The 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.

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

Dr Maciej Kowalczyk and Dr Monika Tarsalewska are two Polish researchers who will be able to conduct their researches thanks to NCN’s cooperation with the National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) under NAWA’s “Polish Returns” programme.

Dr Kowalczyk will work on ultrastable single-cycle mid-infrared laser sources at Wrocław University of Technology, while Dr Tarsalewska is planning to join the staff of Gdańsk University to investigate enterprise characteristics in the context of corporate misconduct. Each researcher will receive up to 200,000 zlotys in funding.

Ranking list 

The purpose of the “NAWA Polish Returns 2022”  program is to enable outstanding Polish researchers working abroad to return to Poland and conduct their research at Polish host institutions.

Proposals submitted to the NAWA can include a basic research component, which is funded by the National Science Centre. In this particular call, the NAWA peer review team selected 9 projects which meet this criterion. Before they can start working on their projects, the scientists first need to submit a funding application to the NCN. The application will only undergo a formal eligibility check.

The NCN accepts applications on a rolling basis from the moment NAWA decides to grant funding under the “Polish Returns NAWA 2022” scheme until the last proposal with the research component is submitted.

The NCN Council has set aside a total budget of 3 million zlotys for “Polish Returns NAWA 2022”.

Polish-Austrian research projects were evaluated through a Lead Agency Procedure (LAP), with the National Science Centre as the lead agency; the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) then approved the results of NCN’s peer review. Polish teams will be funded by the NCN, while their Austrian partners will get grants from the FWF.

The new winner is dr inż. Agnieszka Tomala from the Kraków University of Technology, who teamed up with prof. Carsten Gachot from the Vienna University of Technology to conduct a project entitled “Next Generation Bioactive Laser Textured Ti/Hap/Mxene Biomaterials". Their research responds to the challenges of an aging society and the increased need for orthopedic implants. Today, implants are designed for maximum longevity, but they are still far from perfect. Regular loading and friction cause wear and tear, generating wear particles that may cause inflammation, and, as a result, damage the entire implant, necessitating its surgical removal or revision. The research project aims at developing a new, innovative composite biomaterial that would significantly improve the biocompatibility and longevity of surgical implants, reducing the necessity for surgical removal or revision. The NCN awarded more than 1.7 million zlotys to the Polish part of the project.

OPUS 24+LAP/Weave ranking lists

OPUS 24+LAP ranking list for FWF (Austria) in .pdf

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 decision for OPUS LAP proposal qualified for funding under OPUS 24 in bilateral cooperation with the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) has 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

“The NCN budget needs to be raised to a level where we can guarantee a success rate of 25% in our calls. This would definitely improve the odds for smaller research centres”, Zbigniew Błocki tells PAP. Błocki also discussed the budget with Science Business.

The acting NCN Director met with Szymon Zdziebłowski from the PAP news agency to discuss the budget of the NCN and the geographical distribution of research funding. He pointed out that the share of the NCN in the state budget has been falling. “Last year, it represented more than 5% of the total research budget, this year, it is already down to under 4%”, he said.

The interview also touched on the issue of centralization in research. Professor Błocki explains that in many countries, research is highly concentrated, with most grants going to just a handful of research centres. He adds that he personally “supports decentralisation, but in Europe, a system of this kind can practically only be found in Germany”.

“For example, in Austria, more than 60% of all grants from a local research-granting agency go to Vienna; for ERC grants, the figure is even higher: 82%. In France and the Czech Republic, respectively, 86% and 63% of ERC grants end up in the capital; in Spain, Barcelona and Madrid get 73% of total ERC resources and in Hungary, Budapest grabs as much as 87%.”, he says.

Professor Błocki also emphasizes that, in Poland, “we need to build a system that would attract the best researchers to regional research centres”. And adds: “Our goal at the NCN is to support top science and we hope it stays that way”.

Full text on Dzieje PAP.

Professor Błocki also discussed the NCN and its budget with Thomas Brent from “Science Business”: “I’m used to the struggle for the budget every year, but we’ve never been in such a dire situation in our 12-year existence”, he said.

Science Business article.

The QuantERA network that supports research in QT has published a series of interviews with researchers heading international research consortia. The network coordinated by the National Science Centre promotes actions to ensure a more balanced participation of women and men in quantum research.

The QuantERA Network promotes and funds ambitious research in quantum technologies (QT), supports collaboration between researchers and research-funding agencies, monitors public policies and strategies in quantum technologies, and creates responsible research guidelines. Strengthening scientific excellence in the countries where research and innovation capacity is below the average EU level (the so-called widening countries) is one of the key measures to ensure responsible research.

Another important aspect is to actively promote equal participation of male and female researchers in research teams. It is particularly important when we realise, based on statistics, that female researchers in physical sciences and engineering still represent a small percentage of researchers at large (ca. 30%).

In the QuantERA calls: 2017, 2019, 2021, women researchers have acted as principal investigators in 51 out of 400 national research teams. At the same time, 77 leaders at the head of international research consortia include only 9 women. Lydia González Orta, representative of QuantERA Spanish partner – the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology, has conducted several interviews featuring women leaders of the QuantERA projects to underline active participation of women researchers in quantum technologies, to learn more about their projects and their scientific and social impacts, as well as to understand their professional experiences and challenges in physical sciences and engineering. Parts of QuantERA interviews concerning promotion of gender balance in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) that address such issues as role models, panels in conferences, childcare, unconscious bias, and gender equality structures in R&I institutions, can be found below:

Yiwen Chu, Coordinator of the MQSens Project, a QuantERA co-funded Project in the 2021 call

“In my opinion, to achieve a more gender-balanced research environment it is necessary to see real-life examples around us. Making women more noticeable in a quantum society could be very beneficial, especially among such groups of young researchers as PhD students. For example, in my field there are groups with many female scientists, which consequently attract even more women”.

Milena D’Angelo, Coordinator of the Qu3D Project, a QuantERA co-funded Project in the 2019 call

“Honestly, I believe that it's not enough to say that women are encouraged to be involved in project proposals. It's a good idea to write it, of course, but it certainly doesn’t make a difference. I think that things will change only when concrete actions are taken. (…) I think that European Union should really support institutions with concrete actions and dedicated work groups, because having gender balance experts at each institution is not that apparent yet. Maybe the first step would be to hire people in that field”.

Costanza Toninelli, Coordinator of the ORQUID Project, a QuantERA co-funded Project in the 2017 call

“(…) we could consider allocating a small budget for the childcare or caring in general during participation in workshops or conferences. This is something concrete that would help women during special moments such as maternity leave or when they look after small kids. The other thing is to require the participation in unconscious bias training for all the PIs. If you really want to be the leader in a European project, you have to know how to deal with these things”.

Marzena Szymańska, Coordinator of the INTERPOL Project, a QuantERA co-funded Project in the 2017 call

“On an individual level, I should mention one famous male professor whom I know to refuse invitations, where there isn’t a minimum percentage of women as speakers. This helps to raise awareness among others. On funding agencies level, it would perhaps help if there were some formal incentives to create more gender balanced teams and consortia”.

Finally, one of the most important ideas in the interviews that should be noted for the future work on gender equality in quantum technologies is needed to consider gender equality as everyone’s business, not just a women’s issue:

“I personally think it is important to address the work-life balance as something more than just a women’s issue. Many times when you arrive to a panel discussion about work-life balance or gender equality, there are only women participants. Hence, the idea that its merely a woman’s problem is perpetuated. I would like to see more encouragement for men to also be involved and talk about these issues”.

- Yiwen Chu, Coordinator of the MQSens Project, a QuantERA co-funded Project in the 2021 call

You can read the full interviews

The QuantERA Network brings together 39 agencies from 31 countries and is coordinated by the National Science Centre. You can find out more

Dr inż. arch. Karolina Zielińska-Dąbkowska from the Gdańsk University of Technology is the first and corresponding author of an article about the impact of light pollution on public health, just published in a special issue of “Science” on 15 June. The article was written as part of a project funded under the MINIATURA 4 call.

Light pollution is a term that refers to all the negative effects of excessive night-time exposure to light on people and the environment. Written by the Polish researcher together with her European and US collaborators, the article was published in a special section of the journal devoted to the impact of artificial light pollution, as well as associated measurements and legal regulations.

Dr inż. arch. Karolina Zielińska-Dąbkowska was awarded funding under MINIATURA 4 to conduct a study entitled “Identyfikacja i ocena mierzalnych parametrów dotyczących wizualnego i niewizualnego wpływu światła na ludzi w środowisku zbudowanym”/“Identifying and Assessing Measurable Parameters of the Visual and Non-Visual Impact of Light on People in Built-up Areas”, and complete a fellowship at the Royal Technical Institute (KTH) in Stockholm.

The article was co-authored by an epidemiologist, Prof. Eva Schernhammer, and two neuroscientists, Prof. John P. Hanifin and Prof. George C. Brainard. Entitled "Reducing nighttime light exposure in the urban environment to benefit human health and society”, it outlines the current state of knowledge about the impact of artificial light pollution on public health, identifies critical areas for future research, and suggests possible remediation measures, including recommendations on how to reduce and manage lighting in urban areas.

“Excessive night-time exposure to light may disrupt the human circadian clock, including human physiology, and interfere with sleep, by limiting the release of melatonin. More and more research is beginning to suggest that it may also increase the risk of chronic lifestyle diseases”, says Dr inż. Karolina Zielińska-Dąbkowska, as quoted on her university’s website, “We need more environmental studies in order to develop better methods of preventing and managing  artificial light pollution and create guidelines for light source and fixture designers and producers so that our lighting could be healthier and safer”, she adds.

Dr inż. arch. Karolina Zielińska works at the Faculty of Architecture of the Gdańsk University of Technology. She has previously worked as an architectural lighting designer for companies in Berlin, London, New York and Zurich.

“The budget of the NCN should be doubled to approximately 3 billion PLN. This would allow us to fund 25-30% of the proposals we receive, ensuring an optimal success rate as compared to other countries. But for now, we are just asking for another 300 million so as to, hopefully, compensate for this year’s inflation (...)”, Professor Zbigniew Błocki tells Wyborcza.biz

In his conversation with Bolesław Breczko, Professor Błocki added that supporting Polish science to prevent the brain drain of top researchers would serve the interests of the entire country. Without access to large deposits of natural resources, he argued, no country today can achieve high economic growth if it fails to invest in science, research and development.

“Unfortunately, Poland lags behind in this respect in many ways, not just in terms of the proportion of research proposals that get funding, which stands at nearly 50% in countries such as Israel or Switzerland. Even if we increased the success rate to 25%, similar to that recorded in Germany, we would still lag behind, and for or a very simple reason: these 25% of projects get more funding in Germany than they could ever hope for over here. We would love to have a budget of 3 billion PLN, while they have a budget of 3 billion EUR. The budget of the Dutch agency is 2 billion EUR. And yet our researchers are expected to compete on the same field”, said the director.

Prof. Błocki also warned that without the 300 million he requested together with the President of the NCN Council from the Ministry of Education and Science at the beginning of June, „ the NCN will continue to function as usual, but the success rate will continue to drop”.

“However, it is not the future of the NCN that we should be concerned about; it is the future of Polish research, society and our economy, which will bear the full brunt of the neglect of research in Poland. This is not about the NCN, but about the long-term growth of our country and the increasing brain drain of young researchers unable to find prospects for growth here”, summed up Professor Zbigniew Błocki.

The interview was published on 23 June.

Last week, the director also talked about the need for increased research funding at TOK FM radio. “Funding basic research, which is the focus of the NCN, is, to my mind, the main role of the state when it comes to research funding. It’s critically important for the economy”, he said.

On 15 September 2023, we are launching the OPUS 26 call for research projects including collaborative LAP projects within the framework of the Weave programme.

LAP cooperation under the OPUS 26 call within the framework of the Weave programme

As of 2023, the National Science Centre has cooperated with the following partner institutions under the Weave programme:

• Austrian Science Fund (FWF) from Austria,
• Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) from the Czech Republic,
• Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (ARIS) from Slovenia,
• Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) from Switzerland,
• German Research Foundation (DFG) from Germany,
• Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) from Luxembourg,
• Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) from Belgium - Flanders.

The NCN acting as the lead agency under OPUS 26 will perform the merit-based evaluation of OPUS LAP proposals for bilateral or trilateral research projects carried out under the Weave programme by research teams from Poland, as well as the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Belgium Flanders.

If a research project is recommended for funding, the NCN will provide funds for the Polish research teams, while the foreign research teams will be funded by the other partner institutions (FWF, GAČR, ARRS, DFG, SNSF, FNR, FWO).

OPUS LAP proposals under OPUS 26 are eligible as long as they:

• are drafted by the Polish research teams in cooperation with foreign teams under Weave, in compliance with the OPUS 26 call announcement, which will be published on the NCN website on 15 September 2023;
• concern any academic discipline covered by the NCN review panels
• involve basic research that has not been funded by the NCN or from other sources;
• are based on an equal and complementary contribution by all research teams applying for parallel funding of their research projects to their respective research-funding institutions under Weave. This is to say that the contribution of each research team involved in the project must be significant and necessary and their respective tasks should complement one another to create a coherent joint research project. Any OPUS LAP proposal deemed by the Expert Team not to meet the foregoing criteria will not be eligible for funding.

An OPUS LAP proposal must be submitted to the NCN by the Polish research team via the OSF submission system available at: https://osf.opi.org.pl between 15 September and 15 December 2023, 4 p.m.

Each foreign research team involved in the project must submit a funding proposal to the relevant research-funding institution under Weave, including a set of required documents, before the deadline and in accordance with the terms and conditions.

If a partner institution under Weave requires applicants to submit a copy of the OPUS LAP proposal, a complete English language version of the OPUS LAP proposal in PDF format must be generated in the OSF submission system and sent to the foreign research team.

PLEASE NOTE: OPUS LAP proposals submitted to the NCN must be consistent with the proposals submitted to the partner institutions.

NCN Contact Persons:

General inquiries

Magdalena Dobrzańska-Bzowska

Magdalena Nowak, PHD

Scientific Coordinator:

Oskar Wolski, PHD

69 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 2.5 million PLN in research funding from the NCN. Check out the second ranking list of the MINIATURA 7 call, this time for proposals submitted in March.

Under the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences panel, grants were awarded to 27 researchers. Dr Agnieszka Kamyk-Wawryszuk from the University of Bydgoszcz will travel for a consultation to Trinity College Dublin to analyse how parents of children on mechanical ventilation or with a rare disability cope when their child’s health begins to deteriorate.

Experts in the MINIATURA 7 call also selected 20 winners in Physical Sciences and Engineering. Dr Roksana Kruć-Fijałkowska from the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznań will use her grant to analyse the content of harmful microplastics in drinking water from artificial infiltration intakes.

The 22 winners in the Life Sciences panel include Dr Mateusz Kurek from the Jagiellonian University, who will travel for a research fellowship in Copenhagen, where he will focus on the mathematical analysis of in-line spectroscopic data from the hot-melt extrusion process.

All the topics can be found in the ranking list.

LISTS

LIST NO. 2

Funding per panel:

• Art, Humanities and Social Sciences – PLN 791,086
• Physical Sciences and Engineering – PLN 790,984
• Life Sciences – PLN 980,990

The total budget of projects that made the cut for the second MINIATURA 7 ranking list amounts to over 2,563,000 PLN.

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. Since a large number of researchers wait to submit their proposals during the last month before the deadline, we would encourage you not to put off your decision to apply until the very last moment.

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.