• A PhD degree does not have to be obtained as a result of end of the project.
• The total number of NCN projects managed by a researcher and proposals submitted to the NCN and subject to evaluation or recommended for funding in which that researcher is named as the principal investigator, must not be more than two. The foregoing limit (see §8 and §9 of the Regulations for more information) shall not apply to the projects funded under, or proposals submitted to, for example, PRELUDIUM BIS.

Proposals in the call may be submitted by institutions operating doctoral schools laid down in Article 198 (3) and 198 (4) of the Act on Higher Education and Science of 20 July 2018 as well as institutions jointly operating doctoral schools pursuant to Article 198 (5) of the same Act, for which project funding will NOT constitute state aid. Entities under receivership, in liquidation or subject to bankruptcy proceedings must not apply.

A person who meets the requirements of a research supervisor laid down in Article 190 of the Act on Higher Education and Science on the end date of the call for proposals and is the research supervisor of the PhD student operating the project funded under PRELUDIUM BIS may act as the principal investigator in a project submitted to the call.

One cannot be a principal investigator in more than two research projects funded under PRELUDIUM BIS at the same time.

Restrictions on submitting proposals are laid down in Chapter III of the Regulations on awarding funding for the implementation of research tasks funded by the National Science Centre as regards research projects.

In a given edition of the calls, the same person may be named as the principal investigator in one proposal only, i.e., in this edition of NCN calls, the same person may be named as the principal investigator only in a SONATA BIS, MAESTRO or PRELUDIUM BIS proposal.

Please note: Proposals covering research tasks overlapping tasks specified in another proposal submitted earlier may only be submitted after the funding decision has become final

Proposals may be submitted to the call covering basic research in any of 26 NCN panels comprising three groups:

• HS – Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences;
• ST – Physical Sciences and Engineering; and
• NZ – Life Sciences.

Under the call, funding may be requested for research projects to be carried out over the period of 36 months or 48 months.

The research team includes the principal investigator (PhD student’s research supervisor) and PhD student. Research projects under the PRELUDIUM BIS call will be carried out by PhD students selected in an open call conducted by a committee formed by the head of the host institution for the project acting as the applicant. The call is open to all those who are not PhD holders and are not doctoral school students.

Projects submitted to PRELUDIUM BIS 5 must be carried out by PhD students as part of their doctoral dissertations.

Please note: A one-off change of a PhD student in the PRELUDIUM BIS project is allowed, provided that:

• he/she be elected in a call conducted by the end of the first year of project performance according to the above terms,
• the host institution ensure payment of the PRELUDIUM BIS doctoral scholarship for the entire period of PhD student’s education, in the amount and on terms and conditions laid down in the Regulations.

The project budget must be justified as regards the subject and scope of research and must be based on realistic calculations.

The project budget includes direct costs and indirect costs.

Direct costs include:

1. scholarships for PhD students: 5,000 PLN per month (up to the month of the mid-term evaluation of PhD students at the doctoral school), 6,000 PLN (after the month of the mid-term evaluation of PhD students at the doctoral school);

PhD students receiving PRELUDIUM BIS doctoral scholarships must not receive scholarship support or other remuneration granted under the heading of direct costs from other NCN-funded research projects, with the exception of principal investigator’s salary under PRELUDIUM.

2. funding for the principal investigator: up to 40,000 PLN for the project performance period (this amount may be designated for principal investigator’s salary and other project costs);
3. materials and small equipment;
4. outsourcing;
5. business trips, visits and consultations;
6. compensation for collective investigators, and
7. other costs crucial to the project which comply with the Types of costs in research projects funded by the NCN.

Funding for research under PRELUDIUM BIS must not exceed 300,000 PLN (including 40,000 PLN for the principal investigator). Furthermore, the project budget includes the cost of scholarships for PhD students and indirect costs.

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

Funds for the purchase or manufacturing of research equipment, devices and software must not be planned in the project.

The mandatory foreign fellowship will be funded by the NAWA. PhD students funded under PRELUDIUM BIS 5 will have to submit foreign fellowship funding proposals to the NAWA no later than 6 months before the fellowship. For more information on the terms of foreign fellowship funding, go to Annex to the Cooperation Agreement between the NCN and the NAWA.

Please note: The costs of publication of monographs resulting from research projects (as defined in §10 of the Regulation on the Evaluation of the Quality of Research Activity issued by the Minister of Science and Higher Education on 22 February 2019 (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 392) may be incurred following a positive review by the NCN.

When drafting the budget, one must comply with the rules concerning project costs, including costs of salaries and scholarships laid down in the Types of costs in research projects funded by the NCN.

If unjustified costs are planned, a proposal may be rejected.

Together with other European research-funding institutions, the National Science Centre is a member of cOAlition S. Therefore, the NCN has adopted an Open Access Policy pursuant to which all research results stemming from NCN-funded research projects must be made available in immediate open access. The policy does not cover monographs, monograph chapters or peer-reviewed collected works.

In accordance with the principles of Plan S, the National Science Centre recognizes 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 journals (hybrid journals), as long as the Version of Record (VoR) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) is published, by the author or publisher, in an open repository immediately upon the article’s online publication;
3. publication in transformative 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).

Manuscripts must be published using the CC-BY licence. In the case of transformative journals, the CC-BY-SA licence can also be used. The CC-BY-ND licence may also be used (regardless of the publication route selected).

More information on open access publication terms can be found here, as amended.

For more information, read the Open Access Instructions.

Information that must be provided in the proposal pursuant to the PRELUDIUM BIS PROPOSAL FORM

The following information must be provided in English and, where necessary, in Polish.

1. key information on the proposal and host institution for the project (also in Polish);
2. project description (up to 4,500 characters);
3. details of the principal investigator, including information on their academic and research career and research experience, as well as 1-10 papers published in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year; for research in art, 1-10 most important papers published or artistic achievements and achievements in research in art in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year. In specific cases, this period may be extended;
4. description of research covered by the project carried out as part of doctoral dissertation, including the scientific goal, significance of the research, general concept and work plan, research methodology and project literature applicable to the subject of the project (no more than 5 pages, A4);
5. information on the foreign fellowship of the PhD student, including place and date thereof as well as justification for choosing the research centre;
6. work plan (also in Polish);
7. abstract for the general public (also in Polish);
8. information on the ethical aspects of the project, including any consents, opinions, permits and/or approvals necessary to carry out the project pursuant to generally applicable laws and best practices adopted for a specific academic discipline;
9. data management plan concerning data generated or used in the course of a research project; and
10. project budget.

Entities for which funding would constitute state aid must not participate in the PRELUDIUM BIS 5 call.

Proposals are subject to an eligibility check and merit-based evaluation. Eligibility check is carried out by the Scientific Coordinators. Only complete proposals that meet all requirements of the call text can be recommended for merit-based evaluation.

Proposals submitted to PRELUDIUM BIS are evaluated by the inter-panel teams (consisting of experts from respective panels, i.e., HZ, ST or NZ).

In the case of interdisciplinary proposals which are assigned an auxiliary NCN review panel specifying disciplines covered by NCN review panels other than the one to which the proposal was submitted, the chair of the team may decide to seek another review from a member of another Expert Team.

Experts are selected by the NCN Council from among eminent Polish and foreign researchers who are at least PhD holders. Expert teams are established for each call edition. The composition of the Expert Team is subject to the number and subjects of proposals submitted to each panel.

Proposals approved as eligible are subject to a SINGLE-STAGE merit-based evaluation.

The merit-based evaluation is be performed by the Expert Team set up by the NCN, based on the data included in the proposal and annexes thereto. Each proposal is evaluated by THREE members of the Expert Team acting independently. Proposals which are assigned at least one auxiliary review panel indicating disciplines from another NCN panels than the one to which they are submitted may be identified by the Chair of the Expert Team as requiring an additional individual review by a member of another the Expert Team (interdisciplinary proposals).

Then, based on the discussions of individual reviews, a ranking list of proposals recommended for funding is drafted by the Expert Team at the meeting.

Additional information on the proposal evaluation procedure can be found in the Proposal evaluation procedure for the Expert Teams.

The evaluation of proposals focuses, in particular, on:

1. compliance with the basic research criteria;
2. quality and innovative nature of the research or tasks to be performed;
3. impact of the research project on the advancement of the scientific discipline;
4. assessment of the feasibility of the research;
5. scientific achievements of the principal investigator, including publications in renowned academic press/journals;
6. assessment of the results of other research projects conducted by the principal investigator, funded by the NCN or from other sources;
7. relevance of the costs to be incurred with regards to the subject and scope of the research and
8. preparation of the proposal and compliance with other requirements set forth in the call text.

Proposals with a zero score or “no” decision agreed by the Expert Team in any reviewed criterion must not be recommended for funding. The foregoing does not apply to the data management evaluation criteria and evaluation criteria of ethics issues in research.

The proposal evaluation criteria are available here.

Proposals are evaluated by inter-panel teams (consisting of experts from respective panels, i.e., HZ, ST or NZ). Experts are selected by the NCN Council from among outstanding Polish and foreign researchers, holding at least a PhD degree. Expert Teams are established for each call edition. The composition of the Expert Team is subject to the number and subjects of proposals submitted to each panel.

The call results will be published on the NCN’s website and communicated to the applicants by way of a decision by the NCN Director within 5 months of the proposal submission deadline, by the 15 of February 2024 at the latest.

For more information on the call, read the Information for Applicants on the NCN website.

Should you have any more questions or queries, please contact us by e-mail at: informacja@ncn.gov.pl or telephone:

If you are intending to submit a proposal to PRELUDIUM BIS 5 call, you should:

1. read all call documents included in the call text, in particular:
   • Terms and conditions of the PRELUDIUM BIS 5 call;
   • Proposal form template where you can find out about information and annexes needed to complete the electronic proposal form in the OSF submission system;
   • Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre as regards research projects; and
   • Proposal submission procedure.
2. collect data from the host institution for the project that is required to complete the proposal and find out about the internal procedures that may affect the proposal and project performance (project costs, procedure for acquiring signature(s) of authorised representative(s) of the institution to confirm submission of the proposal), and
3. prepare letters of acceptance from publishers confirming that the paper has been accepted for publication (when the academic and research track record section includes papers accepted for publication but not published yet).

Before the proposal is submitted to the NCN:

1. check if all information in and annexes to the proposal are correct. Verification of the proposal for completeness in the OSF submission system by pressing the Sprawdź kompletność [Check completeness] button does not guarantee that information has been entered correctly and that the required annexes have been attached;
2. make sure that all tabs are completed in the correct language;
3. disable editing of the final version of the proposal to NCN
4. download the confirmation of proposal submission that needs to be signed by the principal investigator and authorised representative(s) of the institution, and
5. attach the confirmation of submitting the proposal with a signature.

Once the proposal is completed and all required annexes are attached, use the Wyślij do NCN [Send to NCN] button to submit the proposal to the NCN electronically via the OSF submission system.

Upon the end of the call for proposals:

1. evaluation of proposals will be carried out,
2. after each stage of evaluation, the funding decision of the NCN Director will be delivered,
3. if the proposal is recommended for funding, a funding agreement will be entered into, and
4. the project will be carried out pursuant to the funding agreement.

In the event of a breach of the call procedure or other formal infringements, the applicant may appeal against the decision of the NCN Director with the Committee of Appeals of the NCN Council. The appeal must be lodged within 14 days of the effective delivery of the decision.

Proposals in the call may be submitted by the following entities specified in the Act on the National Science Centre (NCN):

1. universities;
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 2020, item 1383, as amended);
5. international research institutes established pursuant to other acts and acting in the Republic of Poland;

5a. 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;

6. Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences;
7. other entities involved in research independently on a continuous basis;
8. groups of entities (at least two entities mentioned in sections 1-9 or at least one institution as such together with at least one company);
9. scientific and industrial centres laid down in the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1383, as amended);
10. research centres of the Polish Academy of Sciences laid down in the Act on the Polish Academy of Sciences of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1796);
11. scientific libraries;
12. companies operating as R&D centres within the meaning of the Act on Certain Forms of Support for Innovative Activity of 30 May 2008 (Journal of Laws of 2021, item 706);
13. legal entities with registered office in Poland;

13a. President of the Central Office of Measures;

14. natural persons and;
15. companies conducting research in another organisational form than laid down in sections 1-13.

The principal investigator must be a researcher with a PhD degree conferred within 5 to 12 years prior to the proposal submission year (between 01 January 2011 and 31 December 2018). In specific cases, this period may be extended (§6 (3) of the Resolution on the terms and conditions of the SONATA BIS call).

Academic and research track record should cover the period of the last 10 years prior to the proposal submission year (as of 2013). In specific cases, this period may be extended.

The principal investigator’s academic and research track record must include at least one paper published or accepted for publication. For research in art, the principal investigator must have at least one paper published or accepted for publication or at least one artistic achievement or achievement in research in art.

The principal investigator must reside in Poland for at least 50% of the project duration period and be available to the host institution. The foregoing obligation does not apply to evidenced project-related business trips or holiday, time off work and other absence at work governed by the applicable laws.

Furthermore, the principal investigator must be a person employed at the host institution for the entire project duration period pursuant to at least a part-time employment contract. The foregoing does not apply to persons receiving a pension under the social insurance scheme.

Restrictions on submitting proposals are described in Chapter III of the Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre as regards research projects.

One can act as the principal investigator in a research project financed under the SONATA BIS call only once.

A person named as the principal investigator in a proposal submitted to the OPUS call for which the funding decision has not become final must not be named as the principal investigator in a proposal submitted to the SONATA BIS call. The foregoing does not apply to the principal investigators in proposals submitted to the OPUS LAP call.

The principal investigator must reside in Poland for at least 50% of the project duration period and be available to the host institution. The foregoing obligation does not apply to evidenced project-related business trips or holiday, time off work and other absence at work governed by the applicable laws.

The principal investigator must be a person employed at the host institution for the entire project duration period pursuant to at least a part-time employment contract. The foregoing does not apply to persons receiving a pension under the social insurance scheme.

The total number of NCN projects managed by a researcher and proposals submitted to the NCN and subject to evaluation or recommended for funding, in which that researcher is named as the principal investigator, must not be more than two, or three if the researcher manages at least one project funded under an international NCN call or has submitted at least one proposal to an international NCN call. The foregoing limits shall not apply to the projects or proposals submitted to PRELUDIUM BIS, DIOSCURI, TANGO, COVID-19

Possible combinations are shown in the table below:

¹ Project management applies to the period from the date of signing the funding agreement under NCN calls to the date of submitting the final report on the project performance.

² The limit does not apply to proposals pending evaluation or recommended for funding.

³ Research projects or proposals under NCN calls: OPUS, PRELUDIUM, SONATINA, SONATA, SONATA BIS, MAESTRO and research projects under HARMONIA, SYMFONIA and Covid-19.

⁴ The calls launched by the NCN in collaboration with foreign research-funding agencies include:

• calls launched under EU-funded programmes, e.g., ERA-Net and European Partnerships (UNISONO, POLONEZ, POLONEZ BIS):
• calls launched by the networks of research-funding institutions not co-financed from the EU funds, including within the framework of LAP cooperation (OPUS LAP/ WEAVE, WEAVE UNISONO);
• bilateral calls of the NCN and foreign partner institutions (GRIEG, POLS, IDEALAB, BEETHOVEN, BEETHOVEN CLASSIC, BEETHOVEN LIFE, CEUS, MOZART, ALPHORN, ALPHORN COVID-19, DAINA, SHENG);

Proposals may be submitted to the call covering basic research in any of 26 NCN panels comprising three groups:

• HS – Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences;
• ST – Physical Sciences and Engineering; and
• NZ – Life Sciences.

Under SONATA BIS, research projects may be planned for a period of 36, 48 or 60 months.

The terms of the call do not specify the maximum number of research team members.

According to the terms and conditions of the SONATA BIS call, the tasks to be performed under the project must not include:

• researchers holding an academic title, title of professor, habilitation degree or equivalent degree or title (this condition must be met on the last day of submitting proposals under the call. It does not apply to investigators involved in the project who will receive their academic title, title of professor, habilitation degree or equivalent degree or title in the course of the project); and
• researchers who have cooperated in the implementation of a research project funded following a call for proposals.

Tasks to be performed under the project must involve a PhD student(s), for the total period of at least 36 months pursuant to Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre.

A PhD student who will receive NCN scholarship for research must be selected in an open call.

Apart from the principal investigator and PhD student(s), research tasks in the project funded under the SONATA BIS call may be performed by additional investigators, including:

• post-docs,
• person occupying a specialist supporting position, and
• students.

A post-doc type post is a full-time post designated by the principal investigator for a person who has been awarded a PhD degree within 7 years before joining the project. This period may be extended pursuant to the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre.

• A post-doc type post can be occupied by a person who has been conferred a PhD degree by another entity than the one planning to employ them at this post or has completed a continuous and evidenced post-doctoral fellowship of at least 10 months in another entity than the participating entity and in another country than the one in which they have been conferred a PhD degree.
• A prospective post-doc must be selected in an open call.

Pursuant to the Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre as regards research projects, a specialist supporting position is a full-time employment position planned by the principal investigator for a person supporting the project, such as lab-managers, senior technicians, statistical analysts, etc..

The rationale for involvement of individual members of the research team in the project shall be evaluated by the expert team. Proposals must include the description of competencies and tasks to be performed by individual members of the research team. For more information on the budget for remuneration and scholarships, go to the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre.

The project budget must be well-justified as regards the subject and scope of research, based on realistic calculations and must specify the expenditures to be covered by the NCN (eligible costs).

The terms of the call do not specify the total minimum or maximum amount of funding that can be requested.

A proposal may be rejected at the stage of eligibility check and merit-based evaluation if an unreasonable budget is planned.

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

According to the Regulations, the project budget (eligible costs) includes direct and indirect costs.

Direct costs include funds for:

1. remuneration for the principal investigator:

• 190,000 PLN per annum if the principal investigator is employed full-time and
• up to 8,000 PLN per month if the principal investigator is employed otherwise;

2. remuneration for co-investigators:

• full-time remuneration for post-docs: 140,000 PLN per annum (which may be increased in well justified cases);
• salaries and scholarships for students and PhD students: a total of 10,000 PLN per each month of project implementation;
• additional remuneration for members of the research team - if the principal investigator is not to be employed full-time in the project, his/her remuneration is paid from the pool allocated for additional remuneration;

3. purchase or manufacturing of research equipment, devices and software;
4. purchase of materials and small equipment;
5. outsourced services;
6. business trips, visits and consultations;
7. compensation for collective investigators and
8. other costs crucial to the research project which comply with the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre.

Please note: The costs of publication of monographs resulting from research projects, as defined in §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) may only be incurred following a positive review by the NCN.

Indirect costs include:

• indirect costs 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.

More on costs in NCN-funded research projects

Together with other European research-funding institutions, the National Science Centre is a member of cOAlition S. Therefore, the NCN has adopted an Open Access Policy pursuant to which all research results stemming from NCN-funded research projects must be made available in immediate open access. The policy does not cover monographs, monograph chapters or peer-reviewed collected works.

In accordance with the principles of Plan S, the National Science Centre recognizes 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 journals (hybrid journals), as long as the Version of Record (VoR) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) is published, by the author or publisher, in an open repository immediately upon the article’s online publication;
3. publication in transformative 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).

Manuscripts must be published using the CC-BY licence. In the case of transformative journals, the CC-BY-SA licence can also be used. The CC-BY-ND licence may also be used (regardless of the publication route selected).

More information on open access publication terms can be found here, as amended.

For more information, read the Open Access Instructions.

State aid may be applied for under the call, except where funding is requested by a natural person. For more information, go to the State aid section.

If a project is carried out in an entity, for which funding constitutes state aid, funds for students and PhD students may only be planned as described in the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre.

All documents concerning proposals for state aid must be signed with a qualified electronic signature in the PAdES format.

All parts of the proposal form are described in the proposal form template.

The following information must be provided in English:

1. details of the principal investigator, including information on their academic and research career and research experience, as well as 1-10 papers published in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year (including applicable breaks); for research in art, 1-10 of the most important papers published or artistic achievements and achievements in research in art in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year; information on research project management or other research funding under NCN calls in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year; information on research project management funded under other national and international calls in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year (up to 5 projects);
2. key information on the proposal and host institution for the project (also in Polish);
3. work plan (also in Polish);
4. information on the scope of work carried out by the co-investigators in the project;
5. summary of the project;
6. abstract for the general public (also in Polish);
7. short project description with bibliography (no more than 5 pages, A4);
8. full project description with bibliography (no more than 15 pages, A4);
9. information on research projects carried out in international cooperation and advantages thereof (required only for projects involving research carried out in international cooperation);
10. information on the ethical aspects of the research;
11. information on the data management plan concerning data generated or used in the course of the research project, as required by the proposal; and
12. project budget drafted pursuant to the Regulations.

The proposal form is available here.

Please note: The Oświadczenia administracyjne [Administrative declarations] tab includes a new declaration (“Researchers specified in the proposal”) concerning the names of all persons entered in the proposal who have been or will be involved in the project performance. At this point, enter the names of all persons whose data (name, affiliation) has been entered in another part of the proposal. The applicant is required to notify any such persons that their details have been disclosed in the proposal and will be processed by the NCN. This section is not subject to an eligibility check or merit-based evaluation

Proposals are subject to an eligibility check and merit-based evaluation.

Eligibility check is carried out by the scientific coordinators. Only complete proposals that meet all requirements of the call text are recommended for merit-based evaluation. A proposal may also be rejected as ineligible at the later stage of evaluation.

Eligible proposals are subject to merit-based evaluation performed in two stages:

Stage I:

• individual reviews are drafted by two members of the team and presented at the first session. In the case of a proposal which is assigned an auxiliary NCN review panel specifying disciplines covered by NCN review panels other than the one to which the proposal was submitted, the chair of the team may decide to seek another review from a member of another team;
• the team decides on the evaluation of the proposal based on the individual reviews;
• a list of proposals recommended for Stage II is agreed upon; and
• justifications for the final decision on proposals not recommended for Stage II of evaluation, are drafted.

The data included in the proposal and annexes thereto (with the exception of the full project description) are evaluated at Stage I.

Then, based on the discussions, a list of proposals recommended for Stage II of evaluation is drafted by the expert team at the first meeting.

Please note: Proposals which are assigned at least one auxiliary review panel from another panel than the one to which they are submitted and identified by the chair as requiring an additional individual review, are deemed interdisciplinary proposals. In well-justified cases, interdisciplinary proposals are subject to an additional expert review at Stage I of evaluation.

Stage II:

• individual reviews are made by at least two reviewers based on the data included in the proposal and annexes thereto, with the exception of the short project description. In specific cases, derogations are allowed from the number of individual reviews;
• the reviews drafted by the reviewers are presented by the experts at the second session;
• the experts interview the principal investigator:
  - the coordinator notifies the principal investigator of the interview no later than 14 days in advance;
  - the coordinator provides the principal investigator with the experts’ and reviewer’s reviews of the proposal no later than 8 days in advance;
  - the principal investigator must participate in the interview held in English at the premises of the National Science Centre.
  - in exceptional and well-justified cases, the NCN allows for an interview to be held via available telecommunications tools;
  - failure to appear for the interview is deemed as withdrawal from applying for funding of the proposal under the call;
• the final decision on the proposal is agreed upon by the team based on the individual reviews drafted by the reviewers and results of the interview;
• a ranking list of proposals is compiled, specifying proposals recommended for funding; and
• justifications for the final decisions are drafted for proposals not recommended for funding.

An interview with the principal investigator at Stage II of the merit-based evaluation will be held in English in January/ February 2024.

Additional information on the proposal evaluation procedure can be found in the Proposal evaluation procedure for the expert teams.

Please note: The short and full project descriptions must only be drafted in English.

The evaluation of proposals focuses, in particular, on:

1. compliance with the basic research criteria;
2. quality and innovative nature of the research or tasks to be performed;
3. impact of the research project on the advancement of the scientific discipline;
4. assessment of the feasibility of the research;
5. scientific achievements of the principal investigator, including publications in renowned academic press/ journals;
6. reasons justifying the creation of a new research team and manner in which it is created
7. evaluation of other projects carried out by the principal investigator and funded by the NCN and/or from other sources;
8. relevance of the costs with regards to the subject and scope of the research, and
9. preparation of the proposal and compliance with other requirements set forth in the call text.

Please note: Proposals with a zero score or “no” decision agreed by the expert team in any reviewed criterion must not be recommended for funding. The foregoing does not apply to the data management evaluation criteria and evaluation criteria of ethics issues in research.

Proposals are evaluated by inter-panel teams (consisting of experts from respective panels, i.e., HZ, ST or NZ).

In the case of a proposal which is assigned an auxiliary review panel specifying disciplines covered by other NCN panels than the one to which the proposal is submitted, the chair of the expert team may decide to seek a second opinion from a member of another expert team.

Experts are selected by the NCN Council from among eminent Polish and foreign researchers who are at least PhD holders. Expert teams are established for each call edition. The composition of the expert team is subject to the number and subjects of proposals submitted to each panel.

The call results will be published on the NCN website and communicated to the applicants by way of a decision of the NCN Director within 6 months of the proposal submission date, by 15 March 2024 at the latest.

For more information on the call, read the Information for applicants on the NCN website and Guidelines for applicants to complete SONATA BIS 13 proposals .

Should you have any more questions or queries, please contact us by e-mail at: informacja@ncn.gov.pl or telephone:

If you are intending to submit a proposal to SONATA BIS 13, you should:

1. read all call documents included in the call text, in particular:
   1. Terms and conditions of the SONATA BIS 13 call,
   2. Proposal form template where you can find out about information and annexes needed to complete the electronic proposal form in the OSF submission system,
   3. Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre as regards research projects,
   4. Proposal submission procedure,

2. collect data from the applicant that is required to complete the proposal and find out about the internal procedures that may affect the proposal and project performance (project costs, procedure for acquiring signature(s) of authorised representative(s) of the institution to confirm submission of the proposal); if the proposal is submitted by a group of Polish entities, draw up a research project cooperation agreement , and
3. prepare letters of acceptance from publishers confirming that the paper has been accepted for publication (when the academic and research track record section includes papers accepted for publication but not published yet).

Before the proposal is submitted to NCN:

1. check if all information in and annexes to the proposal are correct. Verification of the proposal for completeness in the OSF submission system by pressing the Sprawdź kompletność [Check completeness] button does not guarantee that information has been entered correctly and that the required annexes have been attached;
2. make sure that all tabs are completed in the correct language;
3. disable editing of the final version of the proposal to NCN; and
4. download the confirmation of proposal submission that needs to be signed by the principal investigator and authorised representative(s) of the institution.

Once the proposal is completed and all required annexes are attached, use the Wyślij do NCN [Send to NCN] button to submit the proposal to the NCN electronically via the OSF submission system.

Upon the end of the call for proposals:

1. evaluation of proposals will be carried out,
2. after each stage of evaluation, the funding decision of the NCN Director will be announced,
3. if the proposal is recommended for funding, a funding agreement will be entered into and
4. the project will be carried out pursuant to the funding agreement.

In the event of a breach of the call procedure or other formal infringements, the applicant may appeal against the decision of the NCN Director with the Committee of Appeals of the NCN Council. The appeal must be lodged within 14 days of the effective delivery of the decision.

Proposals in the call may be submitted by the following entities specified in the Act on the National Science Centre (NCN):

1. universities;
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 2020, item 1383, as amended);
5. international research institutes established pursuant to other acts and acting in the Republic of Poland;

5a. 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;

6. Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences;
7. other entities involved in research independently on a continuous basis;
8. groups of entities (at least two entities mentioned in sections 1-9 or at least one institution as such together with at least one company);
9. scientific and industrial centres laid down in the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1383, as amended);
10. research centres of the Polish Academy of Sciences laid down in the Act on the Polish Academy of Sciences of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1796);
11. scientific libraries;
12. companies operating as R&D centres within the meaning of the Act on Certain Forms of Support for Innovative Activity of 30 May 2008 (Journal of Laws of 2021, item 706);
13. legal entities with registered office in Poland;

13a. President of the Central Office of Measures;

14. natural persons and;
15. companies conducting research in another organisational form than laid down in sections 1-13.

The principal investigator must be at least a PhD holder who, in the proposal submission year or over the last 10 years (i.e. between 01.01.2013 and 15.09.2023):

1. has had at least five papers published in renowned Polish or international academic press/journals,
2. has acted as the principal investigator in at least two research projects funded under national or international calls for proposals (acting as a principal investigator also means managing/ coordinating the work of a research group in international research projects or programmes);

Please note: MINIATURA, UWERTURA, ETIUDA and FUGA are not calls for research projects, therefore the second condition cannot be met on their basis.

3. meets at least three of the following criteria:

• has been a member of a scientific committee of at least one renowned international conference,
• has published at least one monograph,
• has delivered lectures at renowned international conferences,
• has received an international award or prize,
• has been a member of renowned associations, international scientific organisations or academia,
• has other significant scientific achievements,

and in the case of research in arts, a person who is an author of works of art of international significance or works significant for the Polish culture and has actively participated in international exhibitions, festivals, artistic events in fine arts, music, theatre and film.

Scientific achievements should cover the period of the last 10 years prior to the proposal submission year (as of 2013). In specific cases, the period can be extended (§ 9 (6) (a) of the Resolution on the terms and conditions of the MAESTRO call).

Please note: Principal investigators who have managed a research project funded under MAESTRO may submit a funding proposal for another research project under MAESTRO provided that they meet at least one of the following conditions:

• they are ERC grant winners,
• they have submitted a grant proposal to the ERC over the past 5 years which has been evaluated at least in stage I of the call.

Please note: At least five papers listed in the principal investigator’s scientific achievements section should have been published in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year (as of 2013).

Restrictions on submitting proposals are described in Chapter III of the Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre as regards research projects.

One must not act as the principal investigator in more than one research project financed under the MAESTRO call at the same time. Acting as a principal investigator applies to the period from the date of signing the funding agreement to the date of submitting the final report on the project.

The principal investigator must reside in Poland for at least 50% of the project duration period and be available to the participating entity for the project. The foregoing does not apply to documented project-related business trips as well as any holiday, time off work and other excused absences governed by applicable laws.

The principal investigator must be a person employed by the host institution for the research project under an employment contract at least on a half-time basis for the entire project duration period. The employment requirement does not apply to recipients of Social Security pension.

Please note: Principal investigators who have managed a research project funded under MAESTRO may submit a funding proposal for another research project under MAESTRO provided that they meet at least one of the following conditions:

• they are ERC grant winners,
• they have submitted a grant proposal to the ERC over the past 5 years which has been evaluated at least in stage I of the call.

The total number of NCN projects managed by a researcher and proposals submitted to the NCN pending evaluation or recommended for funding, in which that researcher is named as the principal investigator, must not be more than two, or three if the researcher manages at least one project funded under an international NCN call or has submitted at least one proposal to an international NCN call. The foregoing limits do not apply to the projects or proposals under PRELUDIUM BIS, DIOSCURI, TANGO, COVID-19.

Please see the eligible funding requests in the call.

As of 15 March 2023

¹ Project management applies to the period from the date of signing the funding agreement under NCN calls until the date of submitting the final report on the project performance.

² The limit does not apply to proposals pending evaluation or recommended for funding.

³ Research projects or proposals under NCN calls: OPUS, PRELUDIUM, SONATINA, SONATA, SONATA BIS, MAESTRO and research projects under HARMONIA, SYMFONIA and Covid-19.

⁴ The calls launched by the NCN in collaboration with foreign research-funding agencies include:

• calls launched under EU-funded programmes, e.g., ERA-Net and European Partnerships (UNISONO, POLONEZ, POLONEZ BIS):
• calls launched by the networks of research-funding institutions not co-financed from the EU funds, including within the framework of LAP cooperation (OPUS LAP/ WEAVE, WEAVE UNISONO);
• bilateral calls of the NCN and foreign partner institutions (GRIEG, POLS, IDEALAB, BEETHOVEN, BEETHOVEN CLASSIC, BEETHOVEN LIFE, CEUS, MOZART, ALPHORN, ALPHORN COVID-19, DAINA, SHENG);

Proposals may be submitted to the call covering basic research in any of 26 NCN panels comprising three groups:

• HS – Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences;
• ST – Physical Sciences and Engineering; and
• NZ – Life Sciences.

Under MAESTRO, research projects may be planned for a period of 36, 48 or 60 months.

In research projects, in addition to the principal investigator, research tasks may be carried out by co-investigators, including students, PhD students, post-docs and/or senior researchers.

A post-doc type post is a full-time post designated by the principal investigator for a person who has been awarded a PhD degree within 7 years before joining the project. This period may be extended pursuant to the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre.

• A post-doc type post can be occupied by a person who has been conferred a PhD degree by another entity than the one planning to employ him/her at this post or has completed a continuous and evidenced post-doctoral fellowship of at least 10 months in another entity than the participating entity and in another country than the one in which he/she have been conferred a PhD degree.
• A prospective post-doc must be selected in an open call.

PhD students/ students who will receive an NCN scholarship for research must be selected in an open call.

A senior researcher position is a full-time employment position co-financed by the participating entity employing the senior researcher and scheduled by the principal investigator for a person who has been conferred a PhD degree at least 7 years before the proposal submission date and has the expertise, unique competencies and experience necessary to perform the tasks in the project.

Pursuant to the Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre as regards research projects, a specialist supporting position is a full-time employment position planned by the principal investigator for a person supporting the project, e.g. lab-managers, senior technicians, statistical analysts, etc.

However, the rationale for involvement of individual members of the research team in the project shall be evaluated by the expert team. The project must include the description of competencies and tasks to be performed by individual members of the research team. For more information on the budget for salaries and scholarships, go to the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre.

The terms of the call do not specify the maximum number of research team members.

The project budget must be well-justified as regards the subject and scope of research, based on realistic calculations and must specify the expenditures to be covered by the NCN (eligible costs).

The terms of the call do not specify the total minimum or maximum amount of funding that can be requested.

If unjustified costs are planned, the proposal may be rejected at the stage of eligibility check and merit-based evaluation.

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

According to the Regulations, the project budget (eligible costs) includes direct and indirect costs.

Direct costs include funds for:

1. remuneration for the principal investigator:

• 220,000 PLN per annum if the principal investigator is employed full-time and
• up to 10,000 PLN per month if the principal investigator is employed otherwise;

2. remuneration for co-investigators:

• full-time remuneration for post-docs: 140,000 PLN per annum (which may be increased in well justified cases);
• salaries and scholarships for students and PhD students: a total of 15,000 PLN per each month of project implementation;
• additional remuneration for members of the research team; if the principal investigator is not to be employed full-time in the project, his/her remuneration is paid from the pool allocated for additional remuneration;

3. purchase or manufacturing of research equipment, devices and software;
4. purchase of materials and small equipment;
5. outsourced services;
6. business trips, visits and consultations;
7. compensation for collective investigators and
8. other costs crucial to the research project which comply with the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre.

Please note: The costs of publication of monographs resulting from research projects, as defined in §10 of the Regulation on 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) are not eligible until positively reviewed by the NCN .

Indirect costs include:

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

More on costs in NCN-funded research projects.

Together with other European research-funding institutions, the National Science Centre is a member of cOAlition S. Therefore, the NCN has adopted an Open Access Policy pursuant to which all research results stemming from NCN-funded research projects must be made available in immediate open access. The policy does not cover monographs, monograph chapters or peer-reviewed collected works.

In accordance with the principles of Plan S, the National Science Centre recognizes 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 journals (hybrid journals), as long as the Version of Record (VoR) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) is published, by the author or publisher, in an open repository immediately upon the article’s online publication;
3. publication in transformative 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).

Manuscripts must be published using the CC-BY licence. In the case of transformative journals, the CC-BY-SA licence can also be used. The CC-BY-ND licence may also be used (regardless of the publication route selected).

More information on open access publication terms can be found here, as amended.

For more information, read the Open Access Instructions.

State aid can be applied for under the call, unless funds are applied for by a natural person. For more information, go to the State aid section.

If a project is carried out in an entity, for which funding constitutes state aid, funds for students and PhD students may only be planned as specified in the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre.

All documents concerning proposals for state aid must be signed with a qualified electronic signature in the PAdES format.

All parts of the proposal form are described in proposal form template.

The following information must be provided in English:

1. details of the principal investigator, including information on their academic and research career and research experience as well as 1-10 papers published in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year (including applicable breaks); for research in art, 1-10 of the most important papers published or artistic achievements and achievements in research in art in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year; information on research project management or other research funding under NCN calls in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year; information on research project management funded under other national and international calls in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year (up to 5 projects);
2. key information on the proposal and host institution for the project (also in Polish);
3. work plan (also in Polish);
4. information on the scope of work carried out by the co-investigators in the project;
5. summary of the project;
6. abstract for the general public (also in Polish);
7. short project description with bibliography (no more than 5 pages, A4);
8. full project description with bibliography (no more than 15 pages, A4);
9. information on research projects carried out in international cooperation and advantages thereof (required only for projects involving research carried out in international cooperation);
10. information on the ethical aspects of the research;
11. information on the data management plan concerning data generated or used in the course of the research project, as required by the proposal; and
12. project budget drafted pursuant to the Regulations.

The proposal form is available here.

Please note: The Oświadczenia administracyjne [Administrative declarations] tab includes a new declaration (“Researchers specified in the proposal”) concerning the names of all persons entered in the proposal who have been or will be involved in the project performance. At this point, enter the names of all persons whose data (name, affiliation) has been entered in another part of the proposal. The applicant is required to notify any such persons that their details have been disclosed in the proposal and will be processed by the NCN. This section is not subject to an eligibility check or merit-based evaluation.

Proposals are subject to an eligibility check and merit-based evaluation.

Eligibility check is carried out by the Scientific Coordinators. Only complete proposals that meet all requirements of the call text can be recommended for merit-based evaluation. A proposal may also be rejected as ineligible at the later stage of evaluation.

Eligible proposals are subject to merit-based evaluation performed in two stages:

Stage I:

• individual reviews are drafted by two members of the team and presented at the first session. In the case of a proposal which is assigned an auxiliary NCN review panel specifying disciplines covered by NCN review panels other than the one to which the proposal was submitted, the chair of the team may decide to seek another review from a member of another team;
• the team decides on the evaluation of the proposal based on the individual reviews;
• a list of proposals recommended for Stage II is agreed upon; and
• justifications for the final decision on proposals not recommended for Stage II of evaluation, are drafted.

The data included in the proposal and annexes thereto (with the exception of the full project description) are evaluated at stage I.

Then, based on the discussions, a list of proposals recommended for Stage II is drafted by the Expert Team at the first meeting.

Please note: Proposals which are assigned at least one auxiliary review panel from another panel than the one to which they are submitted and identified by the chair as requiring an additional individual review are deemed interdisciplinary proposals. In well-justified cases, interdisciplinary proposals are subject to an additional expert review at stage I of evaluation.

Stage II:

• individual reviews are made by at least two reviewers based on the data included in the proposal and annexes thereto, with the exception of the short project description. In specific cases, derogations are allowed from the number of individual reviews;
• the reviews drafted by the reviewers are presented by the experts at the second session;
• the experts interview the principal investigator:
  - the coordinator notifies the principal investigator of the interview no later than 14 days in advance;
  - the coordinator provides the principal investigator with the experts’ and reviewer’s reviews of the proposal no later than 7 days in advance;
  - the principal investigator must participate in the interview held in English at the premises of the National Science Centre.
  - in exceptional and well-justified cases, the NCN allows for an interview to be held via available telecommunications tools;
  - failure to appear for the interview is deemed as withdrawal from applying for funding of the proposal under the call;
• the final decision on the proposal is agreed upon by the team based on the individual reviews drafted by the reviewers and results of the interview;
• a ranking list of proposals is compiled, specifying proposals recommended for funding; and
• justifications for the final decisions are drafted for proposals not recommended for funding.

An interview with the principal investigator at Stage II of the merit-based evaluation will be held in Polish or English in January/ February 2024.

Additional information on the proposal evaluation procedure can be found in the Proposal evaluation procedure for the expert teams.

Please note: The short and full project descriptions must only be drafted in English.

The evaluation of proposals focuses, in particular, on:

1. compliance with the basic research criteria;
2. principal investigator’s compliance with the criteria of well-established and outstanding researcher laid down in §6 of the Resolution on the terms and conditions of the MAESTRO call,
3. quality and innovative nature of research or tasks to be performed,
4. impact of the research project on the advancement of the scientific discipline,
5. assessment of the feasibility of the research,
6. scientific achievements of the principal investigator, including publications in renowned academic press/ journals,
7. assessment of the results of research projects conducted by the principal investigator and funded by the NCN or from other sources,
8. relevance of the costs with regards to the subject and scope of the research, and
9. preparation of the proposal and compliance with other requirements set forth in the call text.

Please note: Proposals with a zero score or “no” decision agreed by the expert team in any reviewed criterion must not be recommended for funding. The foregoing does not apply to the data management evaluation criteria and evaluation criteria of ethics issues in research.

Proposals are evaluated by inter-panel teams (consisting of experts from respective panels, i.e. HZ, ST or NZ).

In the case of a proposal which is assigned an auxiliary review panel specifying disciplines covered by other NCN panels than the one to which the proposal is submitted, the chair of the expert team may decide to seek a second opinion from a member of another expert team.

Experts are selected by the NCN Council from among eminent Polish and foreign researchers who are at least PhD holders. Expert teams are established for each call edition. The composition of the expert team is subject to the number and subjects of proposals submitted to each panel.

The call results will be published on the NCN website and communicated to the applicants by way of a decision of the NCN Director within 6 months of the proposal submission date, by 15 March 2024 at the latest.

For more information on the call, read the Information for applicants on the NCN website and Guidelines for applicants to complete MAESTRO 15 proposals .

Should you have any more questions or queries, please contact us by e-mail at: informacja@ncn.gov.pl or telephone:

If you are intending to submit a proposal to MAESTRO 15, you should:

1. read all call documents included in the call text, in particular:
   1. Terms and conditions of the MAESTRO 15 call,
   2. Proposal form template where you can find out about information and annexes needed to complete the electronic proposal form in the OSF submission system,
   3. Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre as regards research projects,
   4. Proposal submission procedure,

2. collect data from the applicant that is required to complete the proposal and find out about the internal procedures that may affect the proposal and project performance (project costs, procedure for acquiring signature(s) of authorised representative(s) of the institution to confirm submission of the proposal); if the proposal is submitted by a group of Polish entities, draw up a research project cooperation agreement, and
3. prepare letters of acceptance from publishers confirming that the paper has been accepted for publication (when the academic and research track record section includes papers accepted for publication but not published yet).

Before the proposal is submitted to NCN:

1. check if all information in and annexes to the proposal are correct. Verification of the proposal for completeness in the OSF submission system by pressing the Sprawdź kompletność [Check completeness] button does not guarantee that information has been entered correctly and that the required annexes have been attached;
2. make sure that all tabs are completed in the correct language;
3. disable editing of the final version of the proposal to NCN; and
4. download the confirmation of proposal submission that needs to be signed by the principal investigator and authorised representative(s) of the host institution.

Once the proposal is completed and all required annexes are attached, use the Wyślij do NCN [Send to NCN] button to submit the proposal to the NCN electronically via the OSF submission system.

Upon the end of the call for proposals:

1. evaluation of proposals will be carried out,
2. after each stage of evaluation, the funding decision of the NCN Director will be announced,
3. if the proposal is recommended for funding, a funding agreement will be entered into and
4. the project will be carried out pursuant to the funding agreement.

In the event of a breach of the call procedure or other formal infringements, applicants may appeal against the decision of the NCN Director with the Committee of Appeals of the NCN Council. The appeal must be lodged within 14 days of the effective delivery of the decision.

NCN proposals may be submitted by the following entities specified in Article 27 (1) of the NCN Act (hereinafter: the “applicants”):

1. universities,
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 other acts and acting in the Republic of Poland,

5a. 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,

6. Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences,
7. other entities involved in research independently on a continuous basis,
8. 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),
9. scientific and industrial centres laid down in the Act on Research Centres of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2022, item 498),
10. research centres of the Polish Academy of Sciences laid down in the Act on the Polish Academy of Sciences of 30 April 2010,
11. scientific libraries,
12. companies operating as R&D centres laid down in the Act on certain forms of support for innovation activities of 30 May 2008 (Journal of Laws of 2022, item 2474),
13. legal entities with registered office in Poland,

13a. President of the Central Office of Measures,

14. natural persons,
15. companies conducting research in other organisational form than set forth in sections 1-13.

If research projects are carried out by two or more Polish partners applying for NCN funding, they must set up a group of entities (see item 8 above) and as such submit NCN proposals. An NCN proposal is submitted by a leader specified in the research project cooperation agreement concluded by the group of entities. An entity employing the principal investigator acts as the leader of the group of entities.

PLEASE NOTE: If, pursuant to Article 27 (1) (2) of the NCN Act, Polish entities cannot set up groups of entities, they are not eligible to apply for NCN funding of a joint research project.

Template agreement on the formation of a group of entities for the purposes of completion of the research project.

The principal investigator of the Polish research team must hold at least a PhD degree when submitting a proposal. Restrictions on submitting NCN proposals are described in detail in Chapter IV of the Terms and regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded or co-funded under international calls launched by the National Science Centre and carried out as multilateral collaboration UNISONO, annexed to NCN Council Resolution No 32/2023 of 16 March 2023.

The call is open to projects covering one or more of the following subjects:

Democracy, Governance and Trust

1. Concepts, understandings and models of democracy, governance and trust;
2. Education;
3. Media, information and communication;
4. Economies and economic systems;
5. Identities, discrimination, marginalization and inequalities;
6. Ecosystems and environments;
7. Epistemologies, knowledge and expertise;
8. History and culture;
9. Power, authority and conflict.

More information on the subject of the call can be found in the call text and call documents available on the website of the Trans-Atlantic Platform.

Researchers may apply for NCN funding of their basic research projects for the purposes of Article 2 (1) of the NCN Act.

NCN proposals comprising research tasks overlapping with research tasks to be carried out in another proposal that has been already submitted in any NCN call or with respect to which an appeal has been initiated, may only be submitted once the funding decision has become final.

Research projects may be planned in the call for a period of either 24 or 36 months.

In addition to the principal investigator, research project tasks may be carried out by co-investigators, including students, PhD students and post-docs.

A post-doc type post is a full-time post, scheduled by the project’s principal investigator for a person who has been conferred a PhD degree within 7 years before the year of employment in the project. This period may be extended pursuant to the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration UNISONO.

Please note: Researchers who have been conferred a PhD degree in another institution than the one planned to employ them at this post or have completed a continuous and evidenced post-doctoral fellowship of at least 10 months in another institution than the host institution for the project and in another country than the one in which they have been conferred a PhD degree, may be employed as post-docs. Post-docs in the project must be selected in an open call.

PhD students who are NCN-scholarship grantees must be selected in an open call.

The rationale for involvement of individual members of the research team in the project shall be evaluated by the Expert Team. The project must include the description of competencies and tasks performed by individual members of the research team. For more information on the budget for salaries and scholarships, go to the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration UNISONO.

The terms of the call do not specify the maximum number of research team members.

Names of scholarship recipients and post docs must not be specified in full proposals or NCN proposals.

The project budget must be justified as regards the subject and scope of research, based on realistic calculations and must comply with the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration UNISONO.

The maximum budget of the Polish research team is not pre-determined; however, the justification of the expenses versus the scope of tasks is subject to evaluation.

The budget in the NCN proposal should be quoted in PLN, while the budget in the joint proposal, in PLN and EUR.

The EUR budget for the Polish part of the research project in the joint proposal must be calculated according to the following exchange rate: 1 EUR = 4,5259 PLN.

The project budget (eligible costs) includes direct and indirect costs.

Direct costs include:

1. remuneration for the principal investigator,
2. remuneration for co-investigators in the project,

• • full-time employment for post-docs,
• • salaries and scholarships for students and PhD students,
• • the so-called additional remuneration for members of the research team. If the principal investigator does not plan to be employed full time in the project, his/her remuneration is paid from the pool allocated for additional remuneration,

3. purchase of research equipment, devices and software,
4. purchase of materials and small equipment,
5. outsourcing,
6. business trips, visits and consultations,
7. compensation for collective investigators,
8. other costs crucial to the project which comply with the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration UNISONO.

Please note: The costs of publication of monographs (pursuant to §10 of the Regulation on Evaluation of the Quality of Research Activity by the Minister of Science and Higher Education of 22 February 2019 (Journal of Laws 2019, item 392)) resulting from research projects may be incurred following a positive review by the NC.

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.

Please note: The cost of open access to publications may only be incurred as indirect costs. The cost of open access planned as direct costs will be regarded as a formal error.

If an unreasonable budget is planned, a proposal may be rejected in the course of merit-based evaluation.

For more information, go to the Costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration UNISONO.

Please note: We recommend that Polish applicants should consult the budget table of the Polish part of the project with the NCN. Send the budget table in .xlsx format to przemyslaw.puchala@ncn.gov.pl by 20 October 2023.

Proposals in the call may include an application for state aid. For more information, go to the State aid section.

Joint full proposals are subject to an eligibility check performed by the Call Secretariat and national funding agencies participating in the call of the Trans-Atlantic Platform.

Eligible proposals are first individually reviewed by the experts. Then, the Expert Panel(s) established by the Call Secretariat and national funding agencies participating in the call conducts a merit-based evaluation based on the proposals and expert’s individual reviews. Following the recommendations of the Expert Panel, the Funders Forum makes a list of proposals recommended for funding.

At the full proposal submission stage, the Polish applicants must submit their NCN proposals to the OSF submission system which are then subject solely to an NCN eligibility check carried out by the coordinators.

The eligibility check of NCN proposals involves verification of the proposal for completeness, compliance with all terms set forth in the call documents published by T-AP and Resolution No 32/2023 of 16 March 2023 by the NCN Council, including compliance of the budget with the Annex thereto (Costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration UNISONO).

Please note: NCN proposals must be consistent with joint proposals.

Only joint full proposals are subject to merit-based evaluation performed by the Expert Panel comprising experts selected by the research funding agencies participating in the DGT Call of the Trans-Atlantic Platform.

Together with other European research-funding agencies, the National Science Centre is a member of cOAlition S. Therefore, the NCN has adopted its Open Access Policy pursuant to which all research results stemming from NCN-funded research projects must be made available in immediate open access.

In accordance with the principles of Plan S, the National Science Centre recognizes the following publication routes as compliant with its open access policy:

• publication in open access journals and on open access platforms registered, or with pending registration, in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ);
• publication in subscription journals (hybrid journals), as long as the Version of Record (VoR) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) is published, by the author or publisher, in an open repository immediately upon the article’s online publication;
• 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).

More on open access publication can be found here.

The DGT Call 2023 of the Trans-Atlantic Platform will be concluded between July and August 2024. The lead principal investigators will be the first ones to be informed of the outcome. Polish research teams will be notified by way of decisions of the NCN Director.

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.

If you are intending to submit a proposal to the T-AP DGT Call 2023, read the call documents, in particular:

• call text of the T-AP DGT Call 2023 on the website of the Trans-Atlantic Platform;
• terms and regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded or co-funded under international calls launched by the National Science Centre and carried out as multilateral collaboration UNISONO

Before submitting an NCN proposal to the NCN at national level:

1. collect data from the applicant required to complete the proposal and find out about the internal procedures that may affect the proposal and project performance (project costs, procedure for acquiring signature(s) of authorised representative(s) of the institution to confirm submission of the proposal); if a group of Polish entities applies, a research project cooperation agreement is required,
2. make sure that the information in and annexes to the proposal are correct. Checking the proposal for completeness in OSF with the Sprawdź kompletność [Check completeness] button does not guarantee that all information entered is correct and the required annexes have been attached;
3. make sure that all tabs have been completed in the correct language;
4. disable the final version of the proposal to the NCN;
5. download the confirmation of proposal submission which must be signed by the principal investigator and authorised representative(s) of the entity;
6. upload the signed confirmation of proposal submission.

Once the proposal is completed and all the required annexes attached, use the Wyślij do NCN [Send to NCN] button to submit the proposal to the NCN electronically via the OSF submission system.

For more information on the call, go to the website of the Trans-Atlantic Platform.

For the terms and regulations on awarding NCN funding in the call, refer to the Annex to NCN Council Resolution No 32/2023 of 16 March 2023.

Should you have any questions, contact us by e-mail or by phone:

• dr Magdalena Sobas, magdalena.sobas@ncn.gov.pl (before calling, make an appointment)
• Przemysław Puchała, przemyslaw.puchala@ncn.gov.pl,
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