JPND Call 2023

Kod CSS i JS

4 January 2023

The National Science Centre (NCN), in cooperation with the JPND network (EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research), is pleased to announce a call for international research projects with the aim of improving the understanding of the complex and multifactorial pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases through multi-OMICS and Big Data approaches designed to find new drug targets and target biomarkers for the development of tailored and personalised treatment approaches to neurodegenerative diseases. The title of the JPND Call 2023 is: Large scale analysis of OMICS data for drug-target finding in neurodegenerative diseases

Funding proposals may be submitted by international consortia composed of at least 3 (and no more than 7 ) research teams from at least 3 countries participating in the call. The principal investigator of the Polish research team must hold at least a PhD degree.

Countries participating in the call: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Israel, Canada, Luxembourg, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey, Hungary, Italy.

Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the NCN Council has decided that proposals submitted to NCN calls must not provide for any collaboration between Polish and Russian entities. Where such collaboration is planned, the proposal may be rejected.

The application procedure:

First stage:

Joint pre-proposals must be submitted to the electronic submission system of the JPND network. At this stage, Polish applicants submit no documents to the NCN. 

Second stage:

  • International level: a joint full proposal drafted by the Polish research teams in cooperation with the foreign partners (in English) and submitted to the electronic submission system of the JPND network.
  • National level: an NCN proposal concerning the Polish part of the project drafted by the Polish research team and submitted to the NCN electronically via the OSF electronic submission system within 7 days of the joint full proposal submission date at the international level.

Call Timeline:

  • Submission deadline for joint pre-proposals: 7 March 2023, 12 noon CET
  • Call for joint full proposals: May 2023
  • Submission deadline for joint full proposals: 27 June 2023, 12 noon CET
  • Submission deadline for NCN proposals in OSF: 4 July 2023
  • Call results: October 2023

Under the JPND Call 2023, funds can be awarded for salaries of the research team members, salaries and scholarships for students and PhD students, purchase or manufacturing of research equipment and other costs crucial to the research project.

The total funding allocated by the NCN for research tasks to be performed by the Polish research teams under the call is 1,000,000 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 = 4.7146 PLN.

Please read:

  • the call documents on the website of the JPND network (applicable to all applicants in the call);
  • information for applicants below and annexes hereto (applicable only to applicants requesting NCN funding).

Show all»

Hide all«

Who may apply for NCN funding?

Proposals in the call may be submitted by entities specified in the Act on the National Science Centre, namely:

  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 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 2020, item 2098),

5b. institutes operating within the Łukasiewicz Research Network,

  1. Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences,
  2. other entities involved in research independently on a continuous basis,
  3. groups of entities (at least two entities mentioned in sections 1-7 or at least one institution as such together with at least one company),
  4. scientific and industrial centres laid down in the Act on Research Centres of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws 2020, item 1383, as amended),
  5. 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 2020, item 1796),
  6. scientific libraries,
  7. 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 2021, item 706),
  8. legal entities with registered office in Poland,

13a. President of the Central Office of Measures,

  1. natural persons and
  2. companies conducting research in other organisational form than set forth in sections 1-13a.

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 institution 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.

A template research project cooperation agreement

Who may act as a principal investigator?

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 28/2022 of 2 March 2022.

What are the subjects covered by the call?

Proposals submitted to the call (Large scale analysis of OMICS data for drug-target finding in neurodegenerative diseases) must focus on one or several of the following neurodegenerative diseases:

  • Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias,
  • Parkinson’s disease and PD‐related disorders,
  • Prion diseases,
  • Motor neuron diseases,
  • Huntington’s disease,
  • Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA),
  • Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

The subjects of the call cover research in the following areas:

  • using the potential from existing animal and cellular models and cohorts, including available data and biomaterial, for conducting large-scale OMICS approaches to unravel the interplay and interactions of molecules from multiple molecular levels driving disease pathogenesis;
  • better understanding the complex and multi-factorial mechanisms of disease onset and progression as well as the corresponding influencing factors;
  • translating the findings from Big Data analysis and multi-OMICS approaches to existing animal and cellular models, thereby enhancing the potential of these models;
  • identification of new drug targets or novel starting points for pharmacological interventions and prevention;
  • sharpening the current understanding of disease definition, thus leading to enhanced sub-classification and better patient stratification;
  • identification of novel and validation of already established biomarkers.

More information on the subject of the call can be found in the JPND Call 2023 announcement.

Please note: Polish 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.

What is the project duration period?

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

What are the positions for members of the research team?

Apart from the principal investigator, research tasks may be performed by co-investigators, including students, PhD students and post-docs.

A post-doc type postition is a full-time postition, scheduled by the project’s principal investigator for a person who has been conferred a PhD degree within 7 years prior to 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: Persons employed as post-docs must have their PhD degree awarded by another institution than the one employing them at this post or must 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. Persons employed as post-docs in the project must be recruited in an open call procedure.

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

An international expert team will review the relevance of involvement of particular members of the research team in the project. The competences and tasks to be performed by particular members of the research team must be described in the proposal. For more information on the budget for salaries and scholarships, please read 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.

Scholarship grantees and post-docs must not be named in either joint or NCN proposals.

How should the project budget be planned?

The project budget must be justified as regards the subject and scope of research and based on realistic calculations. The budget must include expenditures eligible for funding from NCN resources (the so-called eligible costs).

The terms of the call do not specify the minimum or maximum (total) funds that may be requested.

The budget in the NCN proposal must be quoted in PLN, while the budget in the joint proposal, in 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 = 4.7146 PLN.

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

Direct costs include:

  1. remuneration for the principal investigator;
  2. remuneration for co-investigators in the project:
  • full-time remuneration 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 is not to be employed full-time in the project, his/her remuneration is paid from the pool allocated for additional remuneration;
  1. purchase or construction of research equipment, devices and software;
  2. purchase of material and small equipment;
  3. outsourced services;
  4. business trips, visits and consultations;
  5. compensation for collective investigators and
  6. other costs crucial to the project according 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: The costs of publication of monographs (as defined in §10 of the Regulation on Evaluation of the Quality of Research Activity passed by the Minister of Science and Higher Education on 22 February 2019 (Journal of Laws 2019, item 392) resulting from research projects may only be incurred following a positive review by the NCN.

Indirect costs include:

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

Please note: The costs 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.

Where unjustified costs are planned, the proposal may be rejected.

More information on the costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre in 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. The budget table in .xlsx format should be sent to alicja.dylag@ncn.gov.pl by 17 February 2023.

Open Access publication of research results

Together with other European research-funding institutions, the National Science Centre is a member 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.

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

  1. Publication in open access journals and on open access platforms registered, or with pending registration, in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ);
  2. Publication in subscription 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 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 information on Open Access publication can be found here.

Can proposals in this call include application for state aid?

Yes. For more information, please read the State aid rules.

What is the proposal evaluation procedure?

Joint proposals are subject to an eligibility check performed by the NCN, other members of JPND network and the Secretariat of the JPND Call 2023.

Joint proposals that have passed the eligibility check are subject to merit-based evaluation carried out by an international expert team according to the terms of the call announcement.

NCN proposals are subject solely to an NCN eligibility check carried out by the scientific coordinators.

The eligibility check of NCN proposals involves verification of proposal for completeness, compliance with all terms set forth in the call documents and Resolution No 28/2022 of the NCN Council of 2 March 2022, including compliance of the budget with the Annex thereto, i.e. “Costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre in international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration Unisono”.

The information provided in NCN proposals and in joint proposals must be consistent and identical.

Who performs the merit-based evaluation of proposals?

Only joint proposals are subject to merit-based evaluation performed by an international expert team created by the JPND network. For more information on the evaluation of proposals, please go to the call announcement available at the website of the JPND network.

When and how will the results be announced?

The JPND Call 2023 will be concluded in October 2023. Firstly, project coordinators will be notified of the outcome. Polish research teams will be notified of the results by way of a decision 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 lodge an appeal against the decision of the NCN Director with the Committee of Appeals of the NCN Council.

Where can additional information be found?

For more information on the call, please go to the website of the JPND network. The terms and regulations on awarding NCN funding in the call are laid down in the Annex to NCN Council Resolution No 28/2022.

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

Useful information

If you are intending to submit a proposal in the JPND Call 2023, please read:

  1. all call documents, in particular:
  1. JPND Call 2023 announcement on the website of the JPND network;
  2. 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.

National level: before an NCN proposal is submitted to the NCN:

  1. obtain data from the applicant required to complete the proposal and find out about the internal procedures that may affect the proposal and performance of the research project (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 for funding, draft a research project cooperation agreement;
  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 respective tabs are completed in the correct language;
  4. disable the final version of the proposal to the NCN and
  5. download the confirmation of proposal submission which must be signed by the principal investigator and authorised representative(s) of the host institution.

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 system.

Once the call for proposals has been closed:

  1. evaluation of proposals will be carried out;
  2. if the proposal is recommended for funding, a funding agreement will be entered into;
  3. the project will be performed pursuant to the funding agreement 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;

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.

Call documentation

The JPND network:

The call documents applicable to all applicants are available at the website of the JPND network.

The National Science Centre:

  1. 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
  2. Budget table of the Polish research team
  3. NCN proposal form template
  4. Procedure for submitting NCN proposals to OSF
  5. Regulations for awarding scholarships in NCN-funded research projects
  6. Research project cooperation agreement
  7. State aid
  8. Guidelines for applicants to complete the ethics issues form in the proposal
  9. Guidelines for applicants to complete the data management plan form in the proposal
  10. NCN’s Open Access Policy, as amended
  11. Guidelines: Open Access Policy
  12. Code of the National Science Centre on research integrity and applying for research funding

Documents concerning submission of proposals:

  1. Service of decisions of the NCN Director
  2. Guidelines for appealing against the NCN Director’s decisions
  3. NCN's position on collaboration with the Russian Federation within the framework of NCN-funded grants

Documents to be read before starting an NCN project:

  1. Agreement template (Agreement template for winners of the previous Era-Net call launched by the NCN – draft version that may be amended when the agreement is signed with the NCN)
  2. Procedure of conducting audits on host institution premises
  3. Guidelines for entities auditing the implementation of research projects funded by the National Science Centre
  4. Evaluation of monographs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre

NCN Council President in first interview

Wed, 01/04/2023 - 11:04
Kod CSS i JS

“Forum Akademickie” has recently published an interview with Prof. Robert Hasterok, the newly appointed President of the NCN Council. The interview revolves around issues such as the composition of the Council and the challenges it will need to face in the coming months. “I am fully aware that we need to fight to secure more research-funding resources and that was one of the reasons I decided to run for office”, says Prof. Hasterok in his first interview since taking office as the President of the NCN Council for 2022-2024.

fot. Michał Łepeckifot. Michał Łepecki In a conversation with Mariusz Karwowski from “Forum Akademickie”, Hasterok emphasises that he is not interested in party lines and “can talk to anyone, as long as they can help us achieve our strategic goal, which is to ensure better funding opportunities for Polish science and research, here and now”. “Countries that fail to bet on quality science and its constant growth, countries that do not develop and deploy a consistent long-term strategy in that department, get stuck in the middle-income growth trap. Quite simply, in the 21st century, there is no way to enjoy a modern, efficient state without advanced science”, he says and goes on to add that “for the NCN to be able not only to tap its full potential, but, above all, to tap the full potential of the scientific community in Poland, state subsidies need to increase by 150-200 million zlotys per year over the next several years”.

Published in the online edition of the “FA” on 3 January, the interview also asks about the new composition of the NCN Council, the challenges it is facing, and the upcoming appointment of a new NCN Director (Prof. Zbigniew Błocki’s term of office ends in March). Some of the challenges Prof. Hasterok says the NCN Council will need to address in the nearest future include efforts to increase NCN brand recognition among international grant applicants, help NCN call winners in successful applications for European funds, improve the quality of expert reviews and enhance the grant billing process.

JPND Call 2023

Wed, 01/04/2023 - 10:56
Kod CSS i JS

In cooperation with the EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) network, the National Science Centre launches a call for international research proposals devoted to neurodegenerative diseases, entitled Large scale analysis of OMICS data for drug-target finding in neurodegenerative diseases.

Projects funded under the call use multi-OMICS and Big Data to better understand the complex, multifactorial pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders with a view to discovering new drugs and biomarkers to develop new targeted and personalised therapies. JPND Call 2023 is the seventh call organised by the network in cooperation with the NCN. A total of 10 projects with Polish research teams have been funded under the scheme thus far.

The call is open to international consortia made up of 3-7 research teams from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey. The PI of the Polish team must hold at least a PhD degree.

Proposals submitted under JPND Call 2023 must be devoted to one or several of the following neurodegenerative diseases:

• Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias,

• Parkinson’s disease,

• prion diseases,

• amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,

• Huntington’s disease,

• spinocerebellar ataxia,

• spinal muscular atrophy.

Projects may take 24 or 36 months and the grants can go toward funding research team salaries, salaries and scholarships for students and PhD candidates, research equipment and other necessary project expenses.

Pre-proposals may be submitted via JPND’s electronic system until 12:00 (CET) on 7 March 2023.

The total budget slated by the NCN for Polish research teams under the call equals 1 million euro.

Following successful formal eligibility checks, joint proposals will undergo a merit-based review by an international expert team.

The results of JPND Call 2023 will be announced in October 2023 and communicated to project coordinators. Polish research teams will be notified via a decision issued by the NCN Director.

Call for research components under the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme

Mon, 01/02/2023 - 16:00
Kod CSS i JS

We invite proposals for research components in projects funded by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange within the NAWA Chair programme.

The NAWA Chair programme is addressed to selected institutions of the higher education and science system, among others Polish universities, scientific institutes and research institutes. They will be allowed to invite to Poland outstanding specialists from thematic priority areas, who will significantly develop breakthrough research, strengthen their teaching activities and support these institutions in preparing applications for prestigious grants. The programme also offers an option of covering the costs of scientific research in the field of basic research (Research component) financed by the National Science Centre in Poland.

Research components may only be carried out by the visiting scientists who are winners of the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme and have been awarded funds by the NAWA for research projects containing such components. A project team may also be involved in a project if it has been covered by a proposal submitted to the NAWA.

The subject of a research component submitted to the call must comply with the research component covered by the proposal funded under the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme.

The continuous call for proposals shall be open from the date the funding decision is issued by the NAWA under its 2022 NAWA Chair Programme until the last proposal is submitted to the NCN that contains a research component and has been recommended for funding by the NAWA under the Programme.

The Council of the National Science Centre has decided to allocate 3,200,000 PLN for Research Components carried out under the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme.

Please read the call documents.

SHENG 3

Kod CSS i JS

15 December 2022

The scientific coordinators have launched the international bilateral Polish-Chinese Funding Initiative (“SHENG 3”). SHENG 3 is organised by the National Science Centre (the “NCN”) in cooperation with the National Natural Science Foundation of China (the “NSFC”) pursuant to the parallel evaluation procedure, which means that both agencies perform a parallel eligibility check and merit-based evaluation and funding is awarded to projects recommended by both the NCN and the NSFC.

This call text lays down the terms for awarding funding for research tasks carried out by Polish research teams under Polish and Chinese research projects. The terms for awarding funding for research tasks carried out by the Chinese research teams under SHENG 3 are laid down by the NSFC.

The call is addressed at Polish research teams that apply for funding of a research project together with Chinese research teams.

Funds awarded under SHENG 3 may cover the cost of research, remuneration of the research team, scholarships for students and PhD students, purchase or manufacturing of research equipment and for other costs necessary to complete the Polish part of the research project.

15,000,000 PLN will be allocated for research tasks carried out by the Polish research teams under the Polish-Chinese research projects under SHENG 3.

The NCN is open to NCN proposals to which joint project descriptions (JPD) are annexed, as well as CVs with publication lists of the principal investigators and members of the Polish and Chinese research teams. Information in the joint project description (JPD) and the CVs with the publication lists must be consistent with information in the respective sections of the NCN proposals submitted to the OSF system and other annexes thereto.

Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the NCN Council has decided that proposals submitted to NCN calls must not provide for any collaboration between Polish and Russian entities.

PLEASE NOTE: NCN proposals may be submitted by the Polish research teams via the OSF submission system by 15 March 2023, 4 p.m.

Please read the call documents provided in this call text.

Show all»

Hide all«

Who may submit proposals?

NCN proposals may be submitted by entities specified in Article 27 (1) of the NCN Act, hereinafter referred to as the “applicants”, i.e.:

  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),
  4. research institutes operating pursuant to the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1383),
  5. international research institutes established pursuant to separate Acts operating in the Republic of Poland,

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

5b. institutes operating within the Łukasiewicz Research Network,

  1. Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences,
  2. other entities involved in research independently on a continuous basis,
  3. groups of entities (at least two entities mentioned in sections 1-7 or at least one institution as such together with at least one company),
  4. scientific and industrial centres within the meaning of the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1383),
  5. research centres of the Polish Academy of Sciences within the meaning of the Act on the Polish Academy of Sciences of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1183, as amended),
  6. scientific libraries,
  7. 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),
  8. legal entities established with their registered office in Poland,

13a.President of the Central Office of Measures,

  1. natural persons, and
  2. companies conducting research in another organisational form than laid down in sections 1-13.

If a research project is carried out by at least two Polish entities applying for NCN funding, they must form a group of entities (see Point 8 above) and as such may apply for NCN funding. NCN proposals are submitted by the leader identified in the research project cooperation agreement concluded by a group of entities. The principal investigator’s employer acts as the leader of the group of entities.

If, pursuant to Article 27 (1) (2) of the NCN Act, the Polish entities cannot form a group of entities, they may not apply for NCN funding of a joint research project.

Who may act as a Principal Investigator?

The principal investigator in a Polish research team must hold at least a PhD degree when submitting the proposal and manage the work of the Polish research team.

The publication list of the principal investigator (drafted according to the attached template) should include no more than 10 most important papers published or accepted for publication (with letters of acceptance from publishers) in the proposal submission year or over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission year (starting from 2012). The 10-year publication period may be extended in the cases laid down in the Resolution on the terms of and regulations on awarding funding for research tasks carried out by the Polish research teams and funded by the NCN under the SHENG 3 Polish-Chinese Funding Initiative (Point 6 (6) (5) (5)).

PLEASE NOTE: Principal investigators must reside in Poland for at least 50% of the project duration period. This period includes project-related business trips, in particular involving fieldwork, participation in conferences and/or library and archive research.

The principal investigator must be a person employed by the host institution for the Polish part of the research project under an employment contract on at least a half-time basis for the entire project performance period. The person named as the principal investigator in an NCN proposal submitted to SHENG 3 must not be the authorised representative of the host institution for the project.

Are there any restrictions on submitting NCN proposals?

Yes, there are. Restrictions on submitting NCN proposals are laid down in Point V of NCN Council Resolution No 134/2022 of 8 December 2022 on the terms of and regulations on awarding funding for research tasks carried out by the Polish research teams and funded by the NCN under the SHENG 3 Polish-Chinese Funding Initiative.

What can the subject of proposals cover?

The NCN panels are divided as follows:

  • Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (HS 4),
  • Physical Sciences and Engineering (ST)

Proposals submitted under SHENG 3 must cover basic research in one of the following panels: ST (ST1-ST3, ST6-ST7, ST9-ST10) and HS (HS4), laid down in Annex 1 to the NCN Council Resolution on the terms of and regulations on awarding funding for research tasks carried out by the Polish research teams and funded by the NCN under the SHENG 3 Polish-Chinese Funding Initiative.

What is the project’s duration?

Research projects may be planned for a period of 36 months.

What are the requirements with regard to the Joint Project Description and CVs with publication lists?

Joint project descriptions (JPD) and CVs with the publication lists of principal investigators and co-investigators drafted jointly by the Polish and Chinese research teams must be in English.

Information in the JPD and CVs with the publication lists of the principal investigators and co-investigators must be consistent with the information in the appropriate sections of the NCN proposal submitted to the OSF system and annexes thereto.

There is a strict limit of 30 pages for the JPD (page size: A4, font: Arial, font size: 11 or 12, line spacing: 1.15, left-right margins: 2.5 cm, top-bottom margins 1.5 cm). Files with JPDs exceeding the 30-page limit will be rejected by the OSF submission system.

Please upload the CVs with the publication lists for the principal investigators and co-investigators (with their names provided) of the Polish and foreign research teams in English according to the template provided in the call text (CVs with the publication lists do not count towards the limit of 30 pages for a JPD). CVs should include information on the their research career, including research project management (if applicable), research experience at home and abroad (if applicable) and the most important prizes and awards (if applicable).The limit for the research career description is 8000 characters.

Each principal investigator and co-investigator (whose name is provided) should attach a list of up to 10 papers published over the period of 10 years prior to the proposal submission date. Older publications can be cited only if the Polish principal investigator or member of the Polish research team has taken significant career breaks within the last 10 years, as laid down in the Resolution.

In the case of papers that have been accepted for publication but not yet published, the principal investigator and members of the Polish research team are required to attach letters of acceptance from publishers confirming that the papers have been accepted for publication or provide their DOI in the publication list. If these conditions are not met, the respective papers will not be reviewed in the evaluation procedure.

CVs with publication lists must be provided for those Polish research team members only who are not selected in an open call procedure and hold at least a PhD degree. Names of persons to be selected in an open call procedure, including persons to be employed as post-docs from the NCN budget, must not be provided in the NCN proposal or joint project description (JPD).

How can the project budget of the Polish research team be planned?

Creating a project budget is one of the most important aspects in project planning, which aims at identifying the required resources and estimating the costs. The project budget must be 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 proposal may be rejected if an unreasonable budget is planned and/or discrepancies occur between the costs of projects to be carried out by Polish research teams in the NCN proposal and the JPD.

There is no limit for funding but the costs must be justified as regards the subject and scope of research. For more information on the costs of research projects funded by the NCN under SHENG 3, please refer to Annex 2 to the Resolution.

Eligible costs are subdivided into direct and indirect costs.

Direct costs include:

  • salary:
  1. full time remuneration: funds for full-time employment of the principal investigator (170,000 PLN per annum if the principal investigator is employed pursuant to a full-time employment contract) or post-doc(s) (140,000 PLN per annum or more in well-justified cases),
  2. additional remuneration for members of the research team,
  3. salaries and scholarships for students and PhD students,
  • purchase or manufacturing of research equipment, devices and software,
  • other direct costs, including
  1. purchase of materials and small instruments,
  2. outsourced services,
  3. business trips, visits and consultations (PLEASE NOTE: The costs of consultations and visits by Chinese partners who receive parallel funding from the NSFC are ineligible),
  4. compensation for collective investigators, and
  5. other costs crucial to the project that fall under none of the previous categories and comply with the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre under SHENG 3, such as:
  • costs of purchasing data/databases or access thereto,
  • specialist publications, teaching aids,
  • costs of publishing the results of research. The cost of publication of monographs may be incurred once positively reviewed by the NCN.

Costs of promotion of the project and project results may be planned under the project.

Indirect costs must not exceed 20% of direct costs. In addition, indirect costs of up to 2% of direct costs may be spent on Open Access to publications and research data.

When performing the project, the host institution must agree with the principal investigator the coverage of at least 25% of the indirect cost value.

When developing the budget, it is necessary to comply with the regulations concerning the project costs for remuneration and scholarships specified in the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre under SHENG 3. NCN scholarships are awarded pursuant to the Regulations on awarding scholarships.

When developing the budget, it is necessary to consider the following:

  1. NCN proposals must specify the budget for tasks to be performed by the Polish team together with justification of individual cost categories; a JPD – for the tasks to be performed by the Polish and Chinese research teams together with justification of individual cost categories;
  2. the budget in the NCN proposal must be specified in PLN; in the JPD – in EUR;
  3. the budget planned for the Polish team in the JPD must be consistent with the budget in the NCN proposal in the OSF system. The justification of costs planned for the Polish research team in the NCN proposal in the OSF system must be consistent with the justification of the costs in the JPD (the justification may be copied from the NCN proposal in the OSF system and pasted to the relevant section of the JPD);
  4. the budget of the Polish part of the project in the JPD must be calculated according to the exchange rate published by the National Bank of Poland on the date of the NCN Council Resolution on the terms of and regulations on awarding funding for research tasks carried out by the Polish research teams and funded by the NCN under the SHENG 3 Polish-Chinese Funding Initiative, where 1 EUR = 4.6976 PLN (exchange rate published by the National Bank of Poland on 8 December 2022); and
  5. the maximum funding: not specified (the costs must be justified as regards the subject and scope of research).

The proposal may be rejected if an unreasonable budget is planned.

PLEASE NOTE:

  • If the costs planned for Polish research teams in the JPD are not justified in detail, the proposal may be rejected at the stage of eligibility check; the merit-based evaluation of proposals submitted to SHENG 3 is carried out on the basis of the joint project description (JPD) and includes evaluation of the justification of the costs planned for the Polish part of the research project as regards the subject and scope of the research, hence the justification of the costs planned for the Polish research team in the JPD must be comprehensive, detailed and consistent with the justification of the costs in the OSF system. It is not enough to provide the justifications in the budget completed in the OSF system only as the budget presented in the OSF system is not subject to merit-based evaluation performed by the experts. If the costs are not justified in the JPD, the proposal may be rejected.
  • In the case of discrepancies between the costs planned for Polish research teams in the NCN proposal and the JPD, the proposal may be rejected at the stage of eligibility check.
  • Pursuant to the Order by the NCN Director, NCN’s Open Access Policy has been adopted, concerning open access to publications resulting from research projects, scholarships and fellowships as well as research activities funded or co-funded by the National Science Centre.

The costs of publication of monographs resulting from research projects are not eligible (pursuant to §10 of the Regulation on evaluation of the quality of research activities issued by the Minister of Science and Higher Education on 22 February 2019 (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 392)) until positively reviewed by the NCN. The NCN evaluation procedure of monographs is laid down in Order No 32/2022 by the NCN Director, amending Order No 56/2020 on the evaluation of monographs in research projects funded by the NCN of 2 June 2022.

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.

Open access publication of research results

Together with other European cOAlition S agencies, the National Science Centre has drafted its Open Access Policy. In accordance with its vision of open access to research results and publications, the NCN requires that all research results should be made available in full and 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 (VoR2) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM3) is published, by the author or publisher, in an open repository immediately upon the article’s online publication;
  • 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 information on Open Access can be found here.

What can the minimum and maximum number of research team members be?

The terms of the call do not specify a minimum or maximum number of research team members. However, the rationale of involvement of co-investigators in the project is subject to evaluation by the Expert Team. The project must include the description of competencies and tasks to be performed by individual members of the Expert Team.

Please remember that:

  • NCN scholarship recipients or persons employed as post-docs in the project must be selected in an open call;
  • persons to be selected in an open call procedure, including persons to be employed as post-docs and remunerated from the NCN budget, must not be named in NCN proposals, JPDs or CVs with the publication lists;
  • person to be employed as post-docs must meet the terms laid down in the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre under SHENG 3.

Can proposals in this call include application for state aid?

Yes, they can. However, if an applicant is a natural person, the host institution for the project must not be a group of entities or entity for which project funding constitutes state aid.

More information on state aid in research projects funded by the National Science Centre can be found in the State aid section.

If a project is carried out in an institution for which project funding constitutes state aid, funds for students and PhD students may only be planned as “remuneration for students and PhD students” specified in the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre under SHENG 3 (Point 2 (1) (3) (c)).

PLEASE NOTE: The documents related to the application for state aid must bear a qualified electronic signature in the PAdES format.

How can proposals be validly submitted?

A funding proposal for a joint research project must be submitted to the NCN and the NSFC by the Polish and Chinese research teams, respectively. Under SHENG 3, proposals are submitted to two electronic submission systems: OSF for NCN proposals submitted to the NCN and NSFC for proposals submitted to the Chinese agency.

  • NCN proposals must be submitted electronically via the OSF submission system available at www.osf.opi.org.pl by 15 March 2023, 4 p.m. CET.
  • Chinese applicants must submit a set of documents required by the NSFC via its electronic submission system available at http://isisn.nsfc.gov.cn/egrantweb/ by 16 March 2023, 4 p.m. CST.
  • A joint Polish-Chinese research project funding proposal attached to the NCN proposal in OSF must be the same as the one submitted to the NSFC.

PLEASE NOTE: Information in the NCN proposal must be consistent with information in the JPD and CV with the publication list. If any discrepancies are found, the proposal may also be rejected at the stage of eligibility check.

What is the proposal evaluation procedure?

In SHENG 3, proposals are subject to a parallel eligibility check and merit-based evaluation performed by the NCN and the NSFC, which means that each agency performs a separate eligibility check and merit-based evaluation. Proposals submitted to the NSFC are evaluated pursuant to NSFC’s rules and regulations and proposals submitted to the NCN, pursuant to NCN’s rules and regulations. Funding under SHENG 3 is awarded to proposals recommended for funding by both the NCN and the NSFC.

ELIGIBILITY CHECK

Eligibility check of NCN proposals is performed by the coordinators and comprises:

  1. verification of NCN proposal’s completeness;
  2. verification whether the NCN proposal meets the eligibility criteria set forth in the resolution and call text;
  3. verification whether the expenditures outlined in the NCN proposal and JPD as regards the Polish part of the research project comply with the Annex on the Costs in research projects funded by the NCN under SHENG 3;
  4. verification whether the data in the JPD complies with information in the NCN proposal in the OSF system.

A proposal may also be rejected as ineligible at a later stage of evaluation. 

MERIT-BASED EVALUATION

Only complete proposals that comply with the terms of the call laid down in the Resolution and call text that are approved as eligible by both the NCN and the NSFC, shall be subject to merit-based evaluation.

The merit-based evaluation at the NSFC is performed in two stages according to the terms of the NSFC:

  1. preliminary evaluation carried out by the Expert Team established by the NCN. Information in the NCN proposal and annexes thereto are evaluated. Each NCN proposal is evaluated independently by two members of the Expert Team.

PLEASE NOTE: 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 Expert Team may decide to seek a second opinion from a member of another Expert Team.

The Expert Team compiles a list of proposals recommended for the second stage of merit-based evaluation during the first meeting, following a discussion. The proposals are then subject to:

  1. specialist evaluation. The proposals are sent to at least two external reviewers who perform their reviews on the basis of information in the NCN proposal and annexes thereto.

On the basis of the reviews performed by the external reviewers, the Expert Team compiles a list of proposals recommended for funding during the second meeting. 

The list of proposals recommended for funding by the NCN Expert Teams is the basis for the final ranking list compiled pursuant to comparison of the results of merit-based evaluation performed by the NCN and the NSFC. Funding in SHENG 3 is awarded to proposals recommended by both the NCN and the NSFC.

Once the final ranking list is compiled based on the comparison of the results of merit-based evaluation performed by the NCN and the NSFC, information on the results of merit-based evaluation in SHENG 3 will be made available in the OSF system and communicated to the applicants electronically by way of a decision of the NCN Director.

For more information on the proposal evaluation procedure at the NCN, please refer to the Detailed procedure of evaluating proposals by the Expert teams under SHENG 3.

What is reviewed in the merit-based evaluation of proposals?

In the course of merit-based evaluation of proposals, the following criteria are reviewed:

  1. compliance with the basic research criteria laid down in Article 2 (1) of the NCN Act;
  2. scientific level of research or tasks to be performed;
  3. innovative nature of the research problem addressed;
  4. impact of the research project on the advancement of the academic discipline;
  5. scientific achievements of the principal investigators and members of the Polish and Chinese research teams, including publications in renowned academic press/ journals;
  6. evaluation of other projects carried out by the principal investigators and members of the Polish and Chinese research teams and funded by the NCN and/or from other sources;
  7. evaluation of feasibility of the project’s completion;
  8. justification of the costs as regards the subject and scope of research;
  9. complementary nature and legitimacy of international cooperation for the research project; and
  10. development of the proposal and fulfilment of other requirements of the call text.

Proposals are evaluated pursuant to the proposal evaluation criteria for SHENG 3.

PLEASE NOTE:

Proposals with a zero score or “no” decision agreed by the Expert Team in any reviewed criterion may not be recommended for funding. The foregoing DOES ALSO APPLY TO the data management evaluation criteria or evaluation criteria of ethics issues in research.

PLEASE NOTE: If the data management section or ethics issues section are filled in with incorrect or insufficient data, the proposal may be rejected at the stage of merit-based evaluation and may not be recommended for funding. 

Who performs the merit-based evaluation of proposals?

Proposals are evaluated by the 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 may also be evaluated by inter-panel teams (HS, ST) or one team composed of representatives of all research domains (super panel).

When and how will the results be announced?

The call results will be announced on the NCN’s website and communicated to the applicants by way of a decision of the NCN Director by the end of November 2023.

Where can additional information be found?

Should you have any questions or queries, please contact the NCN officers listed below. You can also contact us by phone between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

General affairs:

Dr Magdalena Nowak

Tel.

Show number

 

Magdalena Dobrzańska

Tel.

Show number

Coordinator for Physical Sciences and Engineering

Dr inż. Tomasz Szumełda

Coordinator for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences:

Dr Katarzyna Jarecka-Stępień

Contact at the NSFC:

Jin Xu

Show number

Tech Support

Tel.:

Show number

 

Useful information

If you are intending to submit a proposal to SHENG 3:

  1. read all call documents included in the call text, in particular:
  1. Resolution on the terms of and regulations on awarding funding for research tasks carried out by the Polish research teams and funded by the NCN under the SHENG 3 Polish-Chinese Funding Initiative;
  2. Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre under SHENG 3;

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 deemed a formal error.

  1. Template of Joint project description (JPD) and CVs with a publication lists;
  2. NCN proposal form template, where you can find out about the information and annexes needed to complete the electronic proposal form in the OSF system;
  1. find out about the proposal submission procedure
  2. obtain data from the host institution for the project required to complete the proposal and find out about the internal procedures that may affect the proposal and project performance (cost planned in the project, procedure for acquiring signature(s) of authorised representative(s) of the institution to confirm submission of the proposal);
  3. draw up and compile:
  • a joint project description (JPD) in English and CVs with the publication lists of the principal investigators and co-investigators at the Polish and Chinese research teams,
  • when the proposal is submitted by a group of Polish entities, a research project cooperation agreement, and
  • letters of acceptance from publishers confirming that the paper has been accepted for publication (when the scientific achievements section of the Polish principal investigator and/or member of the Polish research team includes papers accepted for publication but not published yet).

Before an NCN 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 all information has been entered correctly and that the required annexes have been attached;
  2. disable editing of the final version of the proposal to the NCN;
  3. download the confirmation of proposal submission to be signed by the principal investigator and authorised representative(s) of the institution; and
  4. upload the signed confirmation of proposal submission.

Once the proposal is completed and all required annexes are attached, use the Wyślij do NCN [Send to the NCN] button to submit the NCN proposal to the NCN electronically via OSF by 15 March 2023, 16:00 CET.

Upon the end of the call for proposals:

  1. evaluation of proposals will be carried out by the NCN and the NSFC,
  2. following the merit-based evaluation, a funding decision by the NCN Director (awarding or refusing funds) will be communicated to the applicant,
  3. if the proposal qualifies 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 related to actions performed by the NCN, the applicant may lodge an appeal against the decision of the NCN Director with the Committee of Appeals of the NCN Council within 14 days of the date the decision is effectively served.

Call documentation

  1. Terms of and regulations on the SHENG 3 Funding Initiative
  2. Costs in a research project under SHENG 3
  3. Call text – in Polish and English
  4. Joint project description (JPD) in Polish and English, (editable file in English)
  5. CV template of co-investigators in the project in Polish and English, (editable file in English)
  6. Guidelines for Polish research teams
  7. NCN panels applicable to SHENG 3
  8. Proposal form template
  9. Regulations on awarding scholarships in NCN-funded research projects
  10. Research project cooperation agreement (required if the applicant is a group of entities)
  11. State aid
  12. Guidelines for applicants to complete data management plan for a research project
  13. Guidelines for applicants to complete the Ethics Issues form in the research project
  14. Code of the National Science Centre on research integrity and applying for research funding
  15. Proposal submission procedure
  16. NCN’S Open Access Policy

Documents applicable to the evaluation of proposals:

  1. Proposal evaluation criteria
  2. Expert Teams of the National Science Centre – formation and appointing
  3. Detailed procedure for evaluating proposals by the Expert Teams
  4. Service of decisions of the NCN Director
  5. Appealing against the decisions of the NCN Director

Documents to be read before starting an NCN research project:

  1. Order on the implementation of inspection procedure at the registered office of the institution
  2. Guidelines for entities auditing the implementation of research projects funded by the National Science Centre
  3. Evaluation procedure of NCN-funded monographs

NCN Council: first session of its new term

Fri, 12/30/2022 - 14:25
Kod CSS i JS

On 30 December, Włodzimierz Bernacki, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Education and Science, appointed new NCN Council members. On the same day, the new Council held its first session and elected Prof. Robert Hasterok as the new President. Prof. Robert Hasterok during the NCN Award ceremony, October 2022, fot. Michał ŁepeckiProf. Robert Hasterok during the NCN Award ceremony, October 2022, fot. Michał Łepecki

The Minister of Education and Science appointed twelve new members to the NCN Council. The ceremony was held on 30 December at the offices of the NCN, and the nominations were awarded by Prof. Włodzimierz Bernacki, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Education and Science.

“On behalf of my superiors, I would like to declare that, regardless of current and future party lines and divisions, the Ministry of Education and Science will try to increase the resources of the NCN over the next several years, because its effectiveness has more than stood the test of time. After 10 years, we can only see the mission of the NCN in a positive light”, said Prof. Włodzimierz Bernacki, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Education and Science.

The outgoing President of the NCN, Prof. Jacek Kuźnicki, also appealed for an increase in state subsidies for the NCN. “Science is the best investment in the growth of our country”, he said, adding that an annual sum of 150 million zlotys paid to the NCN for the next several years, “would represent a negligible proportion of the state budget, but have an enormous impact on national growth and our position in the world”. He also said that this funding is necessary if we want to keep the young generation of researchers in Poland.

The NCN Director also thanked those council members whose term ended in the middle of December. “I think we can all be proud we have managed to build a modern grant agency, which responds to the needs of Polish science and enjoys recognition in Poland and beyond”, said Zbigniew Błocki, “As I am about to step down as NCN Director, I would like to wish all those who remain on the council many more opportunities to develop the institution for the sake of Polish science; let us not forfeit what we have achieved thus far.” On 30 December, the Council also sat in its first session and elected a new president, Prof. Robert Hasterok, who will remain in office until December 2024.

Prof. Robert Hasterok is a biologist affiliated with the University of Silesia, interested in the molecular cytogenetics of plants. He is an expert in the application of fluorescence in situ hybridisation in nuclear genome research. He was appointed to the NCN Council in 2020.

“The strategic goal of the Council in the next two years will be to convince decision-makers, despite the economic crisis, of the key importance of increasing the NCN’s resources for basic-research funding”, Hasterok said following his appointment. If its budget remains frozen, he warned, the NCN Council will need to resort to “emergency measures, such as changes in the terms and conditions of calls and research projects, which may limit access to its call portfolio”.

“Let us hope as few as possible are needed”, he said. Other issues the new president said the Council will need to address in the nearest future include the evaluation of grant applicants under initiatives such as DORA and COARA, debates on possible modifications of open access funding under Plan S, and changes in the terms and conditions of calls such as MAESTRO and PRELUDIUM BIS.

New Council President: profile

The Council of the National Science Centre is a key authority that defines research disciplines and discipline groups for the purposes of NCN calls, sets funding budgets under individual disciplines or discipline groups, decides on the terms and conditions of individual calls and appoints Expert Teams responsible for the merit-based review of submitted proposals from among prominent Polish and international researchers.

OPUS 22 + LAP/Weave results for projects carried out in cooperation with German researchers

Fri, 12/30/2022 - 14:23
Kod CSS i JS

We have the pleasure to announce the results of the last round of the OPUS 22+LAP/Weave call for projects carried out by Polish researchers in cooperation with German and Slovenian teams. Funding will go to 15 bilateral Polish-German projects (three in art, humanities and social sciences; four in life sciences; and as many as eight in physical sciences and engineering), as well as one trilateral Polish-German-Slovenian project in physical sciences and engineering. The total budget of these projects exceeds PLN 19.9 million.

OPUS 22+LAP/Weave ranking lists

Bilateral Polish-German projects qualified for funding under OPUS 22+LAP/Weave (PDF)

Trilateral Polish-German-Slovenian project qualified for funding under OPUS 22+LAP/Weave (PDF)

The subject matter of the bilateral projects to be funded in the framework of OPUS LAP includes issues in ecology. A life sciences project conducted, on the Polish side, by dr hab. Radosław Włodarczyk from the University of Łódź, for example, will study how immune gene diversity and environmental pollution affect the composition of gut microbiota and, as a consequence, individual reproductive performance. The research will be conducted on a population of the common tern in northern Germany. On the German side, the principal investigator is Sandra Bouwhuis from the German Institute of Avian Research.

Ecology in politics will be the subject addressed by dr inż. Zofia Łapniewska from the Jagiellonian University in cooperation with Claudius Gräbner-Radkowitsch from Europa-University Flensburg. The objective of the project is to better understand the impact of the policy of green transformation on EU countries and regions, as well as to identify those areas in which it creates the risk of social and economic polarization.

Improving Earth Orientation Parameter predictions for real-time geodesy is the title of a project in physical sciences and engineering, which will be carried out by prof. dr hab. Jolanta Nastula from the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences, in tandem with Jan Saynisch-Wagner from the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. Their research aims to estimate the accuracy of predictions for Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP) and improve their quality. EOPs describe the orientation of Earth in space and are estimated by measuring the position of various points on its surface with respect to an inertial reference system. Accurate EOP data are of key importance to scientific research, practical use of the global satellite navigation system, space mission planning, but also to regular users who use GPS to decide their travel route or observe the night sky.

The total budget of all bilateral research projects qualified for funding under OPUS 22+LAP/Weave in cooperation between the NCN and German Research Foundation (DFG) is over PLN 19 million.

Yet another proposal funded under OPUS 22+LAP/Weave will be a Polish-German-Slovenian project entitled Simultaneous functional near-infrared spectroscopy and optically pumped magnetometer-based magnetoencephalography for neurovascular coupling imaging. The three collaborating teams will be headed by prof. dr hab. inż. Adam Liebert from the Maciej Nałęcz Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences,  Tilmann Sander-Thömmes from Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, and Zvonko Jagličić from the University of Ljubljana. The budget of the project exceeds 860 thousand zlotys.

Lead Agency Procedure – LAP

The OPUS 22 + LAP/Weave call invited researchers to vie for funding for research projects to be carried out either independently or in bi- and trilateral cooperation under the LAP procedure, projects conducted with other foreign partners or those that would require the use of large international research equipment. The call was targeted at researchers at all career levels. The LAP procedure is a new proposal evaluation standard adopted at European research-funding institutions, designed to facilitate the funding application process for international research teams and streamline proposal review.

Decision delivery

All the positive and negative decisions for OPUS LAP proposals submitted in bilateral cooperation with the German Research Foundation (DFG) and trilateral cooperation with the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) were sent out today.  Please remember that the decisions of the NCN Director are delivered to the applicant electronically, to the address indicated in the proposal.

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

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

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

Research Components under the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme

Kod CSS i JS

The National Science Centre is pleased to invite proposals for funding of Research Components in projects funded by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (“NAWA”).

Proposals must be submitted electronically via the OSF submission system available at https://osf.opi.org.pl pursuant to the proposal submission procedure. By submitting proposals, the applicants accept the General Terms of the Funding Agreement for a Research Component in projects funded under the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme.

The continuous call for proposals shall be open from the date the funding decision is issued by the NAWA under its 2022 NAWA Chair Programme until the last proposal is submitted to the NCN that contains a Research Component and has been recommended for funding by the NAWA under the Programme.

The Council of the National Science Centre has decided to allocate 3,200,000 PLN for Research Components carried out under the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme.

Please read the Call documents provided in this Call Text.

Show all»

Hide all«

Eligible applicants

Eligible applicants referred to in Article 7 (1), Article 7 (2) and Article 7 (4) – (8) of the Act on Higher Education and Science of 20 July 2018 (consolidated text in Journal of Laws 2022, item 574, as amended) include:

  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 (consolidated text in Journal of Laws 2020, item 1796),
  4. research institutes operating pursuant to the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (consolidated text in Journal of Laws 2022, item 496),
  5. international research institutes established pursuant to separate Acts, operating in the Republic of Poland,
  6. the Łukasiewicz Centre operating pursuant to the Act on the Łukasiewicz Research Network of 21 February 2019 (consolidated text in Journal of Laws 2020, item 2098),
  7. institutes operating within the Łukasiewicz Research Network,
  8. Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and
  9. other entities involved mainly in research independently on a continuous basis that have been awarded an academic category.

Who may carry out a research component?

Research components may only be carried out by the Visiting Scientists who are winners of the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme and have been awarded funds by the NAWA for research projects containing such components. A project team may also be involved in a project if it has been covered by a proposal submitted to the NAWA.

A Research Component covered by a proposal submitted to the NAWA and rejected by its Evaluation Team shall not be recommended for NCN funding and must not be submitted to the Call even if a part of the project funded by the NAWA has been awarded funding under the Programme.

Are there any restrictions on submitting proposals to the Call?

The following restrictions shall apply:

  • Proposals must only be submitted by institutions awarded funding under the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme for their research projects containing a Research Component;
  • Proposals must not be submitted if a Research Component covered by a project submitted to the NAWA has not been recommended for funding by the NAWA Evaluation Team, even if a part of the project funded by the NAWA has been recommended by the Evaluation Team.

What are the topics covered by the call?

The Call is open to basic research proposals in any of 26 NCN panels within three major areas:

  • Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (HS),
  • Physical Sciences and Engineering (ST) and
  • Life Sciences (NZ).

The subject of a Research Component submitted to the Call must comply with the Research Component covered by the proposal funded under the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme.

What can the Research Component’s duration be?

A Research Component shall be carried out over the first eighteen months of performance of the projects funded under the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme.

A Research Component start date must be the same as the start date of the project funded under the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme. If the date on which a Research Component funding decision is issued by the NCN Director becomes final is later than the project start date, the Research Component start date is the date the funding decision of the NCN Director becomes finale.

How should the budget be planned?

In the Planowane koszty [Planned Costs] tab in the OSF submission system, enter the budget of the Research Component only which must be consistent in its entirety with the costs planned in the project funded under the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme.

PLEASE NOTE:

The budget must be in line with the recommendations of the Evaluation Team reviewing proposals submitted to the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme. Proposals disregarding such recommendations shall be rejected on the grounds that they do not meet the eligibility criteria.

For more information on the budget, please go to the “Costs in Research Components funded by the National Science Centre”.

The funding requested for a Research Component must not exceed 400,000 PLN for the entire Research Component performance period.

Open access publication of research results

Together with other European cOAlition S research funding agencies, the National Science Centre is a member of cOAlition S. Pursuant to the Open Access Policy adopted by the NCN, all research results produced under NCN-funded research projects must be made available in full and 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:

  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 (VoR2) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM3) is published, by the author or publisher, in an open repository immediately upon the article’s online publication;
  3. publication in transformation 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).

Articles must be made available using the CC-BY licence (in the case of transformation journals, the CC-BY-SA licence can also be used). The CC-BY-ND licence can also be used (regardless of the publication route selected).

For more information on the Open Access publication rules/ instructions, please go here and here.

More information can also be found in the Open Access Instructions.

Can proposals in this call include application for state aid?

No. Proposals in the call must not include application for state aid. For more information, please read the State Aid Section.

What is the proposal evaluation procedure?

  1. Proposals are subject to an eligibility check only.
  2. An eligibility check is performed by the coordinators.
  3. Only proposals approved as eligible by the coordinators can be recommended for funding.
  4. Applicants whose proposals do not meet the eligibility criteria can submit another proposals incorporating the instructions received from the NCN.

What is reviewed in the eligibility check?

Proposals are only subject to an eligibility check comprising:

  1. verification of a proposal for completeness,
  2. verification of proposal’s compliance with the Call Text;
  3. verification of whether information provided in the proposal submitted to the NCN complies with information provided in the proposal submitted to the NAWA under its 2022 NAWA Chair Programme; and
  4. verification of whether the forecasted costs are eligible pursuant to the Costs in Research Components funded by the National Science Centre.

Call results

The call results shall be communicated to the applicants in the form of a decision of the NCN Director and published on the NCN website.

More information

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

Coordinator in charge of the Call:

Ewelina Szymańska-Skolimowska

E-mail: ewelina.szymanska-skolimowska@ncn.gov.pl

Call Schedule

Please, read our Call Schedule and List of International Programmes and follow us on our website at https://www.ncn.gov.pl/.

Useful Information

If you are intending to submit a proposal to our Call for Research Components:

  1. read the documents included in the Call Text, in particular:
  1. terms and regulations of the Call for Research Components under the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme;
  2. proposal form template;
  3. Costs in Research Components funded by the National Science Centre
  4. proposal submission procedure;
  1. acquire the required information from the applicant to complete the proposal and find out about the internal procedures that may affect the proposal and performance of the Research Component;
  2. draft and prepare:
  • proposal title the same as the title of the Project that has been awarded funding under the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme;
  • Research Component start date the same as the start date of the Project that has been awarded funding under the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme;
  • full proposal submitted to the NAWA under the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme in PDF format;
  • forecasted costs of the Research Component prepared according to the Costs in Research Components funded by the National Science Centre;
  • general budget;
  • information on the data management plan concerning data generated or used in the course of performance of the Research Component, as required by the proposal;
  • information on the ethical aspects, including any consents, opinions, permits and/or approvals necessary to perform the Research Component in accordance with generally applicable laws and best practices adopted for a specific academic discipline, as required by the proposal;
  • in the case of a Research Component which includes clinical trials with a medicinal product or a medical device, a detailed justification of the non-commercial nature of the trials;
  • in the case of a Research Component to be performed in a host institution that does not receive any institutional core funding for research activities, information on research carried out over the last 2 years, together with a list of publications and information on research equipment and other instruments/facilities crucial to research; and
  • declaration by the applicant, as required by the proposal.

PLEASE NOTE:

A proposal submitted to the OSF submission system must include the proposal (in PDF format) funded under the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme. Information in the proposal form submitted to the OSF submission system must comply with information in the proposal submitted to the NAWA and must incorporate the instructions (if any) of the Evaluation Team reviewing the budget of proposals submitted to the Call.

Before the proposal is submitted to the NCN:

  1. check if information in and annexes to the proposal are correct. The 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. disable the final version of the proposal;
  3. download the final version of the proposal, have it signed by the authorised representative of the applicant and submit the proposal with a signature to the OSF submission system; and
  4. submit the proposal to the NCN via the OSF submission system.

The proposal shall be submitted to NCN electronically via the OSF submission system using the Wyślij do NCN [Send to NCN] button.

PLEASE NOTE:

Proposals must be signed with a qualified electronic signature in the PAdES format.

Once the proposal has been submitted to the NCN:

  1. it shall be subject to an eligibility check;
  2. if the proposal does not meet the eligibility criteria, the applicant shall be requested to amend it appropriately and re-submit it to the NCN for another eligibility check;
  3. following the eligibility check, a Research Component funding decision shall be issued by the NCN Director; and
  4. if the date on which the Research Component funding decision of the NCN Director becomes final is later than the project start date, the date the decision becomes final shall be the Research Component start date.

PLEASE NOTE:

No agreement is concluded under the Call. The Research Component is funded and performed pursuant to the General Terms of the Funding Agreement for a Research Component covered by the project funded under the 2022 NAWA Chair Programme. The applicants are required to read the General Terms. By submitting a proposal, the applicants accept the 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.

2022 in a nutshell

Thu, 12/29/2022 - 14:17
Kod CSS i JS

NCN grant holders winning ERC calls, lots of support for young scientists, grants for Ukrainian researchers, a survey about men and women in science and the NCN Gender Equality Plan, NCN Days in Białystok and the QuantERA conference in Kraków – these are but some of the events we have lived and breathed in recent months. Here’s a rundown of 2022 at the NCN.

JANUARY

The European Research Council (ERC) announced the winners of its Starting Grants 2021, including eight researchers affiliated with Polish research institutions. In February and March, StG 2021 grants were awarded to two more Polish researchers. The results of yet another ERC call followed in November. Winners of StG 2022 include four researchers from Poland, who are also NCN holders.

The NCN joined the ranks of institutions that abide by a special code of conduct to prevent the exportation of unethical research practices to low and middle income countries. NCN applicants are now required to plan their research in accordance with the provisions of the Global Code of Conduct.

We organise calls targeted at scientists at all career levels. For many young researchers, NCN grants are an opportunity to quickly gain research independence. A report published by the Analysis and Evaluation Team in January indicates that, over the past six years, the NCN has awarded more than 3.75 million zlotys in funding for researchers without a PhD or those who have earned their PhD within the previous 7 years, which represents a whopping 46% of its total funding budget in that period.

FEBRUARY

We published the findings of our survey about men and women in science. The survey indicates that men and women apply for research funding for very similar reasons. However, women are much more likely to doubt their chances of success in securing research funds. Women’s careers are also hindered by an unequal division of responsibilities within the household. The survey also shows that many more women than men have experienced gender discrimination and gender inequality in their research facility and academic environment. The questionnaire was answered by nearly 6,000 respondents: more than 3,7000 female and nearly 2,100 male researchers at different career levels. For the NCN, the report will serve as a point of departure for designing further measures to level the playing field for men and women in science.

We published the results of MAESTRO 13 and SONATA BIS 11, announced in June 2021. MAESTRO is targeted at experienced researchers, while SONATA is open to those who would like to set up a new research team. 93 projects were qualified for funding.

Five projects that involve Polish research teams were selected for funding in an international call focused on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social life, organised by the Trans-Atlantic Platform for Social Sciences and Humanities (T-AP).

MARCH

We launched a special program for Ukrainian researchers and encouraged NCN grant winners to hire researchers who have fled the war in their ongoing projects. Several months later, we also announced a scholarship programme for Ukrainian students and entry-level researchers, from the EEA and Norway Grants. In total, NCN initiatives helped 111 Ukrainians who found refuge in Poland after the Russian invasion.

Two NCN call winners also won ERC Consolidator Grants, which are available to researchers within 7 to 12 years after their PhD defence. The winners were Prof. UW Dr hab. Marta Bucholc and Dr hab. Jarosław Wilczyński. In July, this prestigious group was joined by Dr hab. Dawid Pinkowicz, prof. UJ, winner of the NCN Award for 2019.

APRIL

M-ERA.NET 3, a network that funds research in materials science and engineering, announced the results of the M-ERA.NET 3 Call 2021. A total of 69.9 million euro in funding was split between 70 projects, 19 of which include Polish researchers. 13 of these teams will be funded by the NCBR and the remaining six by the NCN.

We adopted our Gender Equality Plan for 2022-2025. The document presents a diagnosis of the status quo and lists gender equality measures that the NCN intends take in the future. It analyses the NCN in its twofold capacity as an employer and a research-funding agency. NCN Days in Bialystok, fot. Tomasz HodunNCN Days in Bialystok, fot. Tomasz Hodun

MAY

The town of Białystok welcomed NCN Days 2022. The purpose of NCN Days is to present the activities of the NCN, encourage researchers at all career levels and from different centres to take part in its calls for proposals, and to support them in grant applications. This year, the event was co-organised by various academic and research institutions from the region of Podlasie.

26 teams won grants under the CHANSE call entitled “Transformations: Social and Cultural Dynamics in The Digital Age”. They will study the changes in social relations brought about by the digitisation of households, the dissemination of health-related knowledge in the 20th and 21st centuries and work safety challenges in an era of digital transformation. Polish researchers will be part of almost half of these projects. Coordinated by the NCN, the CHANSE (Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe) network brings together 27 research-funding agencies and non-academic institutions from 24 different European countries.

Three new Dioscuri centres will be opened at the Jagiellonian University. Dioscuri is an initiative of the Max Planck Society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, MPG), coordinated in cooperation with the NCN, which aims to create new Centres of Scientific Excellence in Central and Eastern Europe. In recent years, five centres opened their doors in Warsaw. In July, Dioscuri centre leaders took part in a research-funding and young researcher training workshop, which was held at the MPG in Munich.

We announced the results of the first POLONEZ BIS call. POLONEZ BIS is a programme co-funded by the European Commission and the National Science Centre under the COFUND Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant. In three successive rounds, the NCN will recruit 120 experienced researchers, who will then move to Poland for 24 months to carry out their basic research projects at various public and private institutions. The results of the second round were announced in December and the proposals submitted to the third are currently under review.

An event promoting initiatives for UkraineAn event promoting initiatives for Ukraine

JUNE

We published the first results of OPUS 22 + LAP/Weave, under which researchers at all career levels can apply for funding for bilateral projects conducted in international cooperation within the framework of the Weave programme. Experts selected 8 Polish-Slovenian projects with a total budget of nearly 13 million zlotys. In July, the list grew to include 5 Polish-Swiss projects and twenty two more, which involve bilateral cooperation with Austria and the Czech Republic, or trilateral cooperation with Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia.

JULY

Under the auspices of the President of Poland, we held a special event to present NCN initiatives for Ukrainian researchers.

We published the results of SONATINA 6. 32 researchers from all over Poland, who have only recently earned their PhD, will get a total of 22 million zlotys in funding for research and fellowships at prestigious international research centres.

AUGUST

We announced the first results of the Weave-UNISONO call for proposals submitted in 2022. Weave-UNISONO is the result of multilateral cooperation between the research-funding agencies gathered under the umbrella of Science Europe. Weave-UNISONO aims to simplify submission and selection procedures for research proposals that bring together researchers from two or three different European countries in any discipline of science. Proposals are taken in on a rolling basis. One more round of winners was announced in November. Conference organized by the QuantERA networkConference organized by the QuantERA network

SEPTEMBER

Scientists and representatives of the European quantum industry and agencies that fund quantum technology research came together in Kraków at a conference organised by the QuantERA network. Coordinated by the NCN, QuantERA promotes ambitious research on cutting-edge quantum technology engineering solutions, supports cooperation between scientists and research-funding agencies, monitors public quantum technology policies and strategies, and drafts responsible research guidelines.

OCTOBER

Gdańsk provided the venue for a conference promoting the Basic Research programme funded from the 3rd round of the EEA and Norway Grants. The event was dedicated to polar and climate research.

Karolina Safarzyńska, Michał Bogdziewicz and Piotr Wcisło won the NCN Award for 2022, a prestigious distinction given to young researchers working in Poland. The awards ceremony was held on 12 October at the Gallery of 19th-century Polish Art in the Sukiennice. This year, the awards were given out for the tenth time in history. In December, winners talked about their research in lectures organized by the NCN and the Copernicus Centre. The talks are available online.

The NCN held the EOSC festival – the National Tripartite Event Poland under the banner of “Open Science for Better Science” (in live and online format). The purpose of the festival was to present the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and strengthen cooperation and dialogue between key EOSC stakeholders. EOSC Festival, fot. Michał ŁepeckiEOSC Festival, fot. Michał Łepecki

“Nature” published an article co-authored by Dr Mateusz Tałanda from the University of Warsaw, which sheds new light on the evolution of lizards in the era of the dinosaurs. This was Tałanda’s second publication in the journal.

“Research under pressure. How research institutions and funding organisations react to crises” was the title of the 3rd Polish-German Scientific Meeting held in Berlin, attended by representatives of embassies and 17 research and research-funding institutions from both countries.

NOVEMBER

We announced the results of the MINIATURA 6 call for preliminary and pilot research, library research, research fellowships and study and consultation trips. One of the objectives of MINIATURA is to expand the ranks of NCN winners, encourage researchers working in smaller centres to apply, and to increase equality between regions. Under the sixth edition, funding was awarded to 502 proposals.

Four projects that involve Polish research teams were awarded funding under a call organised by the JPND network: Understanding the Mechanisms for Non-Pharmacological Interventions. Two of these are coordinated by Polish PIs. The objective of the projects selected under the call is to better understand the biology and mechanisms of non-pharmacological therapies in neurodegenerative diseases.

A team led by Prof. Zuzanna Drulis-Kawa from the University of Wrocław will carry out a project focused on antibiotic resistance, which was awarded under the 14th edition of a call announced by JPIAMR: Disrupting drug Resistance Using Innovative Design (DRUID). Polish researchers will coordinate research tasks in cooperation with teams from Belgium, France, Germany and Israel.

DECEMBER

Winners of the NCN Award, fot. Michał ŁepeckiWinners of the NCN Award, fot. Michał Łepecki 576 researchers won grants under OPUS 23, PRELUDIUM 21 and POLONEZ BIS 2.

Prof. Leszek Kaczmarek was appointed as a new member of the Scientific Board of the European Research Council, the most important body of the agency, made up of 22 outstanding researchers. Prof. Kaczmarek previously served as an NCN Council Member in 2010-2016.

We announced a bilateral SHENG call for Polish-Chinese research proposals, organised in cooperation with the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

The Solar-driven Chemistry network announced the results of its call for research projects studying new applications of solar energy. Funding was awarded to a Polish project led by Prof. Joanna Kargul from the Centre of New Technologies of the University of Warsaw.

The Minister of Education and Science appointed 12 new members of the NCN Council.

Happy Holidays!

Fri, 12/23/2022 - 10:43
Kod CSS i JS

Happy Holidays and best wishes for a wonderful New Year!