“My main task for the nearest future is to make sure that the NCN budget is increased significantly, by approx. PLN 300 million”, says Prof. Krzysztof Jóźwiak speaking to “Forum Akademickie”. An interview with the NCN Director was published on 20 November.

We have been talking about NCN’s extremely low budget for many months. Funding awarded to the NCN in no way meets the needs of the Polish scientific community. Less and less applicants receive funding for their research. The calls concluded in the nearest future will have a single digit success rate.

Prof. Krzysztof Jóźwiak has been the NCN Director since 30 October. He had to wait eight months for his official appointment. In hist first interview in the new capacity, he talks about, inter alia, the significance of grants for research, indirect costs and NCN’s low budget consequences for research and the entire country.

“If [our] budget for 2024 is not increased, we might need to end some schemes or continue to decrease funding for the OPUS call which would be to the great detriment of Polish science. I will also argue that NCN’s grant-in-aid must be increased on a regular basis to allow the NCN to plan its statutory operations in the long run and to ensure sufficient funds for research to the scientific community.

Prof. Jóźwiak underlines that researchers working in Poland are involved in more and more ambitious projects, their competencies are higher and higher and Polish science is in a completely different place than it was over ten years ago, when the National Science Centre was established.

“In the past, it was widely believed that research ideas must be adjusted to financial capabilities. For over 10 years of NCN’s operation researchers have learnt to pursue more extensive and ambitious research, develop bigger projects based on external funds awarded in the calls for proposals. They are not afraid to compete for such funds, presenting bold projects and using more and more interesting techniques, in wide international collaboration which is so important for research. At the NCN, we respond to the needs and ambitions of Polish science (…). We believe it to be our great success although it is not supported by an increased funding.

Prof. Krzysztof Jóźwiak talked to Piotr Kieraciński. The whole text is available on the website of “Forum Akademickie.”

Three research projects involving Polish researchers have been awarded funding in a call launched by the JPND network (EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research). Polish research teams will receive over PLN 3 million for research on neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Three research projects have been recommended for funding in the call for international research projects with the aim of improving the understanding of the complex and multifactorial pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. The call entitled Large scale analysis of OMICS data for drug-target finding in neurodegenerative diseases has been launched by the JPND network, which includes the NCN.

Funding proposals could be submitted by international consortia composed of at least 3 research teams from at least 3 countries participating in the call (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Canada, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey).

Polish research teams will be awarded a total of over PLN 3 million for their research projects.

The winning projects:

• CCAD – Deciphering the Chemoproteomics and Chemotranscriptomics of Anti-Alzheimer Drugs for Novel Druggable Target Identification and Biomarkers Development

Prof. Krzysztof Sobczak from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań is the principal investigator of the Polish research team.

Researchers participating in the project will try to decipher molecular targets and mode of action of low molecular weight compounds that are drug candidates for Alzheimer’s disease. The consortium members have already analysed five compounds as such. In the CCAD project, researchers will also try to identify diagnostic or theragnostic clinical biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease through the analyses of big data, including data collected in the course of the project. 

• PRIONOMICS: Prioritizing diagnostics and therapeutics of human prion diseases through integrative omics  

Prof. Beata Katarzyna Sikorska from the Medical University of Lodz is the principal investigator of the Polish research team. 

The purpose of the project is to identify the underlying mechanisms that lead to the development and progression of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD). For this purpose, new and existing data will be collected from patients with prion diseases. Researchers will put strong emphasis on identification of dysregulated pathways involved in age at onset and/or disease progression rate. They are also intending to develop new blood-based biomarkers for persons at risk and therapeutic drug targets for CJD.

• MyRIAD: (Micro)RNA and informatics approaches for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia.

Dr Agnieszka Fiszer from the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences is the principal investigator of the Polish research team.

Researchers involved the project will look for possibilities of early detention of neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). For this purpose, they will analyse microRNAs (small non-coding RNAs) as non-invasive biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases and will try to identify new therapeutical targets – genes associated with neurodegeneration. The project will enhance current understanding of neurodegenerative conditions.

Winners of JPND 2023 Call include 10 research projects evaluated and recommended for funding by the international panel of experts following a peer-review. Projects involving Polish research teams will be coordinated by the research teams from France, Germany and Ireland.   

The call results are available on the website of the network

JPND Call 2023 Text

It is our pleasure to announce that JPIAMR (Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance) will launch in 2024 an international call for projects within the framework of the ERA-NET JPIAMR-ACTION.

The call Interventions Moving forward to Promote ACTion to counteract the emergence and spread of bacterial and fungal resistance and to improve treatments (IMPACT) will involve funders from 19 countries.

The total estimated call budget is about 19 million euro. The Polish research teams may claim up to 0,5 M euro allocated to the call by the Council of the National Science Centre.

The primary aim of the call is to take action against the growing global threat of increased spread of antimicrobial (antibacterial and antifungal) resistance by funding international collaborative research projects aiming to improve, compare and evaluate the effectiveness, cost effectiveness, and uptake of existing interventions against bacterial or fungal infections and/or to design new interventions against fungal infections.

Timeline

The call Interventions Moving forward to Promote ACTion to counteract the emergence and spread of bacterial and fungal resistance and to improve treatments will follow a two-step evaluation procedure.

• 10 January 2024 – launch of the call and Partner Search Tool
• 24 January 2024 – webinar for applicants
• 14 March 2024 – deadline for pre-proposals
• 9 July 2024 – deadline for full proposals
• 16 July 2024 – deadline for submission of proposals to NCN (via OSF)

More information about the call is available at https://www.jpiamr.eu/calls/amr-interventions-call-2024

Please note that the information provided in the pre-announcement is not binding and that changes may occur without notice until the call opening on 10 January 2024.

We have published a video and presentation from the webinar of 30 October on the relaxation of NCN’s Open Access Policy.

During the meeting, Aneta Pazik-Aybar and Gabriela Czarny from our Open Access Team talked about the relaxation of NCN’s Open Access Policy and answered questions and queries of researchers and administrative staff. You can watch a video from the meeting on our YouTube channel and on our website in the Open Access tab where you can also find and download a presentation on the subjects discussed at the webinar.

There was also time for questions and answers which will be published as FAQ at a later date. We will also explain any issues raised at the meeting that we did not have time to address.

We are pleased to announce that between 14 November 2023 and 12 January 2024, a call for proposals will be open at the Slovenian agency ARIS within the framework of the Weave Programme, with the Slovenian agency acting as the lead agency.

Under the Weave-UNISONO call, if a joint proposal must be submitted to ARIS as the lead agency by 12 January 2024, an NCN proposal must be submitted electronically via the OSF submission system as soon as possible following the submission of the joint proposal to ARIS, by 19 January 2024, 23:59 p.m. at the latest.

PLEASE NOTE: 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.

PLEASE NOTE: NCN proposals processed in the OSF submission system in 2023, with an exchange rate of 1 EUR = 4.7244 PLN, must be completed in and submitted via the OSF submission system by 31 December 2023, 23:59:59. Otherwise, the proposal can no longer be edited, in which case a Polish research team must prepare a new proposal (with an exchange rate of 1 EUR = 4. 5940 PLN) and complete it in the OSF submission system. If a joint proposal has already been submitted to the lead agency, with the budget of the Polish part of the project calculated according to another exchange rate, the NCN proposal will be inconsistent with the joint proposal and may result in the proposal being rejected on the grounds that it does not meet the eligibility criteria.

21 more Polish teams will conduct their research in tandem with German, Slovenian, Austrian and Czech partners under the OPUS 24+LAP/Weave scheme. The NCN has slated a total of more than 33.7 million zlotys in funding for their projects. Meet the latest winners.

Of all calls in the NCN portfolio, OPUS has the broadest formula, targeting researchers at all stages of their academic career. In its 24th round, researchers working at Polish research institutions could win funding not just for domestic research projects, but also wider international ventures based on the Lead Agency Procedure (LAP). Under LAP, they could plan their research in cooperation with teams from Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg or Belgium-Flanders.

As the Lead Agency in the programme, the National Science Centre was responsible for the full merit-based evaluation of all proposals, which then had to be approved by international partner agencies. The Polish teams will be funded by the NCN, while their partners’ funding will come from their respective institutions in Germany, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Austria.

Bi- and trilateral projects

The ranking list features 13 bilateral projects with Germany, 5 bilateral projects with Slovenia, and 3 trilateral projects: Polish-German-Austrian, Polish-Slovenian-Austrian, and Polish-Slovenian-Czech, in different research disciplines: 3 in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, 5 in Life Sciences, and 13 in Physical Sciences and Engineering.

In Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Dr hab. Anna Horolets from the University of Warsaw has teamed up with Prof. Alexandra Nadine Schwell from the University of Klagenfurt and Prof. Saša Poljak Istenič from the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts to study the European policy of climate-neutrality for cities and its local interpretations. They will analyse which climate-change issues are seen as especially urgent in several cities that have joined the EU Mission 100 action, which aims to deliver 100 climate-neutral cities by 2030. The researchers will be following the process of transition toward climate neutrality in Warsaw, Klagenfurt and Lubljana. The NCN has awarded more than 1.2 million zlotys to the Polish part of the project.

In the Life Sciences panel, researchers from Poland and Slovenia will work on a project focused on the development of new therapies for inflammatory diseases. Chronic inflammation is involved in the pathogenesis of various disorders, such as arthritis, arterial sclerosis, irritable bowel syndrome, cancer and even depression. Dr hab. Anna Więckowska from the Jagiellonian University Medical College and Prof. Izidor Sosič from the University of Ljubljana will join forces to obtain the first-in-class anti-inflammatory PROTAC molecules that can degrade protein kinases TAK1 and IKKβ. The project was awarded more than 2 million zlotys in funding by the NCN.

Winners in Physical Sciences and Engineering include a Polish-German project to be hosted by the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, PAS, headed by Dr. hab. Rodolfo Henrique Smiljanic, in cooperation with Prof. Norbert Christlieb from Heidelberg University.  Entitled “The old Milky Way: a holistic approach for the accurate analysis of metal-poor stars”, this innovative project will try to identify the precise atmospheric parameters of metal-poor stars and their chemical composition. These findings will then help them reconstruct the properties of the first sources of chemical elements of stellar origin in the Universe. The budget of the Polish part of the project is more than 2 million zlotys.

Lead Agency Procedure – LAP

In the latest OPUS 24+LAP/Weave call researchers could request funding for projects conducted without international partners, as well as bilateral or trilateral LAP projects involving foreign cooperation or access to large international research equipment. The call was open to researchers at every stage of their academic career. LAP is a new proposal evaluation standard adopted by European research-funding institutions, designed to facilitate the funding proposal process for international research teams and streamline proposal review.

The domestic part of OPUS 24+LAP/Weave concluded in May. Ranking lists for partner countries under the LAP procedures are being successively published as their funding-agencies approve the results.

Decisions and their delivery

All the positive and negative decisions for OPUS LAP proposals recommended for funding under OPUS LAP in cooperation with German Research Foundation (DFG), Slovenian Research Agency (ARIS), DFG and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), ARIS and the Czech Science Foundation (GACR) and ARIS and FWF were sent out today. The decisions of the NCN Director are served on the applicant electronically, to the e-mail address indicated in the proposal.

If the applicant is an entity referred to in Article 27 (1)-(7) and (9) of the Act on the National Science Centre, the decision will only be delivered to the Electronic Delivery Inbox (ESP ePUAP) provided in the proposal. If the applicant is a natural person and has listed an ePUAP address in the proposal, the decision will be sent to that address. Otherwise, a message will be sent to the applicant’s indicated e-mail account, containing a link from which the decision of the NCN Director can be downloaded.

The funding decisions of the Director of the National Science Centre are also communicated to the principal investigator and, if the applicant is a natural person, to the host institution indicated in the proposal.

If you do not receive a decision, please make sure that the address (ESP, ePUAP, e-mail) listed in your proposal is correct. If not, contact the person in charge of the proposal, as indicated in the OSF system.

Europe is strong-willed to boost European scientific advantage and excellence in Quantum Technologies (QT), and to expand a competitive European industry in QT creating environment where quantum innovation can thrive attracting investments in this field. National policies act as the foundation upon which Europe's quantum future is built. They provide the necessary framework for countries to invest strategically, collaborate effectively, and contribute to the European leadership in QT.

The QuantERA research funding programme, which brings together the scientific community, funding agencies, and industry representatives to leverage transnational cooperation in QT, continuously monitors the evolving landscape of national quantum programmes and approaches.  

In 2023 QuantERA mapped and illustrated developments in QT programming in the second edition of the report Quantum Technologies Public Policies in Europe. The publication delivers a snapshot of the European policies, as well as funding instruments provided by relevant Research Funding Organisations. It gives a comprehensive view of the current quantum landscape, offering valuable data and analysis, which can serve as a reference and toolkit for policymakers to shape the future development of QT at national and the European level.

The report is the result of the joint efforts of the QuantERA Consortium partners, supported by the EC and the QT Flagship. It summarizes the findings from an inventory conducted among 31 European Union member states and associated countries. In addition to an overview of national and regional policies for QT, the publication includes information on new developments with regard to the previous publication –  Quantum Technologies Public Policies in Europe, 2020.

While providing an overview of the current state of QT in Europe, QuantERA’s report points also the readers to the horizons of the field’s landscape enabling them to look beyond and identify the next steps forward to increase European potential in QT.

The JPI Urban Europe Network has concluded its BTC ENUTC Call 2023. The winners include two international research projects involving researchers from Poland. PLN 1.3 million will be awarded for research. 

The JPI Urban Europe supports researchers pursuing international interdisciplinary research projects responding to the challenges of cities and urban areas. The call launched this year (Building transformation capacity through arts and design: Unlocking the full potential for urban transitions) was focused on urban development and development of urban areas. 

The BTC ENUTC call was open to researchers working in the Polish research institutions and intending to pursue international research projects in partnership with researchers from Belgium. Bulgaria, Latvia, the Netherlands, Romania or Sweden.

The winning applicants included five international research projects, two of which involved researchers from Poland. They will be awarded over PLN 1.3 million.

• unLoc – Exploring the synergy of human and machine creativity in architecture. Redesigning urban space through machine learning, artistic expression, and community collaboration.

  Jacek Złoczowski from the Pedagogical University of Krakow is the principal investigator of the Polish research team. The project budget is over PLN 900,000.

  The project aims to develop a method of redesigning cities and buildings with a difficult history by using post-communist architecture as an exemplary manifestation and redefining their form and meaning. Researchers will recommend new functions and strategies of transformations of buildings to adjust them to the needs of their residents. In the project, they will use the machine learning algorithms that will help them create alternative pictures of urban areas. 

• The Urban Food Factory (Miejska Fabryka Żywności) – A web-based decision support manual to reuse inner-city multi-storey carparks for controlled environment agriculture.

  Monika Anna Szopińska-Mularz from the z Rzeszów University of Technology is the principal investigator of the Polish research team. The project will be awarded funding of nearly PLN 415,000.

  The project aims to demonstrate how adaptive reuse of car parking structures for controlled environment agriculture can strengthen urban social, economic and environmental resilience. A web-based decision support manual will be developed for the creation of Urban Farming Living Labs. Interactive 3D models will be created to improve understanding of the concept.

NCN within the JPI Urban Europe network

The National Science Centre has cooperated with the JPI Urban Europe Network since 2015 in the organisation of calls for proposals aimed at researchers pursuing international research projects in the area of urban issues and challenges. So far, Polish researches have had an opportunity to apply for funding in seven calls of JPI Urban Europe.