warsaw will perform a project under Weave-UNISONO together with researchers from Germany and Austria. The Polish research team will receive a grant of nearly 150 thousand zlotys for their work on the documents from Roman Empire period.

Dr hab. Jakub Urbanik from the University of Warsaw in tandem with Prof. Rudolf Haensch from the German Archaeological Institute and Prof. Thomas Corsten from the University of Vienna will carry out a project focused on a complete edition of the imperial correspondence preserved as edicts and letters and collected by the Corpus of the Documents of the Roman Rule (Corpus der Urkunden der römischen Herrschaft, CURH). The documents will be available to a much wider public than before by completing each document with a translation, and a thorough historical, legal and philological commentary. The project will extend our knowledge of the history of Roman administration and emperor’s communication with his subjects.

The proposal was evaluated by the German Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the evaluation results were approved by the National Science Centre and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF).

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.

Ranking list

Weave-UNISONO announcement

Deputy Director of the National Science Centre in Minister’s Advisory Team

Dariusz Wieczorek, Minister of Science and Higher Education has created an Advisory Team to promote Polish science abroad. The Team includes Dr Marcin Liana, Deputy Director of the National Science Centre.

Dr Marcin Liana, photo by Łukasz Bera/NCN

Internationalisation of Polish science is one of NCN’s priorities. Our agency fosters various types of international collaboration to effectively support research projects carried out by Polish research teams in tandem with foreign partners. Together with the German Max Planck Society, the National Science Centre operates the DIOSCURI programme aimed to create Centres of Scientific Excellence in Poland. Furthermore, the NCN coordinates the CHANSE and QuantERA programmes carried out in collaboration with other European research funding agencies and operates the “Research” programme for basic research funded by the EEA and Norway Grants. The NCN is also an active member of Science Europe and Global Research Council that impact public science policies.

Dr Marcin Liana has been the Deputy Director of the National Science Centre since 2018. Other Team members include Dr Marta Łazarowicz-Kowalik, Deputy President of the Board of the Foundation for Polish Science and Dr Zofia Sawicka, Deputy Director of the Polish National Academy for Academic Exchange (NAWA). The term of office of the Team members will start on 10 April and will last till the end of December 2026.

Minister’s Order creating the Team

Weave-UNISONO call for proposals: closure of the call for proposals with the FNR from Luxembourg acting as the lead agency

The call for proposals at the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) acting as lead agency ends on 17 April 2024, 14:00.

If a joint proposal is submitted to the FNR as the lead agency, an NCN proposal must be submitted electronically via the OSF submission system as soon as possible following the submission of the joint proposal to the FNR, i.e., by 24 April 2024, 23:59 at the latest.

Once the work on the NCN proposal has started in the OSF submission system, the Polish research team has 45 calendar days to complete the proposal and submit it to the NCN. After that, the proposal can no longer be edited, in which case a Polish research team that has not sent its proposal to the NCN must prepare a new proposal and complete it in the OSF submission system.

Registration to workshops held during NCN Days

You can now registrate to our workshops during the 2024 NCN Days in Bydgoszcz.

The 2024 NCN Days will be held on 15 and 16 May 2024 at the Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology on the Fordon campus.

A number of workshops will be held for researchers, including PhD students, university administrative staff, open research data officers and students.

You can now register for:

2024 NCN Days Programme

Media support

Subscribe to