Podcast no. 7 IMPRESS-U and CHANSE

Thu, 08/03/2023 - 15:00
Kod CSS i JS

Our new podcast episode is devoted NCN’s international cooperation. Justyna Woźniakowska and Dr Malwina Gębalska from the NCN meet Dr Miłosz Miszczyński, NCN call winner, to discuss the currently-open IMPRESS-U and CHANSE calls and share their tips on what to keep in mind when preparing a proposal.

The NCN seeks and develops international partnerships to effectively support Polish teams in their cooperation with foreign partners. An important objective for us is to influence international research policies. “We are involved in what’s going on in Europe for the benefit of Polish research teams and institutions. We belong to the research-funding network Science Europe, which is involved in lobbying in Brussels, and the Era-Learn project, which supports the participation of researchers from our part of Europe in network programs funded by Horizon Europe”, says Justyna Woźniakowska, Head of the International Cooperation Department at the NCN. She then adds that the NCN has always prioritised its mission to create opportunities for active researchers to “conduct joint research with international teams and receive funding in synchrony with their partners”.

The conversation, moderated by Anna Korzekwa-Józefowicz, focuses on two currently-open calls for proposals organised by the NCN in cooperation with other agencies.

IMPRESS-U is a new offering in the NCN call portfolio. It is targeted at Polish researchers planning to conduct research in cooperation with partners from Ukraine or the US and, optionally, from the Baltic countries, i.e. Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia. Justyna Woźniakowska emphasises that IMPRESS-U opens up new avenues for the cooperation of Polish teams with American partners. “In NCN grant programmes to date, such opportunities have been few and far between and usually restricted to specific research areas. This call facilitates cooperation in all the disciplines supported by the NSF”, she says. The American agency funds research in any discipline except medical sciences and the humanities. Woźniakowska talks about NCN’s cooperation with the NSF, lays out the terms and conditions of the programme, explains how to find partners and suggests what you might want to keep in mind when preparing a proposal.

In the second part of the episode, our guests discuss Crisis and Well-being, two calls in the humanities and social sciences organised by the CHANSE network. Dr Malwina Gębalska, CHANSE coordinator, gets together with Miłosz Miszczyński from the Leon Koźmiński University in Warsaw, the principal investigator under the Polish part of the HuLog project, which won a grant in the network’s previous call, to discuss the terms and conditions of the network’s programmes. CHANSE calls are open to teams of 4 to 6 partners from the programme’s participating countries. The NCN coordinator emphasises that the experts who evaluate proposals can have really high requirements. “I want to impress on all applicants how important it is to make sure the project is coherent and based on shared premises. It is not enough for it to be the sum of its parts. It has to have a coherent vision…of a given research objective”, Gębalska explains. Miszczyński, in turn, says that the most important and work-intensive aspect of his proposal preparation had to do with laying down the “theoretical framework and making sure that the proposal would clearly show its potential in the field of basic research. If I were to give advice to future candidates, I think I would say: put an emphasis on the importance of the project for the discipline and make sure it is an objectively good research project. Thinking about numbers and technicalities should really be the your last worry”.

Towards the end of the episode, our guests discuss the impact on the NCN’s precarious budget situation on international cooperation. “This is extremely limiting, because we pick up on signals that, for instance, a spark has been kindled for a potential new international partnership, but it is practically impossible to use. This is a problem that really affects us all”, says Justyna Woźniakowska. “We know how demanding the [international] calls can be. We always had good news for applicants, reassuring them that anything that’s recommended for funding will in the end be funded. And now this is no longer so obvious”, adds Dr Malwina Gębalska. This is echoed by the NCN call winner: “It is really important to help researchers, and we need support, because the NCN is a very safe choice when it comes to research-funding institutions. If you want to break out into the wider European research community you need this kind of support. If the support is lower, this makes it more difficult for us to succeed”.

Additional information about the CHANSE calls

 

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IMPRESS-U – an opportunity for Polish and Ukrainian researchers

Wed, 08/02/2023 - 18:00
Kod CSS i JS

The NCN announces IMPRESS-U, a call aimed at supporting Ukrainian research potential and opening up new opportunities for cooperation between researchers from Poland, Ukraine, the USA and the Baltic states.

IMPRESS-U (International Multilateral Partnerships for Resilient Education and Science System in Ukraine) is a call organised by institutions from six countries: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and the US. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is the initiator and the lead agency, responsible for the merit-based evaluation of all submitted proposals.

The call is open to Polish researchers planning projects in cooperation with researchers from Ukraine or the US or, optionally, from any of the other participating countries.

“The main objective is to support high-quality projects, promote and stimulate the integration of Ukrainian researchers into the global research community and rebuild the research potential of Ukraine”, says Justyna Woźniakowska, Head of the International Cooperation Department at the NCN. The expert points out that IMPRESS-U also opens up avenues for Polish teams to cooperate with American partners. “In NCN grant programmes to date, such opportunities have been few and far between and usually restricted to specific research areas. This call facilitates cooperation in all the disciplines supported by the NSF”, she adds.

The American agency will fund research in any discipline except medical sciences and the humanities. Whenever the Polish team requests NCN funds, proposals submitted under IMPRESS-U will be accepted and peer reviewed by the NSF under the EAGER call and will thus be required meet its terms and conditions.

Polish PIs need to hold at least a PhD degree and their research teams may include students and PhD students, as well as post-docs.

Proposals will be accepted until the end of 2025. This period might be attenuated if funds at the NCN or any of the partner institutions run out earlier. The NCN Council has set aside 10 million zlotys in funding for Polish teams.

IMPRESS-U call announcement

Partner institutions that will accept proposals from foreign partner teams include: the US National Academy of Sciences (US NAS) – for Ukrainian researchers, the Research Council of Lithuania (LMT), the Latvian Council of Science (LCS) and the Estonian Research Council (ETAG).

Polish researchers may also submit their IMPRESS-U proposals to the National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA). NAWA will fund those projects in which an American partner team applies to the NSF for so-called International Supplements, i.e. additional resources to support the internalisation of projects already in progress and supported by the NSF. For more information, go to the NAWA website.

To learn more about the idea behind IMPRESS-U and explore its terms and conditions, listen to the latest episode of the NCN podcast (in Polish), entirely devoted to NCN’s international cooperation.

IMPRESS-U

Kod CSS i JS

2 August 2023

The National Science Centre (NCN) is launching the International Multilateral Partnerships for Resilient Education and Science System in Ukraine (IMPRESS-U). IMPRESS-U is a call for research projects and is carried out in a multilateral collaboration under the IMPRESS-U programme pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure (“LAP”) with the National Science Foundation (NSF) acting as the lead agency in charge of merit-based evaluation of proposals.

The goals of the partnership initiative are to:

  • support excellence in science and engineering research, education and innovation through international collaboration and
  • promote and catalyse integration of Ukrainian researchers in the global research community.

The IMPRESS-U call for proposals is addressed at research teams from Poland which will conduct joint research together with research teams from Ukraine and the United States (optionally from Lithuania, Latvia and/or Estonia) within the framework of a joint research project.

In order to facilitate the process of establishing the international research teams that will apply for project funding under the IMPRESS-U call, the Partner Search Tool for finding potential partners has been made available at the following link https://www2.ncn.gov.pl/partners/impressu

Joint research projects must be carried out by a Polish research team and partner research teams. Each research team must identify its principal investigator in the proposal. Joint projects must include a coherent research programme and must build on a well-balanced and complementary contribution from all research teams involved in the project.

IMPRESS-U launched by the National Science Centre is open to domestic basic research proposals for projects on subjects specified in the terms of the lead agency’s call for proposals launched by the NSF.

According to the terms of the National Science Centre, Polish research teams submit their NCN (domestic) proposals via the OSF submission system appended with joint proposals identical to the proposals submitted to the NSF. Joint proposals must be drafted according to the terms of the NSF applicable to the EAGER call (see: NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) and Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) and must include the documents required by the NSF. Complete joint proposals must be submitted to the NSF by the coordinating applicant affiliated in the United States of America within the timeframe required by the NSF.

Under the IMPRESS-U scheme, foreign research teams apply for parallel funding of joint research projects to their respective partner institutions pursuant to the terms and conditions thereof.

PLEASE NOTE: Under the IMPRESS-U scheme, Polish researchers who are members of the team seeking International Supplements funding for projects already underway at the NSF can only apply for funding from the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA). Funding proposals submitted to the NAWA in English via https://programs.nawa.gov.pl. Ms Katarzyna Pietruszyńska from the Research Programme Department (katarzyna.pietruszynska@nawa.gov.pl) is the contact person. The call text as well as call documents and guidelines for applicants are available at: https://www.nawa.gov.pl/ .

The NCN Council has decided to allocate 10,000,000 PLN to fund research projects carried out by Polish research teams under the IMPRESS-U scheme.

The call for proposals at the lead agency will be open between 2 August 2023 and 31 December 2025.

PLEASE NOTE: The call may be suspended if the total amount of funds allocated by the NCN Council for projects performed by the Polish research teams under IMPRESS-U has been depleted or if the total amount of funds set by any partner institution has been depleted.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, pursuant to the NCN Council Resolution, proposals submitted in response to NCN calls must not provide for any collaboration between Polish and Russian entities. Proposals providing for such collaboration will be rejected as ineligible.

Please read the call documents available below.

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What is IMPRESS-U?

The IMPRESS-U programme is organised in a multilateral collaboration by the partner institutions (specified in the call text) pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure (“LAP”) with the National Science Foundation (NSF) acting as the lead agency. The National Science Centre is one of the partner institutions participating in the programme.

The IMPRESS-U call for proposals has been launched by the National Science Centre for the purposes of the IMPRESS-U programme. The call is addressed to Polish research teams applying for co-funding of joint projects in collaboration with foreign research teams from Ukraine, the United States of America and, optionally, Lithuania, Latvia and/or Estonia.

Under the IMPRESS-U call, foreign research teams may apply for co-funding of their joint research projects to the following partner institutions:

  • National Science Foundation, NSF (the United States of America) as the lead agency;
  • US National Academy of Sciences (US NAS) for researchers from Ukraine;
  • Research Council of Lithuania (LMT);
  • Latvian Council of Science (LCS); and
  • Estonian Research Council (ETAG).

What is the Lead Agency Procedure (LAP) and who can act as the lead agency in the IMPRESS-U call?

The Lead Agency Procedure is a new standard applied by the research-funding agencies to evaluate proposals. It is to facilitate international research teams applying for funds for joint research projects and to simplify the evaluation of proposals by research-funding agencies.

The key principles of the procedure include:

  • the use of domestic calls carried out by the lead agency to perform merit-based evaluation not only of domestic proposals, but also international ones, which compete with domestic proposals on an equal footing;
  • trust in the quality of peer-review among cooperating institutions.

Hence, projects involving three or more research groups from different countries are only evaluated by the lead agency. Other partner institutions approve the results of merit-based evaluation performed by the lead agency and award funding to research projects recommended for funding as a result of such evaluation.

Under the IMPRESS-U call for proposals, the American National Science Foundation (NSF) will act as the lead agency.

Who may submit NCN proposals?

NCN proposals may be submitted by entities set out in Article 27 (1) (1), Article 27 (1) (2), Article 27 (1) (4), Article 27 (1) (5), Article 27 (1) (7) and Article 27 (1) (8) of the Act on the National Science Centre, hereinafter referred to as the “applicants”, for which project funding will not constitute state aid, i.e.:

  1. Higher Education entities;
  2. federations of science and HE entities;
  3. research institutes 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);
  4. research institutes operating pursuant to the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2022, item 498);
  5. international research institutes established pursuant to separate Acts, operating in the Republic of Poland:

5a. the Łukasiewicz Centre operating pursuant to the Act on the Łukasiewicz Research Network of 21 February 2019 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 2098);

5b. institutes operating within the Łukasiewicz Research Network;

  1. Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences;
  2. other institutions involved in research independently on a continuous basis;
  3. groups of entities (at least two entities mentioned in sections 1-7 or at least one institution as such together with at least one company);
  4. research centres of the Polish Academy of Sciences as defined in the Act on the Polish Academy of Sciences of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1183, as amended);
  5. scientific libraries;
  6. legal entities with their registered office in Poland;

11a. President of the Central Office of Measures; and

  1. natural persons.

What can the subject of proposals cover?

The call is open to proposals covering the subject area of the EAGER call, within the framework of which joint proposals submitted to the IMPRESS-U call can be submitted to the NSF.

PLEASE NOTE: Only basic research proposals for the purposes of Article 2 (1) of the Act on the National Science Centre can be submitted to the NCN.

What is the project duration?

The Polish part of the project must be performed over a period of 24 months.

PLEASE NOTE: The duration of the foreign project parts must be the same as the duration of the Polish project parts.

The duration of a project carried out by the Polish and partner research teams may be changed on the terms and conditions of the NCN and respective partner institutions involved in the project.

Who may act as a Principal Investigator of the Polish part of the project?

The call is addressed at researchers who are at least PhD holders.

Each research team involved in a project must name its principal investigator, whereas the Polish part of the project must be managed by a member of the Polish research team identified in the proposal as the principal investigator.

The principal investigator of the foreign research team must meet the requirements of the respective research-funding partner agency.

What can the number of Polish research team members be?

The terms of the call do not specify the number of Polish research team members. Apart from the principal investigator, research tasks in the project may also be performed by co-investigators, including students and PhD students as well as post-docs.

Remember that:

  • NCN scholarship recipients or post-docs employed in the project and remunerated from the NCN budget must be selected in an open call procedure;
  • post-doc regulations are laid down here.

PLEASE NOTE: NCN proposals must be consistent with joint proposals, otherwise the proposal may be rejected as ineligible.

How can the budget of the Polish part of the project be planned?

The terms of awarding funding for research tasks funded by the NCN under the IMPRESS-U call are laid down in the Regulations.

NCN scholarships are awarded pursuant to the terms and conditions laid down here.

The proposal may be rejected if an unreasonable budget is planned and/or discrepancies occur between the costs of the project carried out by the Polish research teams in the NCN proposal and the joint proposal.

NCN proposals in the OSF submission system must specify the budget for tasks performed by the Polish research teams and in the joint proposal – for tasks performed by all research teams involved in the project according to the terms and conditions of the lead agency.

NCN proposals made in and sent to the NCN via the OSF submission system by 31 December 2023 and between 1 January and 31 May 2024 may cover research projects that will be carried out by the Polish research teams from 2024 onwards.

NCN proposals processed in the OSF submission system between 1 June and 31 December 2024 (inclusive) may cover research projects that will be carried out by Polish research teams from 2025 onwards.

NCN proposals processed in the OSF submission system as of 2023 must be sent via OSF by 31 December 2023, 23:59:59. Otherwise, the applicants will no longer be able to edit their proposal in the OSF submission system and sent them to the National Science Centre via OSF.

To find out more on the budget, read the Guidelines for Polish research teams (Budget for tasks to be performed by Polish research teams).

The budget of the Polish part of the project must be well-justified as regards the subject and scope of the research and must be based on realistic calculations. The exact amount of the project budget has not been specified.

The project budget is subdivided into direct and indirect costs.

The direct costs include:

  1. cost of salary of the principal investigator;
  2. cost of salary of co-investigators in the project;
  • full-time post-doc position (in well-justified cases, this amount may be increased);
  • scholarships and salaries for students and PhD students;
  • additional remuneration for research team members; if the principal investigator is not employed full time in the project, their salary is paid from the pool for additional remuneration;
  1. purchase of research equipment, devices and software;
  2. purchase of materials and small equipment;
  3. outsourcing;
  4. business trips, visits and consultations;
  5. collective investigators;
  6. other costs crucial to the project in compliance with the Types of costs.

PLEASE NOTE: The cost of publication of monographs (for the purposes of §10 of the Regulation on the Evaluation of the Quality of Research Activity by the Minister of Science and Higher Education of 22 February 2019 (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 392) resulting from research projects can only be borne following a positive review by the NCN.

Indirect costs include:

  • indirect cost of Open Access (up to 2% of direct costs) that may be designated only for the cost of open access to publications or research data;
  • other indirect costs (up to 20% of direct costs) that may be spent on costs that are related indirectly to the research project, including the cost of open access to publications and research data.

During the project's implementation, the host institution must agree with the principal investigator the coverage of at least 25% of the indirect costs.

PLEASE NOTE: The cost of open access publication can only be incurred as an indirect cost. The cost of open access planned as a direct cost will be regarded as a formal error.

NCN funds will be awarded to those research projects carried out by the Polish research teams for which the foreign partner/cooperating institutions award funds to the partner/cooperating research teams.

PLEASE NOTE: Read the NSF’s guidelines concerning budgets of foreign research teams included in the joint proposals and justifications of the costs planned for such research teams. We suggest that the Polish principal investigators first prepare the budgets of the Polish research teams in their NCN proposals and in the OSF submission system and then annex them to the joint proposals submitted to the NSF. The NSF does not require the budgets of the foreign research teams to be converted into USD.

Can proposals in the call include application for state aid?

State aid must not be applied for under the IMPRESS-U call.

How should the proposals be drafted?

According to the NCN requirements, the Polish research teams submit their NCN proposals to the OSF submission system and append them with the same joint proposals that have been submitted to the lead agency.

PLEASE NOTE: NCN proposals must be consistent with joint proposals, otherwise the proposal may be rejected as ineligible.

Joint proposals must be drafted by the co-applicants according to the terms of the lead agency’s call and must include the documents required by the lead agency.

PLEASE NOTE: NCN proposals submitted to the call may include joint proposals submitted to the lead agency (NSF) as part of the EAGER call.

The terms of the call, joint proposal development criteria and guidelines applicable to the merit-based evaluation of the lead agency are laid down in the documents applicable to the EAGER call (PAPPG and DCL) .

A complete joint proposal must be submitted to the NSF by the coordinating applicant affiliated in the United States by the date set thereby.

PLEASE NOTE: Each research team involved in a project must submit a set of required documents to its respective research-funding partner agency.

Are there any restrictions to submitting proposals for research projects under the IMPRESS-U calls?

Restrictions to submitting NCN proposals are laid down in Chapter III of the Regulations.

PLEASE NOTE: There are no restrictions as to the total number of proposals pending evaluation/recommended for funding/research projects under way, in which one is identified as the principal investigator.

However, proposals submitted to IMPRESS-U will be counted towards the limits applicable to other NCN calls for research projects.

Which documents and information should be included in NCN proposals?

The IMPRESS-U call is open to NCN proposals submitted pursuant to the Regulations to which joint proposals are attached.

PLEASE NOTE: NCN proposals must be consistent with joint proposals, otherwise the proposal may be rejected as ineligible.

The Resolution on the terms and conditions of the international IMPRESS-U call for research projects lays down the documents and information that must be included in NCN proposals. Make sure to include the following information and documents:

  • the research project title provided in the joint proposal (in Polish and English in the NCN proposal; the title in the NCN proposal must be consistent with the title in the joint proposal);
  • the joint proposal in PDF format, including the required documents according to the terms and conditions of the lead agency’s call consistent with the proposal submitted to the lead agency’s submission system;
  • the research project’s abstract for the general public (1 page in Polish and 1 page in English);
  • a research plan presenting the research tasks to be carried out by the Polish research team (in Polish and in English);
  • information on the required qualifications and scope of work planned by each co-investigator of the Polish part of the project (in English);
  • the budget of the Polish part of the research project drafted pursuant to the Regulations (in English);
  • information on the international cooperation covered by the project, including cooperating foreign research institutions and description of related benefits (in English);
  • information on the data management plan concerning data generated or used in the course of the Polish part of the research project, as required by the proposal (in English); and
  • information on the ethical aspects of the Polish part of the project, including any consents, opinions, permits and/or approvals necessary to carry out the project in compliance with the generally applicable laws and best practices adopted for a specific academic discipline, as required by the proposal (in English).

The NCN does not require any documents (agreements) confirming cooperation between Polish and foreign research teams to be submitted nor signatures to be affixed by members of the foreign research teams on NCN proposals or other documents annexed thereto.

How can NCN proposals be submitted?

PLEASE NOTE: More information on how to complete NCN proposals in the OSF submission system can be found in the Guidelines for Polish Research Teams and Proposal Submission Procedure.

Under the IMPRESS-U call, NCN proposals must be submitted to the NCN electronically via the OSF submission system (https://osf.opi.org.pl/).

To find out more on the subject, please read Chapter IV of the Regulations.

PLEASE NOTE: Under the IMPRESS-U call, a joint proposal may only be annexed to one NCN proposal.

Checking completeness of NCN proposals

The NCN accepts only complete NCN proposals that meet all the requirements set forth in the call text.

The Polish research teams must ensure that their proposals submitted to the NCN are complete. An NCN proposal that has been submitted to the NCN via the OSF submission system cannot be amended and annexes thereto cannot be modified in the OSF submission system.

The principal investigators are recommended to verify that all parts of their NCN proposals are properly completed and appended with the joint proposal submitted to the NSF. If any part of the joint proposal or NCN proposal is left blank, the proposal may be rejected as ineligible by any partner institution involved in the project.

When should proposals be submitted?

Under the IMPRESS-U call, NCN proposals must be submitted to the National Science Centre electronically via the OSF submission system as soon as possible following submission of the joint proposal to the lead agency, within 7 calendar days.

If, on the day the joint proposal is submitted to the lead agency, an NCN proposal form is not available in the OSF submission system, it must be submitted to the NCN within 7 calendar days of the date the information is published on the NCN website (https://www.ncn.gov.pl/) that the NCN proposal form is available in the OSF submission system.

How are proposals evaluated and what is taken into account?

Proposals are evaluated according to the documents governing the evaluation of joint proposals submitted to the lead agency’s call (PAPPG and DCL), Regulations and Additional Proposal Evaluation Procedure.

Proposals are subject to an eligibility check at the NCN and partner institutions as well as merit-based evaluation of the NSF.

NCN proposals are subject to an eligibility check performed by the scientific coordinators.

Only joint proposals that have been found eligible by the NCN and other partner institutions are subject to a merit-based evaluation.

PLEASE NOTE: NCN proposals must be consistent with the joint proposal, otherwise the proposal may be rejected as ineligible.

Joint proposals are subject to a merit-based evaluation. Only proposals that have been found eligible by all partner institutions performing the eligibility check are subject to a merit-based evaluation performed by the NSF according to the rules applicable to its EAGER call.

The lead agency provides the NCN and other partner institutions with information on the results of the merit-based evaluation and the list of projects recommended for funding.

PLEASE NOTE: Proposals submitted to IMPRESS-U may be subject to an auxiliary evaluation at the NCN in the cases laid down in §30, §38 and §40 of the Regulations, in particular evaluation of the Polish part of the project in terms of:

  • basic research;
  • compliance of the cost with the subject and scope of research in proposals recommended for funding by the lead agency;
  • ethical aspects of proposals recommended for funding by the lead agency; and
  • non-commercial nature of research that includes clinical trials with a medicinal product or a medical device.

When and how will the results be announced?

The funding decision by the NCN Director will be taken within 12 months of the NCN proposal submission date.

The Polish research teams will be awarded funding for those research projects only for which foreign research teams receive funding from their respective foreign partner institutions.

What is the appeal procedure?

In the event of a breach of the call procedure or other formal infringements related to actions performed by the NCN, the applicants may appeal against the decision of the NCN Director with the Committee of Appeals of the NCN Council within 14 days of the date the decision is served. The appeal procedure is laid down in the Regulations.

Open Access Publication of Research Results

As a member of cOAlition S alongside other European research-funding agencies, the National Science Centre has adopted its Open Access Policy to publications according to which publications resulting from research projects funded by the National Science Centre must be made available in immediate open access. The Open Access Policy does not apply to monographs, monograph chapters and peer-reviewed collected papers. In accordance with the principles of Plan S, the National Science Centre recognises the following publication routes as compliant with its Open Access Policy:

  1. publication in open access journals and on open access platforms registered, or with pending registration, in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ);
  2. publication in subscription (hybrid) journals, as long as the Version of Record (VoR2) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM3) is published, by the author or publisher, in an open repository immediately upon the article’s online publication; and
  3. publication in journals covered by an open access licence within the framework of so-called transformative agreements, inscribed in the Efficiency and Standards for Article Charges registry (ESAC-registry).

PLEASE NOTE: The cost of open access to publications may only be incurred as an indirect cost. The cost of open access planned as a direct cost will be regarded as a formal error.

More on Open Access publication terms/instructions can be found here, as amended.

You can also read our Open Access Instructions.

Additional information

Contact at the NCN

Should you have more queries on the NCN eligibility criteria, having read the call text and call documents, contact the NCN officers.

Contact details:

Show number

(Office Hours: 9:00-13:00)

Before calling, please make an e-mail appointment.

Contact at partner institutions

On matters relating to the preparation and submission of joint proposals, contact the partner research team affiliated in the USA or Ukraine or lead agency (NSF or National Research Foundation of Ukraine (NRFU).

Call documents

The call documents concerning the proposal submission procedure and proposal evaluation by the lead agency (NSF) applicable to the IMPRESS-U programme are available here.

Documents to be read before submitting proposals to the NCN:

  1. Terms of the IMPRESS-U Call for Proposals
  2. Regulations on Awarding Funding for Research Tasks Funded by the National Science Centre under the IMPRESS-U Call
  3. Costs under the IMPRESS-U Call
  4. Regulations on Awarding Scholarships in NCN-funded Research Projects
  5. NCN Panels
  6. NCN Proposal Form Template
  7. NCN Proposal Submission Procedure
  8. Guidelines for Polish Research Teams
  9. State Aid
  10. Research Project Cooperation Agreement (mandatory if a group of Polish entities applies)
  11. Guidelines for Applicants to Complete the Data Management Plan in Research Projects
  12. Guidelines for Applicants to Complete the Ethics Issues Form in Research Projects
  13. Code of the National Science Centre on Research Integrity and Applying for Research Funding
  14. NCN Open Access Policy, as amended
  15. Open Access Instructions
  16. Service of Decisions of the NCN Director
  17. Appealing Against the Decisions of the NCN Director
  18. Evaluation of Monographs in Research Projects Funded by the National Science Centre
  19. Additional Evaluation Procedure of International Proposals Submitted to IMPRESS-U

Documents to be read before starting NCN projects

  1. Order Establishing a Procedure for Conducting Audits on Host Institution's premises
  2. Guidelines for Entities Auditing the Implementation of Research Projects Funded by the National Science Centre
  3. NCN Council Resolution on Collaboration with the Russian Federation within the Framework of NCN-funded Grants

 

SONATINA 7: grants for early-stage researchers awarded

Wed, 08/02/2023 - 13:00
Kod CSS i JS

38 researchers at the onset of their research career have been awarded grants under the SONATINA 7 call for proposals. The NCN has allocated over PLN 32 million for two- or three-year research projects.

The objective of the call is to support the career development of early-stage researchers. The seventh edition of the call has been addressed at individuals who have been granted their PhD degree between 1 January 2020 and 31 June 2023. The projects will foster performance of basic research or applied research and full-time employment in Polish research institutions other than the ones from which they have earned their PhD degree. During the project, the principal investigator will be expected to complete a foreign fellowship of 3 to 6 months enabling them to gain valuable knowledge and experience in first-rate foreign research institutions.

185 proposals have been submitted to the NCN under the call, for a total of nearly PLN 150 million. In the course of a two-stage evaluation procedure, the NCN experts have recommended 38 projects for funding, for a total of over PLN 32 million. The numerical success rate was 20.5% and the financial success rate was 21.5%. 11 grants will go to Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (HS), 9 grants will go to Life Sciences and 18 grants will go to Physical Sciences and Engineering (ST).

List of projects funded under the SONATINA 7 call

List of projects funded under the SONATINA 7 call (.pdf)

Current challenges for human civilisation among the subjects of the winning projects

The winning projects under SONATINA 7 include projects responding to the challenges relating to the progress of civilisation and population ageing.

In the area of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Magdalena Chułek from the Centre of Migration Research at the University of Warsaw will address the issue of ageing in locations theoretically unsuitable for housing and yet inhabited. As a result of climate change, floods and long-lasting drought in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia force local populations to search for new, safe places to live, which often leads them to slums in the local cities, i.e. areas of poverty. Dr Chułek will study how older inhabitants of slums cope with the conditions they live in and adapt to them and how their strategies of coping with and adapting to slum conditions are affected by their perception of their surrounding environment and attachment to their place of origin (and vice versa). She will conduct her research based on the slums in Nairobi and Dhaka.

Jagoda Płaczkiewicz, PhD from the International Centre for Transitional Eye Research (ICTER) at the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences will conduct a research project in Life Sciences entitled "Chimeric Rhodopsin as a novel optogenetic tool”. Together with her research team, she will study therapy strategies in retinal diseases. Visual impairments are affecting millions of people worldwide, and the number of visually disabled people is increasing due to the aging of the population and chronic diseases. Gene therapies based on adeno-associated viruses have already been developed and approved worldwide, and clinical trials are underway using various variants of light-sensitive opsins (glycoproteins found in the retina involved in vision). Gene therapies have been developed and approved worldwide and clinical trials have been performed focusing on opsins that perform their function in high light intensities (glycoproteins in the retina involved in the vision process). Nevertheless, there is still a need to design an optogenetic tool that would be successfully activated by relatively low light stimulation. Dr Płaczkiewicz’s research focuses on the development of new opsins with exceeded functionality. Chimeric RecRho variants may constitute a new gene therapy strategy in retinal diseases.

Agata Sotniczyk from the National Centre for Nuclear Research will carry out a research project in Physical Sciences and Engineering, entitled “Novel metastable titanium beta-phase alloys based on the Ti-Mo system for applications in the modular total hip replacements”. Degenerative diseases of hip and knee joints have been ranked at the 11th place of the most frequent health disabilities observed worldwide. In case of patients who experience chronic pain and severe limitation of their mobility, Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA) gives a chance to significantly improve the quality of their life. Work is constantly underway to improve the materials used to manufacture hip replacements that could increase their safety and longevity. Researchers study a new generation of titanium-based materials that contain only biocompatible chemical elements, however metastable β phase alloys turn out to demonstrate insufficient wear resistance. Dr Sotniczuk will try to fabricate a new metastable titanium β phase alloys based on Ti-Mo system that will demonstrate the desirable combination of high mechanical strength and ductility.

Evaluation of proposals

Proposals submitted to SONATINA 7 are subject to a merit-based evaluation performed by the Expert Team in two stages. During stage I, proposals are evaluated by at least two Research Team members. Then, proposals are recommended for stage II based on the decision of the Expert Team taken at the meeting, following a decision on the evaluation of each proposal. At stage II, a review is drafted by at least two external reviewers, interview with the principal investigator, the final decision is taken, and a ranking list is established by the Expert Team.

Under SONATINA, proposals are evaluated by three inter-panel teams comprising experts appointed under particular research domains, i.e. Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (HS), Physical Sciences and Engineering (ST) and Life Sciences (NZ). Experts are selected by the NCN Council among outstanding Polish and foreign researchers holding at least a PhD degree. The proposal evaluation procedure applicable to SONATINA 7 is laid down in the call text (the “Proposal evaluation procedure” tab).

  • SONATINA 7 call winners will carry out their research at the universities and in research institutions in, inter alia, Białystok, Gdańsk, Krakow, Poznań and Warsaw. The largest number of projects will be carried out in the institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences (9), at the University of Warsaw (4) and at the National Centre for Nuclear Research (3).
  • The Expert Team evaluating proposals under SONATINA 7 were chaired by:
    • David Peter Dolowitz, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, “HS”),
    • Gianluca Colo, University of Milano; INFN, Sezione di Milano, Italy (Physical Sciences and Engineering, “ST”) and
    • Avidan Neumann, University of Augsburg, Germany (Life Sciences, “NZ”)

A complete list of Expert Team members will be published once this year’s calls are completed. 96% of foreign reviewers and 85% of foreign experts participated in the NCN calls concluded in 2022.

For more information on the call, please read the SONATINA 7 call text.

OPUS 24+LAP results for bilateral Polish-Czech and trilateral Polish-Czech-Austrian projects

Fri, 07/28/2023 - 10:00
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11 Polish teams are all set to carry out ten bilateral projects with partners from the Czech Republic and one trilateral project involving researchers from the Czech Republic and Austria under the OPUS 24+LAP/Weave scheme. The NCN has slated a total of more than 13.7 million zlotys in funding for their research.

Researchers from Bydgoszcz, Kraków, Poznań, Warsaw and Zabrze will carry out 10 bilateral Polish-Czech projects: 6 in Physical Sciences and Engineering and 4 in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. This round’s winners include Prof. Tomasz Jankowiak from the Poznań University of Technology, who will work on a land engineering project devoted to the response of structures and materials to dynamic actions during fires. His material of interest is structural steel, as its properties at high temperatures and high strain rates have not been well-researched to date. Jankowiak’s team will answer a number of questions and gather experimental results to understand the mechanism of fire-induced building collapse, including incidents such as falling elements, impacts and explosions. This will allow them to develop models and principles for designing structures exposed to a combination of thermal and dynamic actions. The research will be conducted in cooperation with Prof. František Wald from the Czech Technical University in Prague.

Funding was also awarded to one trilateral Polish-Czech-Austrian project, submitted by researchers based in Wrocław. Headed by Prof. Elżbieta Gumienna-Kontecka from the University of Wrocław, in tandem with Prof. Elżbieta Wojaczyńska from the Wrocław University of Science and Technology, the team will work on a trilateral Polish-Czech-Austrian OPUS LAP project entitled “Artificial siderophores for molecular imaging applications”, looking to enhance medical tools and methods used to detect the development of diseases, e.g., to track tumour growth. Specifically, the researchers will be searching for contrast agents, which can effectively support combined imaging techniques: Positron Emission Tomography (PET), computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and optical fluorescence imaging (OFI). The Polish team will join forces with Dr Petřík Miloš from Palacky University in the Czech Republic and Prof. Clemens Decristoforo from the Medical University Innsbruck in Austria to design and develop synthetic biomimetic analogues of natural hydroxamate siderophores with a potential as basis for novel non-invasive in vivo imaging agents.

List of all projects qualified for funding in the OPUS 24+LAP/Weave call

List of Polish-Czech bilateral projects

Polish-Czech-Austrian project

Polish teams under these projects will be funded by the National Science Centre, while their Czech and Austrian partners will get their funding from the Czech Science Foundation (GACR) and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), respectively.

Lead Agency Procedure – LAP

In the latest OPUS 24+LAP/Weave call, which concluded in May, the NCN received 1921 proposals with a total budget of nearly 2.7 billion zlotys. Researchers could request funding for projects conducted without international partners, as well as bi- or trilateral LAP projects involving foreign cooperation or access to large international research equipment. The call was open to researchers at all career levels.

LAP is a new proposal evaluation standard adopted by European research-funding institutions, designed to facilitate the funding application process for international research teams and streamline proposal review.

OPUS LAP projects were reviewed at the same time and by the same expert teams as other OPUS proposals, but also underwent an additional evaluation that looked at the research record and the previous projects of the principal investigators in foreign partner teams. Experts also made sure that the contribution of all teams to the project is balanced and complementary.

Decisions and their delivery

The decisions for OPUS LAP proposals qualified for funding under OPUS 24 in bilateral cooperation with the Czech Science Foundation and trilateral with Austrian Science Fund (FWF) have already been sent out. Please remember that the decisions of the NCN Director are delivered to the applicant electronically, to the e-mail address indicated in the proposal. Learn more about how decisions are delivered

Webinar for the Trans-Atlantic Platform (T-AP) Call: Democracy, Governance and Trust (DGT Call 2023)

Thu, 07/27/2023 - 13:23
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We would like to invite researchers interested in the Trans-Atlantic Platform (T-AP) for Social Sciences and Humanities Call Democracy, Governance and Trust (DGT Call 2023), to participate in the live webinar on Tuesday, 8th of August 2023, 15:00 (CEST). During the webinar, detailed information about the Call will be presented, including research scope and Full Proposal submission process. To optimize the Q&A session, questions may be submitted in advance via registration form. Webinar will be held in English.

Click here to register. The webinar will be available on YouTube after the live broadcast.

Webinar Agenda and detailed information can be found on the FAPESP - São Paulo Research Foundation website.

Results of the OPUS 24+LAP call for projects carried out in cooperation with Swiss researchers

Wed, 07/26/2023 - 14:01
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We are proud to announce the list of winning bilateral international projects carried out jointly by Polish and Swiss researchers. The total budget of the winning projects amounts to nearly PLN 9.2 mln.

List of all projects qualified for funding in the OPUS 24+LAP/Weave call

List of Polish-Swiss OPUS LAP projects

In the category of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHS), there will be one Polish-Swiss project carried out, led by Dr hab. Agnieszka Otwinowska-Kasztelanic of the University of Warsaw. In cooperation with Prof. Raphael Berthelé from the University of Fribourg, the Polish researcher will conduct multilingual research to explore how foreign language learners acquire new vocabulary both incidentally and intentionally, with the use of digital tools. The research will focus on Polish learners of English as the second language, and Swiss learners who speak German and French learning English as the third language. The project outcomes may be directly applicable to language teaching in the contemporary digitalised world.

In the category of Life Sciences (LS), there will be two Polish-Swiss OPUS LAP projects carried out. The first of these will be supervised by Prof. Ewa Stępień of the Jagiellonian University. Together with the Swiss team led by Prof. Kuangyu Shi of the University of Bern, Prof. Stępień will conduct multi-faceted research into high-throughput PET imaging by decoding multi-photon signals on long axial field-of-view PET using physics-guided artificial intelligence. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a molecular imaging modality widely applied in clinical practice; however, until now, due to certain methodological and equipment-related limitations no additional physiological measurements have been under clinical conditions. Recent advancements in PET detectors have significantly increased their measurement capacities. The research conducted by the Polish and Swiss researchers focuses on methodological development and verification of positronium images using a clinical PET scanner.

The second winning project in the LS category is an “Investigating the effect of protein and fibre on lipid digestibility in oil-in-water emulsions using an in vitro model”. The research conducted in Poland will be led by Dr. inż. Mirosław Kasprzak of the University of Agriculture in Kraków, who will partner with Prof. Peter Fischer of ETH Zurich. The researchers will focus on the problem of overconsumption of high-fat foods which at the same time are high in sugar and low in dietary fibre, such overconsumption leading to weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension or heart disease. The main objective of the research is to unpick the mechanism of lipid digestion by the addition of fibre or structuring the lipids by plant protein to slow down their digestion. The data obtained over the course of the project will determine the direction for the design of food with satiety-enhancing ingredients.

In the area of Physical Sciences and Engineering, the winning project include the research conducted by Dr hab. inż. Joanna Ferdyn-Grygierek of the Silesian University of Technology in cooperation with Dr Agnes Psikuta of the Empa Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology. The researchers will investigate the topic of energy-efficient building design. The building performance simulations (BPS) which have been used until now to optimise building parameters are not perfect, as they don’t always take all of the factors involved into consideration. The researchers want to develop and validate by measurement a human-building avatar for precise prediction of human comfort and energy demand in buildings under conditions of variable internal and external loads during the year.

The second winning project in the PSE category aims to respond to the currently high demand for food products, especially apparent in the agricultural production sector. Dr inż. Wiesław Fiałkiewicz of the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, together with Prof. Oliver Schilling of University of Basel will attempt to develop an advanced method for sustainable crop fertilisation to reduce environmental pollution resulting from the presence of excess nitrogen from fertilisers used by farmers to protect and maximise crop yields. The method developed by the researchers will be supported by real-time modelling to help farmers to use sustainable fertilisation to achieve high yields without degradation of the local water environment.

Lead Agency Procedure – LAP

In the latest OPUS 24+LAP/Weave call, which concluded in May, the NCN received 1921 proposals with a total budget of nearly 2.7 billion zlotys. Researchers could request funding for projects conducted without international partners, as well as bi- or trilateral LAP projects involving foreign cooperation or access to large international research equipment. The call was open to researchers at all career levels.

LAP is a new proposal evaluation standard adopted by European research-funding institutions, designed to facilitate the funding application process for international research teams and streamline proposal review.

OPUS LAP projects were reviewed at the same time and by the same expert teams as other OPUS proposals, but also underwent an additional evaluation that looked at the research record and the previous projects of the principal investigators in foreign partner teams. Experts also made sure that the contribution of all teams to the project is balanced and complementary.

More about the call

Decisions and their delivery

The decisions for OPUS LAP proposals qualified for funding under OPUS 24 in bilateral cooperation with the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) have already been sent out. Please remember that the decisions of the NCN Director are delivered to the applicant electronically, to the e-mail address indicated in the proposal.

Learn more about how decisions are delivered

 

Third MINIATURA 7 ranking list

Mon, 07/24/2023 - 13:00
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55 researchers from all over Poland will each complete a single research task, such as a preliminary/pilot study, library or archive search, research fellowship or research/consultation trip, thanks to more than 2 million zlotys in research funding from the NCN. Check out the third ranking list of the MINIATURA 7 call, this time for proposals submitted in April.

In this round of MINIATURA 7, the life sciences panel attracted the largest number of successful proposals, with grants awarded to as many as 24 scientists. Some of these will tackle growing antibiotic resistance. At the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Dr inż. Ilona Foik is all set to conduct a preliminary/pilot study on the role of free-floating extracellular DNA and cathelicidin in bacterial response to antibiotics used in the treatment of polymicrobial UTIs. Dr Leszek Kadziński from the Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education will work on phage therapies, i.e. therapies that rely on bacteriophages (viruses that only attack bacteria) to combat bacterial infections. Specifically, he will turn his attention to what he terms the “silica shield” and strive to enhance the stability and efficacy of endolysins produced by bacteriophages through their entrapment in silica composites.

Under the art, humanities and social sciences panel, grants were awarded to 17 researchers. Their research problems include, e.g. stressful situations and circumstances in our lives and our coping strategies. For instance, Dr Paweł Ziemiański from the Gdańsk University of Technology, will study the negative aspects of commitment to business activities among start-up founders, while Dr Krzysztof Stanisławski from the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw will use his MINIATURA grant to develop and validate a situational version of the Coping Circumplex Inventory (CCI), his own original solution that integrates different variables to describe various stress-coping strategies.

Experts in the MINIATURA 7 call also selected 14 winners in physical sciences and engineering. Dr inż. Katarzyna Witt from the Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology will attempt to synthesise new water-insoluble β-ketoimines from sβ-diketone and aminosilane derivatives that would be able to bind metal ions from aqueous solutions. Dr Andrzej Giza from the University of Szczecin will conduct a pilot study on the impact of sea storms on seasonal changes in benthic habitats (i.e. those related to the sea floor) and coastal morphology.

Ranking lists (in Polish)

List No. 3 (in Polish)

Funding per panel:

  • Art, Humanities and Social Sciences – PLN 408,042
  • Physical Sciences and Engineering – PLN 627,448
  • Life Sciences – PLN 1,054,222

The total budget of projects that made the cut for the third MINIATURA 7 ranking list amounts to over 2,089,712 PLN.

About the MINIATURA 7 call

The main objective of the call is to finance research activities carried out in preparation for future research projects that will be submitted to NCN calls for proposals, as well as other domestic and international calls. Researchers can apply for funding from PLN 5,000 to PLN 50,000 PLN for a research activity planned over a period of up to 12 months. The call is open to PhD holders who earned their degree no earlier than 1 January 2011 (except in cases specified in the terms and conditions of the call). They need to be employed by the host institution and demonstrate a research record of at least one published paper or at least one achievement in art or art research.

Funds for research activities carried out under the MINIATURA 7 call are divided proportionally to the number of months during which proposals are accepted. In this edition, proposals may be submitted until 4 pm, 31 July 2023.

Remember that funding decisions are sent to the ESP ePUAP address indicated in the proposal. If you have not received a decision, please make sure that the address listed in the proposal is correct. If not, contact the person in charge of handling the proposal, as indicated in the OSF system.

A WUI Map in "Nature"

Thu, 07/20/2023 - 15:17
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The Carpathians, photo by Dominik KaimThe Carpathians, photo by Dominik Kaim The first global Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) map has just been published by “Nature”. “My role in this research was made possible by the NCN”, says Dr Dominik Kaim, a geographer from the Jagiellonian University, one of the authors of the article.

Wildland-urban interface areas take up less than 5% of the Earth’s land surface, but are inhabited by nearly 3.3 billion people (41% of the world’s population). It is a space where interactions between humans and the environment are particularly intense.

In an article just published in “Nature”, scientists from the US, Israel, Germany and Poland have relied on detailed data to create the first global WUI map. WUIs are particularly widespread in Europe, but research has also identified previously undocumented areas of this kind in, e.g. Eastern Africa, Brazil, and Southeast Asia.

Until now, WUIs have been studied with a focus on fire risk. The new global map of settlement may also have an impact on future research into the effects of contact between domestic animals and wildlife and the penetration of invasive plants grown in house gardens into natural areas.

Dr Dominik Kaim studied the spatial distribution of WUIs in Poland. His results may now be used for spatial planning to minimise conflicts between people and animals and to launch environmental protection campaigns.

“My MINIATURA and SONATA projects, which were funded by the NCN, allowed me to complete international research fellowships at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as part of a team led by Professor Volker Radeloff, with whom I have studied WUIs for several years now. In addition, the research I have conducted under the SONATA scheme in Poland gave me an opportunity to test the preliminary versions of the global map, which has now been published by “Nature” in its final form”,  explains Kaim.

 

OPUS 24+ LAP/Weave results for bilateral projects for teams from Poland and Belgium-Flanders

Thu, 07/20/2023 - 10:15
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Results are now in for the OPUS 24+ LAP/Weave call for projects proposed by Polish researchers in cooperation with teams from Belgium-Flanders. Grants were awarded to 6 bilateral proposals, two in each discipline panel. In total, research teams will get more than 9.5 million zlotys in funding.

In Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, for instance, one grant will go to a project prepared by Dr hab. Mateusz Stróżyński from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań in tandem with Anthony Dupont from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, entitled Z biblioteki na trybunę: Teologiczne i etyczne znaczenie performatywnego przedstawienia manicheizmu w kazaniach i listach Augustyna /From the Library to the Tribune: Theological and Ethical Significance of the Performative Presentation of Manichaeism in Augustine’s Sermons and Letters/. The project will expand our knowledge of Augustine’s interaction with Manichaean ideas and their impact on his philosophical and theological thinking, help trace the development of his thought and provide insights into the special, “performative” genres, i.e. sermons and letters, which in antiquity often served as a means of public communication.

Dr hab. Dariusz Kużelewski from the University of Bialystok will conduct a research project entitled "Risk as a subjective phenomenon – integrating cognitive science into the concept of risk in European data protection law". His research partner is Prof. Niels Van Dijk from the Delft University of Technology. 

In Life Sciences, Dr hab. Natalia Rozwadowska from the Institute of Human Genetics, PAS, will team up with Prof. Jolanda van Hengel from Ghent University. Their project Bo do tanga trzeba dwojga – modelowanie kardiomiopatii w zespole Marfana z zastosowaniem komórek serca oraz konstruktów tkankowych (EHT) uzyskanych z hiPSC /It takes two to tango – a decryption of Marfan cardiomyopathy using human iPSC-derived cardiac cells and engineered heart tissues/ aims to thoroughly examine the effects of DNA changes behind Marfan syndrome and associated signalling pathways. This will allow the two researchers to propose new therapeutic approaches and explain the mechanisms of action of drugs that are used to alleviate the symptoms associated with the malfunctioning of the cardiovascular system in patients with this disorder.

Prof. Zuzanna Drulis-Kawa from the University of Wroclaw within her OPUS LAP grant will investigate "Function, organization, dynamics, and evolution of hyperbranched receptor-binding protein systems in Klebsiella jumbo phages and their interactions with bacteria", together with Prof. Yves Briers from the Ghent University.

The OPUS LAP ranking list for Physical Sciences and Engineering features a project devoted to the adaptation of molecular crystals in response to external stimuli, proposed by Dr hab. Liliana Dobrzańska from the Nicolaus Copernicus University of Toruń, in cooperation with Prof. Wim Dehaen from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. The latest research on crystals shows that their structure is not as rigid as was previously thought. It turns out that, despite certain spatial limitations, molecules can undergo significant shifts or rotations within the crystal, changing both the molecular and the crystal structure. In their project, the two researchers will study when this process occurs and analyse what requirements have to be met for the molecules that make up the crystal to awaken from their dormant state.

Prof. Jacek Mąkinia from Gdańsk University of Technology received a grant for the project "Model-based optimization of the operational conditions for mitigation of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from an aerobic granular sludge reactor performing integrated nitrogen and phosphorus removal". Prof. Jan Dries from University of Antwerp will be his research partner.

Ranking lists for OPUS 24 call

List of Polish-Belgian OPUS 24 LAP projects qualified for funding

Lead Agency Procedure – LAP

In the latest OPUS 24+LAP/Weave call, which concluded in May, the NCN received 1921 proposals with a total budget of nearly 2.7 billion zlotys. Researchers could request funding for projects conducted without international partners, as well as bi- or trilateral LAP projects involving foreign cooperation or access to large international research equipment. The call was open to researchers at all career levels.

LAP is a new proposal evaluation standard adopted by European research-funding institutions, designed to facilitate the funding application process for international research teams and streamline proposal review.

OPUS LAP projects were reviewed at the same time and by the same expert teams as other OPUS proposals, but also underwent an additional evaluation that looked at the research record and the previous projects of the principal investigators in foreign partner teams. Experts also made sure that the contribution of all teams to the project is balanced and complementary.

More about the call

Decisions and their delivery

The decisions for OPUS LAP bilateral proposals qualified for funding under OPUS 24 in cooperation with the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) have already been sent out. Please remember that the decisions of the NCN Director are delivered to the applicant electronically, to the e-mail address indicated in the proposal.

Learn more about how decisions are delivered