On 2 June 2026, representatives of European institutions, research organisations, research infrastructures and scientific communities gathered in Brussels to discuss one of the increasingly strategic issues for European research and innovation: how to build a research data ecosystem that is secure, resilient, interoperable and sovereign. The policy discussion Research Data in Europe: Security, Sovereignty and Resilience was hosted at the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the European Union and jointly organised by the Permanent Representation, the National Science Centre Poland (NCN) and the PolSCA Office of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Brussels.

The meeting took place at a particularly important moment for Europe. As highlighted during the opening remarks, research data has become a strategic resource not only for scientific excellence but also for Europe's competitiveness, technological sovereignty and capacity to respond to major societal challenges. In the context of ongoing discussions on the future Framework Programme (FP10), the role of research data, digital infrastructures, open science and AI readiness is gaining increasing prominence. The event brought together approximately 50 participants representing various elements of the R&I ecosystem in Europe.

Research data at the heart of Europe's strategic ambitions

The meeting was opened by Magdalena Kula (Research Attaché, Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the EU), Krzysztof Jóźwiak (Director of the National Science Centre) and Tomasz Poprawka (Director, PolSCA Office of the Polish Academy of Sciences).

The first session provided a policy perspective on research data security and sovereignty in Europe. Michael Arentoft (European Commission, DG RTD), Lidia Borrell-Damian (Science Europe) and Daniel Wójcik (European Brain Council and Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAS) reflected on the growing importance of research data for scientific collaboration, innovation and evidence-based policymaking. The discussion emphasised that Europe’s research data landscape remains fragmented and that stronger coordination, trusted infrastructures and long-term investments are needed to unlock the full value of data across borders and disciplines.

A recurring theme throughout the event was the need to understand data security in a broad sense. Participants agreed that security is not limited to technical protection or cybersecurity measures. It also encompasses legal and ethical safeguards, responsible governance, long-term preservation of critical datasets, and the ability to ensure trust throughout the entire data lifecycle: from collection and stewardship to sharing and reuse.

Building a trusted and resilient research data ecosystem

The panel discussion, moderated by Klaus Tochtermann, President of the EOSC Association, brought together perspectives from European and national research communities. Representatives of SURF in the Netherlands (Ron Augustus), CSC – IT Center for Science in Finland (Irina Kupiainen), EMBL (Plamena Markova) and the Institute of Oceanology PAS (Sławomir Sagan) discussed how Europe can strengthen resilience while maintaining openness and international collaboration. Panellists highlighted the importance of interoperability, sustainable digital infrastructures, data stewardship skills and trusted partnerships across the European Research Area.

Particular attention was devoted to the role of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). Speakers noted that EOSC demonstrates how openness and security can reinforce rather than contradict one another. By federating distributed research data resources and promoting common standards, EOSC contributes to building a European environment based on trust, responsibility, interoperability and high-quality data management. As several participants stressed, data sovereignty should not be understood as isolation, but as the capacity to cooperate on European terms while maintaining control over critical resources and infrastructures.

The discussion concluded with a shared recognition that research data is no longer a supporting element of research projects but an increasingly decisive factor in their success and long-term impact. Building a secure, trusted and resilient European research data ecosystem will therefore require continued cooperation among policymakers, funding organisations, research infrastructures and scientific communities across Europe.

Poland in the European research data landscape

Beyond the discussion itself, the event also provided an opportunity to highlight Poland’s growing engagement in the development of the EOSC and the broader European research data ecosystem. Through the activities of the National Science Centre Poland (NCN), Polish research institutions and scientific communities are increasingly connected to European efforts aimed at advancing open science, FAIR data principles, interoperable infrastructures and responsible data stewardship. 

As one of the organisations actively involved in EOSC-related initiatives and policy discussions, NCN contributes to strengthening the integration of Polish researchers into the European Research Area, helping ensure that research data generated in Poland can be securely shared, discovered and reused within a trusted European framework. NCN coordinates the national EOSC-PL node, which has participated in the EOSC Federation since its establishment in 2025. The Polish node is developed jointly in partnership with Cyfronet AGH University of Kraków, Gdańsk University of Technology, Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modelling at the University of Warsaw, and the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Biodegradable vascular implants and the history of one of the most important mining regions in Central Europe – these are the topics of the projects of the latest recipients of the Weave-UNISONO call, carried out by researchers from Poland and Germany.

The team from the Warsaw University of Technology, led by Dr hab. inż. Beata Butruk-Raszeja, in cooperation with the University Hospital Erlangen, will develop biodegradable nanofibrous materials for the tissue engineering of blood vessels. The researchers plan to create implants that can support the reconstruction of blood vessel walls while reducing the risk of infection and inflammation through the use of antibacterial and anti-inflammatory substances. In the future, this solution may increase the availability of effective vascular grafts for patients with cardiovascular diseases.

In turn, researchers from the University of Silesia, led by Prof. Dr hab. Ireneusz Malik, together with partners from Germany, will carry out a comprehensive study of the area inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in Tarnowskie Góry. The project will provide a better understanding of the centuries-long history of mining activity in the region and its impact on the landscape and the environment. The researchers will use geoarchaeological, geomorphological and pedological methods to identify and analyse former mining shafts and heaps. The research findings will provide new knowledge about the transformations of the post-mining landscape and the processes of its natural regeneration.

The proposals were evaluated by the German lead agency DFG, and NCN accepted the results of these evaluations under the Weave programme. The total budget allocated to the work of the Polish teams is almost PLN 1.89 million.

Weave-UNISONO and Lead Agency Procedure

Weave-UNISONO is a result of multilateral cooperation between the research-funding agencies associated in Science Europe and aims at simplifying the submission and selection procedures in all academic disciplines, involving researchers from two or three European countries.

The winning applicants are selected pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure according to which one partner institution performs a complete merit-based evaluation of proposals, the results of which are subsequently approved by the other partners.

Under the Weave Programme, partner research teams apply for parallel funding to the Lead Agency and their respective institutions participating in the Programme. Joint research projects must include a coherent research program with the added value of the international cooperation clearly identified. 

Weave-UNISONO is carried out on an ongoing basis. Research teams intending to cooperate with partners from Austria, Czechia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium-Flanders are urged to read the call text and apply for funding.

On 21–22 May 2026, representatives of the National Science Centre (NCN) and the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) visited Reykjavík and Akureyri (Iceland) to discuss the new edition of the EEA and Norway Grants in the field of R&I. The events were organised by the Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannís) in cooperation with partners from Poland and Norway.

The meetings brought together representatives of the Icelandic research community, universities, research institutes and institutions interested in international cooperation under the new funding schemes. The attendees included representatives of the Polish Embassy in Reykjavík, the Ambassador of Poland to Iceland Aleksander Kropiwnicki and Counsellor Maciej Duszyński.

Ambassador of Poland to Iceland Aleksander Kropiwnicki

New EEA and Norway Grants calls

The purpose of the visit was to present the opportunities offered by the fourth edition of the EEA and Norway Grants in the areas of basic research, applied research and innovation. During the meetings, attendees discussed the calls organised by NCN and NCBR, as well as cooperation opportunities for Polish, Norwegian and Icelandic research institutions.

The NCN representatives presented the Basic Research Programme, including GRIEG BIS, LANGSPIL, and Coordination & Capacity Kick-off and Follow-up calls. They also introduced the SPARK polar research project supporting the involvement of Icelandic partners in the research cooperation previously developed by Poland and Norway.

NCBR presented the POLNORIS call supporting applied research and innovation projects carried out by international consortia of research organisations and businesses.

Polish-Icelandic cooperation and matchmaking tool

The Polish-Icelandic research collaboration was one of the major themes of the event. The hosts emphasised the importance of long-term research partnership building and enhanced internationalisation of research by Polish and Icelandic institutions.

The new matchmaking tool developed by NCN generated considerable interest from the participants. The tool, which can be used by partners looking for projects, facilitates the formation of international research consortia ahead of the upcoming calls. The meetings demonstrated that the Icelandic research community is keen to expand cooperation with Polish research institutions and participate in new funding opportunities offered under both EEA Grants research programmes.

Shared experiences and international perspective

Marzena Oliwkiewicz-Miklasińska

The programme also featured presentations by representatives of Rannís and the Research Council of Norway. A representative of the Research Council of Norway (RCN) discussed the experiences from previous editions of the EEA and Norway Grants. The attendees had the opportunity to discuss prospects for the future cooperation between Poland, Iceland and Norway.

The importance of international cooperation was given particular attention, especially for research development and for addressing contemporary social, technological and environmental challenges.

NCN and NCBR representatives

The National Science Centre was represented by Marcin Liana, Anna Wiktor, Marzena Oliwkiewicz-Miklasińska, Joanna Węgrzycka and Michał Olejnik. Maciej Jędrzejek represented the National Centre for Research and Development.

Under the Weave-UNISONO call, researchers from Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, together with partners from Switzerland and Austria, will examine the genomes of beech forests in terms of their capacity to adapt to variable environmental conditions.

The Polish team, led by Prof. Dr hab. Jarosław Burczyk from Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, in the project entitled 'Seeing the forest through the trees: understanding the significance of individual-level genetic variation for the functioning of beech forests', together with partners from Switzerland and Austria, will investigate the importance of the genetic diversity of European beech for the ability of forests to adapt to climate change. The researchers will analyse over a thousand tree genomes from across the entire range of the species, using genomic data, environmental monitoring and remote sensing techniques. The research will provide a better understanding of why individual trees differ in their resistance to drought and other environmental factors, and which traits are heritable. The project will also produce a pangenome of European beech, presenting the full genetic diversity of the species. The results obtained are intended to help protect beech forests and to support the adaptive management of their genetic resources under progressing climate change. The Polish budget for the project is over PLN 2.5 million. The proposal was evaluated by the Swiss agency SNSF, and NCN together with the Austrian agency FWF accepted the results of this evaluation under the Weave programme.

Weave-UNISONO and Lead Agency Procedure

Weave-UNISONO is a result of multilateral cooperation between the research-funding agencies associated in Science Europe and aims at simplifying the submission and selection procedures in all academic disciplines, involving researchers from two or three European countries.

The winning applicants are selected pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure according to which one partner institution performs a complete merit-based evaluation of proposals, the results of which are subsequently approved by the other partners.

Under the Weave Programme, partner research teams apply for parallel funding to the Lead Agency and their respective institutions participating in the Programme. Joint research projects must include a coherent research program with the added value of the international cooperation clearly identified. 

Weave-UNISONO is carried out on an ongoing basis. Research teams intending to cooperate with partners from Austria, Czechia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium-Flanders are urged to read the call text and apply for funding.

From more stable quantum computers and ultra-fast quantum internet technologies to sensors capable of detecting minute variations in gravitational fields, researchers involved in the projects selected under the QuantERA Call 2025 will work on key technologies underpinning the future quantum infrastructure. The research will combine quantum physics, photonics, mathematics, computer science, and nanotechnology. Notably, as many as seven of the awarded projects will be carried out with the participation of Polish research teams.

The fifth QuantERA call was launched in September 2025 by 34 research funding organisations from 29 countries and attracted significant interest from the scientific community from the outset. A record number of 287 proposals were submitted, from which 39 winning projects were selected. The strong interest in the Call 2025 competition demonstrates the importance of the QuantERA Programme and the need for its continuation, ensuring sustained funding for future research projects in one of the fastest-growing scientific domains. Among the awarded consortia are seven research teams from Poland, including one project coordinated by a Polish researcher. Five projects will receive funding from the National Science Centre (NCN) within the scope of basic research, one project will be funded by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) within the scope of applied research, while one of the Polish teams will finance its participation from its own resources.

– Implementation of Call 2025 reaffirmed the critical role played by the QuantERA initiative in the European quantum ecosystem. Record numbers of proposals have been received in two call topics: 148 in Quantum Phenomena and Resources and 139 in Applied Quantum Science. These figures vividly illustrate the wealth of fresh ideas and concepts that quantum research community seeks to explore through transnational collaborations. 

Thanks to the commitment of research funding organisations participating in the call and the substantial EU financial contribution, in total 39 of the highest-ranked proposals will be funded in both topics. The results of QuantERA-funded projects will undoubtedly strengthen European position in the global efforts to benefit from the second quantum revolution. – says prof. Konrad Banaszek, QuantERA Scientific Coordinator.

List of the projects with the participation of Polish research teams

• EQUALITIES – Efficient Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing via Fine-Grained Logic Gates on Qudit Codes 

  Polish Principal Investigator: prof. Remigiusz Augusiak, Center for Theoretical Physics PAS, Warsaw

  Research team comprising researchers from Austria, Finland, Germany and Spain

• HEMS – Heat and Entropy Management in Superconducting Devices 

  Polish Principal Investigator: dr Maciej Zgirski, Institute of Physics Polish Academy of Sciences

  Research team comprising researchers from Finland, Germany and Italy

• INTEGRA – Innovative Architectures for Next-Generation Trapped Atom Interferometers 

  Polish Principal Investigator: dr Jan Chwedeńczuk, University of Warsaw

  Research team comprising researchers from Austria, France, Germany and Italy

• SDPCode – Semidefinite foundations for quantum codes: convergence, bounds, and constructions

  Polish Project Coordinator dr Felix Huber, University of Gdansk

  Research team comprising researchers from France, Germany and Slovenia

• ToDiQT – Towards Device-independent Quantum Technologies

  Polish Principal Investigator: dr Felix Huber, University of Gdansk

  Research team comprising researchers from Austria, Belgium and France

• QUASIMODO – QUAntum SImulations with MulticOmponent ultracolD atOms 

  Polish Principal Investigator:  dr Emilia Witkowska, Institute of Physics Polish Academy of Sciences

  Research team comprising researchers from France, Germany, Lithuania and Spain

• QUICFIRE – QUantum Internet Components in all-FIbre REalisation for low-loss entanglement distribution  

  Polish Principal Investigator:  dr Michał Karpiński, University of Warsaw

  Research team comprising researchers from Austria and United Kingdom

Rules for increasing doctoral scholarships paid from NCN-funded projects in the event of an increase in the minimum monthly basic salary of a professor employed at a public university.

NCN Director’s Letter  on Doctoral Scholarships in NCN-Funded Research Projects

A list of experts who evaluated in 2025 proposals submitted to the following calls of the National Science Centre as Expert Team members:

• MAESTRO 16, SONATA BIS 14 announced on 17 June 2024; 
• OPUS 28 + LAP / WEAVE, SONATA 20 announced on 16 September 2024; 
• SONATINA 9, SHENG 4 announced on 16 December 2024; 
• MINIATURA 9 announced on 3 February 2025;
• OPUS 29, PRELUDIUM 24 announced on 17 March 2025. 

List of experts in alphabetical order

List of experts in alphabetical order: MINIATURA 9

We wish to acknowledge all the Experts for their commitment and contribution in the evaluation of proposals submitted to the above calls for proposals

The NCN Generation is made up of researchers whose work pushes the boundaries of knowledge and changes our lives – improving health, protecting the environment, advancing technology and deepening our understanding of the world. The protagonist of episode 5 is Maciej Trusiak, who builds lensless microscopes that can image hundreds of thousands of cells in a single frame. Thanks to them, it is possible to check, immediately after a sample is collected, whether a biopsy is suitable for further analysis.

Maciej Trusiak is a professor at the Faculty of Mechatronics of the Warsaw University of Technology, where he leads the computational imaging group. As he himself emphasises, from the very beginning he was driven to “ask his own questions, follow his own path, and pursue his own goals, plans and dreams”. He started out on his own, and today he leads a team of 15. His research is funded by NCN and the European Research Council.

A simple device with a concrete application

An oncological diagnosis often begins with the collection of a small sample – cells or tissue – for example a thyroid smear. A histopathologist assesses it only after the slide has been stained, which takes time, and sometimes it turns out that the material was collected incorrectly and the biopsy has to be repeated.

The lensless microscope developed by Maciej Trusiak’s team makes it possible to check the quality of the specimen immediately after collection, before it goes on for further processing. This makes it possible to detect more quickly that a biopsy needs to be repeated, sparing the patient valuable time. As the researcher emphasises, the device will not replace the histopathologist, but it can become a tool for their preliminary assessment. The first research units are already being installed in the laboratories of biologists and physicians. Implementing a clinical version requires a manufacturing partner and – as the researcher himself estimates – several years of work. The design itself is, moreover, very inexpensive: the camera costs around one hundred dollars, the light source is an LED, and the sample is placed on an ordinary glass slide.

A hologram instead of a lens

A classical microscope magnifies the image using a system of lenses, and the drawback of such a solution is the small field of view – only a few cells can be observed at a time. In lensless microscopy there are no lenses. The sample lies directly above the camera sensor and is illuminated by a beam of light which – passing through the thin specimen – undergoes slight scattering. The undisturbed wave and the wave disturbed by the sample overlap and form a hologram on the sensor array. The image is produced only at a second stage, numerically: an algorithm reverses the propagation of the light and reconstructs the structure of the sample.

Such an arrangement makes it possible to image an entire cell culture – tens, or even hundreds of thousands, of cells at once. This increases the chance of capturing significant phenomena and reduces the risk of drawing erroneous conclusions on the basis of a fragment. The lensless microscope also copes with transparent samples, which do not absorb light and remain invisible to a classical camera. For this purpose it uses phase contrast – a mechanism described in the 1930s by Frits Zernike (Nobel Prize in Physics in 1953). Different intracellular structures – the nucleus, mitochondria, the cytoskeleton – delay the passing light wave to varying degrees, and reconstructing these delays makes it possible to distinguish them within the cell without the need to stain it.

A world record in lensless tomography

Lensless microscopy is currently being developed at many centres around the world – in the United States, China, Germany and the Netherlands. The common goal is to obtain as much information as possible from a single measurement: a wide field of view, a large measurement volume and high contrast when imaging transparent samples. A particular challenge remains tomography, that is, three-dimensional imaging.

The previous world record belonged to the team of Prof. Aydogan Ozcan from UCLA, who imaged a slice of mouse brain 200 micrometres thick. The team from the Warsaw University of Technology has pushed this limit to 500 micrometres, taking into account the phenomenon of multiple light scattering and numerically reversing it. The paper describing this result has been accepted for publication in the journal Light: Science & Applications.

Selected quotes

An advantage over the classical microscope

Classical microscopes allow you to image five to ten cells, which means we have a field of view at least ten thousand times larger. I like to think that this gives us two advantages. Firstly, we increase the probability that we will see something interesting, because we image all the cells. And the second thing is that we lower the probability that we will make some kind of error. If we look only at a fragment of a larger whole, we can very easily form a false impression and misjudge the situation.

Application in diagnostics

The best application that comes to my mind is to assist in diagnostics. (…) We take a smear, for example from the thyroid, we have a sample prepared for examination, but we do not know whether it is diagnostic. The histopathologist first has to stain it, look at it, and may then say that the biopsy was collected incorrectly. And we, before all this happens and we lose valuable time – especially for oncology patients – can quickly check whether the specimen was collected properly.

It begins with curiosity

(…) research on lizard venom led to a change in the treatment of diabetes and in human weight loss. It did not begin with the production of medicines at all. Curiosity is absolutely the most important thing, and it is at the start of every discovery. To realise that curiosity, funding is needed. The National Science Centre is essentially the only body in Poland that funds such research. It is very good that it exists – I would like the NCN budget to be at least doubled.

What does NCN mean for researchers?

I have been using funding from the National Science Centre since PRELUDIUM, which my mentor, Professor Krzysztof Patorski, helped me to write. The OPUS and SONATA grants were an absolute foundation that enabled me to apply for an ERC grant at all. I managed to secure it thanks to the experience I had previously gained by delivering NCN grants and building a team. Independence comes from funding – without NCN’s programmes I would not be in science.

72 researchers have been awarded funding for their research tasks under MINIATURA 10. This is the first round of results. The next lists will be released on a monthly basis. The call for proposals will close at the end of July.  

MINIATURA is a call allowing researchers with no prior experience as principal investigators to enter the grant system, get grant-related experience, and verify and develop one’s research concepts. The so-called small grants can be awarded for preliminary studies, library and archive searches or research visits carried out over a period of up to 12 months. The budget of a single research activities may range from PLN 5 – 50 thousand. 

The call is addressed to researches employed at Polish research institutions, who were awarded their PhD between 1 January 2014 and the proposal submission date, and whose scientific achievements include at least one paper published or accepted for publication or at least one artistic achievement or achievement in research in art. The topics of the call are not pre-defined, and research activities may cover any discipline of basic research. MINIATURA grants must be used to develop a comprehensive research project, the funding of which may be requested under other national or international calls. The process may be supported by mentors experienced in managing research projects funded by NCN or ERC. We suggest that you use our mentor database.

First ranking list

Among all proposals submitted to NCN under MINIATURA 10 in February, 72 research activities for were recommended for funding, with a total value of nearly PLN 2.8 million. Most of them are preliminary studies selected by 60 researchers. Library or archive studies were selected by 13 researchers, and research visits by 17. Some activities combine multiple forms. 

Funding per group:

• Humanities, Social Sciences and Art Sciences (HS): 26 research activities with a total value of PLN 684,178
• Physical Sciences and Engineering (ST): 20 research activities with a total value of PLN 905,187
• Life Sciences (NZ): 26 research activities with a total value of PLN 1,207,584

Topics pursued by successful applicants of MINIATURA

Dr Magdalena Górska from the University of Lodz will receive funding for her project in Humanities, Social Sciences and Art Sciences. She will carry out preliminary research on the aesthetics of error in generative art, combined with a research visit. Under MINIATURA, Dr Sylwia Jędrzejewska from the University of Rzeszów will carry out preliminary research on studies on verification of the dating of cremation graves from the beginning of the Early Middle Ages in Poland using the radiocarbon method (AMS). The successful applicants in Physical Sciences and Engineering include Dr Maria Kubacka from the Gdynia Maritime University who will carry out integrated study of turbidity dynamics in the Vistula Estuary and Gulf of Gdańsk and verify its implications for water quality assessment and satellite data validation. Dr inż. Michał Olejarczyk from the Wrocław University of Science and Technology will conduct preliminary research on the method of recycling polyamide 12 powder for laser sintering via extrusion‑based pulverization. Successful applicants in Life Sciences include Dr hab. Leon Kośmider from the Jan Dlugosz University in Częstochowa. He will undertake preliminary studies on the detection and qualitative characterisation of microplastics in selected coated and uncoated tablets. Dr Jędrzej Borowczak from the Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology will analyse the role of the tumour immune microenvironment and FOLR1 expression in the development of resistance to olaparib in ovarian cancer.

Topics of research activities funded under MINIATURA 10

MINIATURA 10 call for proposals 

Proposals are accepted on a rolling basis until 31 July, 2 p.m.. Submitted proposals are reviewed as they are received, and the call results are published on a monthly basis. The evaluation procedure is simplified as compared to other NCN calls. Proposals are subject to an eligibility check and a single stage merit-based evaluation performed by the expert team. 

The call budget of PLN 20 million, decided by the NCN Council, is divided proportionally to the number of months of the call (from February to July) and proposals recommended by the experts must be within the pool of funds available for a given month. over the last few years we have noticed that many proposals are submitted in the last month of the call. We encourage you to apply earlier! 

We would like to invite researchers interested in the Trans-Atlantic Platform (T-AP) for Social Sciences and Humanities call Preparing for Tomorrow – Societies and Strategies in Times of Transition (P4T Call 2026), to participate in the live webinar on Monday, 8th of June 2026, 15:00 (CEST). During the webinar, general rules and key features of the call will be presented, followed by a Q&A session. The webinar will be conducted in English.

Click here to join the event.

About P4T Call

The “Preparing for Tomorrow – Societies and Strategies in Times of Transition” Call covers four main themes:

1. Uncertainty: sources, costs, communication, and improvement;
2. The many faces of the future and crisis: historical, cultural, and regional perspectives;
3. Scope and coordination of response strategies;
4. Normative inquiry into prevention and preparation for future crises.

The themes are described in more detail in the call text available on the website of the T-AP.

Funding proposals may be submitted by international consortia composed of at least 3 research teams from at least 3 countries participating in the call from both sides of the Atlantic (e.g. Poland-Canada). 

Call Announcement for Polish research teams