A seventh research component has now qualified for NCN funding under NAWA’s “Polish Returns 2021”. Dr inż. Ewa Kowalska will arrive at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków to work on plasmon-enhanced photocatalysis as a green solar energy conversion and environmental remediation technology. The budget awarded to her research project equals 200 thousand zlotys.

See the ranking list

The NAWA announced “Polish Returns 2021” on 14 May 2021. The purpose of the program is to enable outstanding Polish researchers working abroad to return to Poland and conduct their research at Polish host institutions.

Proposals submitted to the NAWA can include a basic research component, which is funded by the National Science Centre. In this particular call, the NAWA peer review team selected 11 projects, 9 of which meet this criterion. Before they can start working on their projects, the scientists first need to submit a funding application to the NCN. The application will only undergo a formal eligibility check.

The NCN accepts applications on a rolling basis from the moment NAWA decides to grant funding under the “Polish Returns 2021” scheme until the last proposal with the research component is submitted.

The NCN Council has set aside a total budget of 3 million zlotys for “Polish Returns 2021”.

Dr Dawid Pinkowicz, Professor at the Jagiellonian University and winner of the 2019 NCN Award received an ERC Consolidator Grant.

ERC Consolidator Grants are addressed at researchers with 7-12 years of experience since completion of PhD. In March 2022, ERC grants were awarded to Prof. Marta Bucholc from the University of Warsaw and Dr Jarosław Wilczyński from the Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Prof. Pinkowicz from the Jagiellonian University has recently joint the group of ERC grant winners. Prof. Pinkowicz is a chemist and 2019 NCN Award winner in Physical Sciences and Engineering for designing innovative multifunctional molecular magnets and quantum nanomagnets. The European Research Council will fund his project entitled: “Bringing molecular photomagnets to light – achieving magnets through visible light excitation at room temperature (LUX-INVENTA)”. The aim of the project is to discover molecular photomagnets working at room temperature and to understand their operation mechanisms, thus paving the way for research on their application in everyday objects.

“The aim of my research is to understand new phenomena and new chemical processes, but I must admit that that each time I crystalize a new substance or study its properties or structure I hope for a small scientific revolution” he said in our video promoting the NCN Awards in 2019.

This month, the ERC has also awarded an Advanced Grant to Prof. Andrzej Indrzejczak from the University of Łódź.

This call tackles the challenge of open research data and software from the perspective of their possible reuse. The objective is to create the conditions for research in any domain (within, at the interface or outside ICT) based on open or shared data and software.

Applicants should address in their project at least one of the following target outcomes:

1. Create, enrich or prepare ‘reference data sets’;
2. ‘Editorialization’ of data: Reduce the distance between data producer and expected or even unexpected data re-user;
3. Processes and tools to describe, share, reference, and archive software source code, with the goal to enhance reproducibility of research results.

The call will require that projects are submitted by international consortia with minimum of three eligible and independent partners requesting funding to organisations in the call from at least three different participating countries.

Deadline for proposal submission is 14 December 2022.

A Partner Search Tool to find partners is provided by the CHIST-ERA network, by consulting the list of the so-called Expressions of Interest (EoI) and/or by submitting your own EoI.

The list of countries and funding organisations which have shown preliminary interest in participating in the ORD Call can be found at the CHIST-ERA website.

Please note that this pre-announcement is for information purposes only. It does not create any obligation for the CHIST-ERA consortium nor for any of the participating funding organisations. The official Call Announcement, to be published later, shall prevail.

The leaders of the Dioscuri Centres have taken part in the workshops on various topics, including project funding and training of young researchers. The meeting was held between 11 and 12 July in Munich at the headquarters of the Max Planck Society (MPG).

Dioscuri is a programme devised by the Max Plank Society and carried out jointly with the National Science Centre. It is aimed to create the Dioscuri Centres of Scientific Excellence in Central and Eastern Europe. The programme is cofounded by the National Science Centre with the funds of the Polish Ministry of Education and Science and by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

The first five DCs have been created in Warsaw: two at the Nenecki Institute of Experimental Biology, one at the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, one at the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology and one at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

In May 2022, leaders of the three new DCs were announced. The new DCs will be established at the Jagiellonian University.

On 11 and 12 July, the old and new winners of the Dioscuri Programme took part in the workshops organised by the Max Planck Society to provide them with helpful tools for the establishment and management of the centres and to facilitate knowledge sharing with German researchers. The workshop covered various topics, such as applying for ERC, DFG and NCN funding, leadership, networking and training of young researchers. The participants met with, inter alia, MPG President Prof. Martin Stratmann and visited the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPI).

Fot. Denise Vernillo/MPG

Prof. Andrzej Indrzejczak from the University of Łódź and NCN grant winner has been awarded an Advanced Grant by the European Research Council. He is the second AdG winner and fourteenth researcher working at a Polish research institute with an ERC grant awarded this year.

Prof. Andrzej Indrzejczak is a logician and author of numerous papers on proof theory and non-classic logics. He teaches logic, philosophy and fundamentals of computer science. He is the Head of the Department of Logic and Methodology of Science at the Faculty of Philosophy and History of the University of Łódź. The European Research Council will fund his research entitled “Coming to Terms: Proof Theory Extended to Definite Descriptions and other Terms”. His project will be carried out at the Centre for the Philosophy of Nature of the University of Łódź which conducts interdisciplinary research in the area of philosophy, natural science, physics and mathematics.

He is a winner of two NCN grants awarded under the OPUS call for proposals. His current project focuses on the investigation of some important proof systems for nonclassical logics.

In April 2022, an ERC Advanced Grant was awarded to Prof. Wojciech Knap from the Institute of High Pressure Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, leader of the project entitled “Towards On-Chip Plasmonic Amplifiers of THz Radiation”.

Advanced Grants are dedicated to well-established and outstanding researchers with significant research achievements. In March 2022, the ERC also awarded Consolidator Grants. The winners of the call addressed at researchers with 7-12 years of experience since completion of PhD included two researchers from Poland. At the beginning of the year, the ERC awarded Starting Grants addressed at researchers with 2-7 years of experience since completion of their PhD. It was a record-breaking edition of StG for Poland with 10 grants awarded to researchers from the Polish research institutions. They are all also NCN grant winners.

A list of Polish winners, including winners of the previous editions of ERC calls, is available on the website of the National Contact Point.

fot. M. Kaźmierczak/Uniwersytet Warszawski An interactive map of ERC-funded research projects is available on the website of the European Research Council.

This month, the European Research Council awarded the “Public Engagement with Research Award” addressed at ERC grant winners who perform research involving non-research communities. Dr Artur Obłuski, an archaeologist from the University of Warsaw is one of nine winners of the call. He is also a grant winner of two NCN calls. Dr Obłuski carries out his research in Old Dongola in today’s Sudan. In his work he considers the local point of view and traditional knowledge on cultural heritage.

fot. Jan Bielecki dla NCN “Countries like Poland need to remember that the heroic struggle that Ukrainians are engaged in while fighting for their country is, in its essence, also a struggle for our freedom. It is our historical duty to help them in their plight”, said Professor Zbigniew Błocki, Director of the National Science Centre, during an event held to present the NCN’s initiatives targeted at Ukrainian researchers. The meeting took place on 6 July 2022 at the headquarters of the NCN.

The National Science Centre has been involved in delivering assistance to Ukrainian academics from the very start, launching a number of initiatives that have thus far allowed Polish academic and research centres to hire nearly 100 Ukrainian researchers. During the first days of the war, it drafted a special programme to enable Ukrainian researchers to continue their research in Poland, which is now commissioned by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. We have also made it possible to hire refugee researchers under current NCN projects.

More informations

“The NCN was the first research institution to express its solidarity in the wake of the Russian aggression. We are grateful for the support we’ve already received, but also for the fact that you haven’t stopped helping us. This Polish-Ukrainian research cooperation should be continued even in difficult times, such as the ones we’re facing today”, said Dr Olga Polotska, Head of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine.

dr Olga Polotska, fot. Jan Bielecki dla NCN During the meeting in Kraków, we also announced a new programme for young Ukrainian researchers, funded under the EEA and Norway Grants.

In the coming weeks, the NCN is going to announce a scholarship programme for Ukrainian researchers without a PhD degree. These special scholarships will be paid out for 6 to 12 months; their holders can spend at least half of that time in Ukraine and carry out their grants remotely.  The scholarships will allow around 20 Ukrainian researchers to conduct  projects at Polish academic and research centres. The programme is financed from a bilateral fund of more than 250 thousand euro.

dr Olha Kryvosheia-Zakharova i jej mentorka, dr hab. Agata Wojtal, prof. IOP PAN, fot. Jan Bielecki dla NCN The NCN is also planning to continue its special programme for Ukrainian researchers with a PhD degree, commissioned by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. In the next edition, the programme will be funded under the EEA and Norway Grants, and researchers will once again be able to spend at least half of the grant period in Ukraine.

In both programmes, applicants will need to explain how they are planning to integrate with the Polish research community and outline the benefits that their new skills and experience will bring to Ukrainian science.

prof. Halyna Naienko i dr hab. Zofia Brzozowska z Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, fot. Jan Bielecki dla NCN “We should adopt a broader perspective, look ahead to the future, and think of what will come after the war. Our programmes should support research in Ukraine and not aim to keep Ukrainian researchers in Poland. I really believe we can build a good future together”, said Professor Jacek Kuźnicki, President of the NCN Council, in the closing words of his statement.

During the meeting, two Ukrainian women who now work in Poland under NCN-funded grants talked about their research. Dr Olha Kryvosheia-Zakharova and her mentor, Dr hab. Agata Wojtal, professor at the Institute of Nature Conservation, PAS, presented a project on the biodiversity of selected water ecosystems in Poland. Dr hab. Zofia Brzozowska and Prof. Halyna Naienko from the University of Łódź talked about their project entitled “Linguistic differentiation of Slavia Orthodoxa at the dawn of modernity: continuity and change. A Mixed-Methods study”, conducted by an interdisciplinary team of medieval and Paleo-Slavic scholars at the Faculty of Philology in the University of Łódź.

The meeting was attended by the Consul General of Ukraine and the Honorary Consul of the Kingdom of Norway, Ukrainian NCN grant winners and their Polish mentors, representatives of academic and research institutions, as well as members of the NCN Council and NCN staff. The event was held under the auspices of the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda.

Photo galery:

56 researchers from all over Poland will have their research tasks funded within the framework of MINIATURA 6. Thanks to the NCN, they will be able to conduct preliminary and pilot studies or go overseas to complete a research fellowship, library research or a study visit.

The new ranking list of successful research proposals in the field of art, humanities and social sciences features projects that propose a multifaceted analysis of the function of the family. Dr Zofia Jakubów-Rosłan from the University of Warsaw will conduct library research at the State Library in Berlin to study the role of the family in contemporary Chinese literature. Dr hab. Kataszyna Kopecka-Piech from the Maria Skłodowska-Curie University in Lublin will investigate the challenges of a family digital detox in a task entitled Disconnect to reconnect. Rola aktywności fizycznej w rodzinnym detoksie cyfrowym [Disconnect to reconnect. The role of physical activity in a family digital detox]. The importance of technology and the web in the context of human relationships will also be the subject addressed by Dr Monika Franiak from the Silesian University of Katowice in a project entitled  Technologiczno-medialny pomost umacniający korzenie polskie wśród dzieci w rodzinach polsko-chorwackich zrzeszonych wokół placówek edukacji polonijnej w Zagrzebiu i Splicie – perspektywa pre- i postpandemiczna. [A bridge of technology and media to strengthen the Polish roots of children from Polish-Croatian families attending Polish diaspora education facilities in Zagreb and Split. A pre- and post-pandemic perspective.]

Among projects in life sciences, particularly interesting are those related to different types of stress. Dr Justyna Dorf from the Medical University in Białystok will conduct preliminary research on oxidative stress (Czy stres oksydacyjny może być czynnikiem warunkującym ciężki przebieg COVID-19? [Can oxidative stress contribute to severe COVID-19?]), while Dr Patryk Janus from the Maria Skłodowska-Curie National Institute of Oncology will study proteotoxic stress under a task entitled Poszukiwanie transkryptów fuzyjnych powstałych podczas stresu proteotoksycznego [Searching for fusion transcripts generated during proteotoxic stress].

To learn about all the subjects covered by this round’s successful proposals, consult the complete ranking list.

Funding awarded per panel:

• Art, Humanities and Social Sciences – 331,894 PLN
• Physical Sciences and Engineering – 866,396 PLN
• Life Sciences – 834,723 PLN

The total budget of all tasks that made the cut for the second ranking list of MINIATURA 6 exceeds 2.03 million zlotys.

Ranking list (in Polish)

The objective of the MINIATURA call is to finance individual research activities conducted for the purposes of preparing a future research project to be submitted under an NCN call or other domestic and international calls for proposals. The sixth edition offered grants from 5,000 to 50,000 PLN, and the total budget of the call is 20 million.

These resources are assigned proportionally throughout the call period, and a proposal can only be awarded funding as long as its cost falls under the call budget slated for a given month. Because so many proposals are submitted during the last month before the deadline, we would like to encourage you not to postpone your submission until the last moment.

The preliminary research, pilot studies, library research, research fellowship, research or study trip funded under the call may take up to 12 months to complete. The call is open to researchers who earned their PhD no earlier than on 1 January 2010, have never conducted an NCN-funded research project and whose scientific achievements include at least one published paper or at least one artistic achievement or achievement in research in art. Winners of NCN-funded PhD scholarships or research fellowships are barred from applying, as are applicants, principal investigators or fellowship candidates in projects submitted or qualified for funding under other NCN calls.  As of the day of submission, applicants must be legally employed at the institution at which they are planning to carry out their task.

Proposals are accepted on a rolling basis until 4 pm on 31 July 2022.

Decisions

On 23 June 2022, we dispatched positive and negative decisions for calls submitted under MINIATURA 6 in March 2022.

Justifications are available in the OSF system. Please check the status of your proposal in the system.

Please remember that the decisions are sent electronically to the ESP ePUAP address indicated in your proposal. If you have not received a decision, please make sure that the ESP address listed in the proposal is correct. If not, contact the person in charge of the proposal, as indicated in the ZSUN/OSF system.

We know the first results of the OPUS 22 + LAP/WEAVE call for proposals under which researchers at any stage of their research career could apply for funding of bilateral research projects carried out in international collaboration under the WEAVE Programme.

Research projects carried out jointly with jointly by the Polish and Slovenian research teams were evaluated pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure (LAP). The NCN acted as the lead agency which means that submitted proposals were evaluated together with domestic proposals under the OPUS call and they were recommended for funding on this basis. The Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) approved the results of evaluation of OPUS LAP proposals performed by the National Science Centre and carried out in bilateral collaboration. 

8 Polish and Slovenian research projects for a total of nearly 13 million PLN were recommended for funding: three projects in Life Sciences, four in Physical Sciences and Engineering and one in Arts and Humanities. Research tasks carried out by the Polish research teams will be funded by the National Science Centre, while the ARRS will fund the tasks carried out by the Slovenian research teams. 

OPUS 22 + LAP/WEAVE Ranking Lists

In the second round of the OPUS call for proposals concluded on 23 May 2022, the NCN received  1,866 proposals for a total of nearly 2.3 billion PLN. Funding was awarded to 358 domestic proposals carried out by Polish and Slovenian research teams with a total value of nearly 513 million PLN. The winning proposals will soon include the OPUS LAP proposals that are now approved by the partner agencies from Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Switzerland. The OPUS 22 + LAP ranking lists will be successively completed. The OPUS LAP call timeline:

• call with the participation of foreign research teams from Austria, the Czech Republic and Switzerland: by the end of July 2022,
• call with the participation of research teams from Germany: by the end of October 2022.

Lead Agency Procedure 

The Lead Agency Procedure (LAP) is a new proposal review standard adopted by European research-funding agencies, designed to make it easier for international research teams to seek funding for joint research projects, as well as to streamline the process of proposal review by research-funding agencies. Projects that involve research teams from different countries are reviewed only at one institution, known as the lead agency, relevant to one of the teams participating in the call, under a scheme from its regular call portfolio. The results of merit-based evaluation performed by the lead agency are approved by all the other institutions, which then award funding to research projects recommended for funding in the course of such evaluation.

Including LAP in the OPUS 22 call enabled Polish researchers to apply for:

• research projects carried out in cooperation pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure (“LAP cooperation”) under the Weave programme, i.e. in cooperation with foreign research teams from Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Germany or Switzerland that apply for funding to their respective research-funding institutions under the Weave programme, i.e. FWF, GAČR, ARRS, DFG or SNSF;
• research projects within the framework of LAP cooperation under the Weave programme, with the participation of foreign partners that do not apply for funding for that purpose under the Weave programme or with the additional use of large international research equipment.

Thank you to all 153 applicants in the POLONEZ BIS 2 call.

153 scientists from 37 countries applied in the POLONEZ BIS 2 call to conduct their research projects in host institutions across Poland. The call attracted 42 (27%) proposals in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, 78 (51%) in Physical Sciences and Engineering, and 33 (22%) in Life Sciences.

The proposals will now undergo an eligibility check, after which they will be evaluated by independent international experts and reviewers. The results of the call will be known at the beginning of December 2022.

We may be contacting the Applicants during the eligibility check and at the end of each evaluation stage, so please check your mailboxes for messages from the NCN.

If you have missed the call, we encourage you to apply for POLONEZ BIS 3, scheduled to open on 15 September 2022.

The POLONEZ BIS Coordination Team is at your disposal for any questions: do not hesitate to contact us at polonez@ncn.gov.pl.

About POLONEZ BIS

POLONEZ BIS is a fellowship programme co-funded by the European Commission and the National Science centre under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND grant addressed at foreign researchers who intend to pursue their research career at the Polish research institutions. POLONEZ BIS, unlike any other grant programme, combines research, fellowship in non-academic institutions and soft skill development programmes.

50 researchers from all over the world were recruited in the first round of POLONEZ BIS. The final (third) round will start on 15 September 2022 and end on 15 December 2022. The winners will move to Poland for 24 months to conduct their basic research projects in public or private institutions of their choice. The programme will ensure full-time employment for researchers and additional funds for their research projects.

Programme funding may be pursued by any researcher, regardless of nationality, research subject or discipline. Funding proposals may be submitted by researchers with a PhD degree or at least four years of full-time research experience who have lived and worked outside of Poland for at least two years before the launch of the call. The applicants submitting funding proposals together with the Polish host institutions (i.e. their future employers) are free to choose the research subject and discipline. 120 researchers will move to Poland under POLONEZ BIS.

We now know the new winners of the OPUS 22 LAP, a call for researchers at any stage of their research career, organised within the framework of international cooperation under the WEAVE programme

A total of nearly 8 million PLN in funding was awarded to five Polish-Swiss projects. These include four projects in Physical Sciences and Engineering, which analyse the properties of various materials (polymers, composites and metals) and test the lifetime and degradation mechanisms of perovskite devices. The fifth project belongs to Life Sciences and examines the long-term impact of a large starch intake in early life on later rumen function.

Research tasks carried out by Polish teams will be funded by the National Science Centre, while those of Swiss teams will receive funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

Polish-Swiss projects were evaluated pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure (LAP), with the NCN acting as the lead agency. This means that all projects had to undergo a review process together with other domestic proposals under the OPUS call and it was the results of that review that determined whether or not they were recommended for funding.

OPUS 22 + LAP/WEAVE ranking lists

OPUS 22 + LAP/Weave list for bilateral Polish-Swiss projects (pdf)

The results of OPUS 22 were announced on 23 May 2022; the call had attracted 1866 submissions, out of which 350 domestic proposals were selected for funding. In June, we learned the names of eight more OPUS winners, working with Slovenian partners, and now the group has grown to include 5 researchers cooperating with Swiss teams. The list is expected to grow even further, as it is supplemented by OPUS LAP projects that are now under review for approval by partner agencies in Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic. OPUS 22 + LAP ranking lists will be successively expanded.

The OPUS LAP funding decision schedule is as follows:

• for projects carried out in cooperation with foreign research teams from Austria and the Czech Republic – by the end of July 2022.

• for projects carried out in cooperation with foreign research teams from Germany – by the end of October 2022.

Lead Agency Procedure – LAP

The LAP procedure is a new proposal evaluation standard adopted by European research-funding institutions, designed to facilitate the funding application process for international research teams and streamline proposal review. Projects that involve research teams from two or three countries are only assessed at one partner institution, known as the lead agency, appropriate for one of the teams, within the framework of a domestic call from its portfolio. The other partner institutions agree to accept the results of this merit-based review and award funding for projects approved by the lead agency.

The LAP path under OPUS 22 allowed researchers to request funding:

• for projects carried out in cooperation with foreign teams from Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Germany or Switzerland, which apply in parallel to their domestic research-funding agencies (FWF, GAČR, ARRS, DFG or SNSF) within the framework of the Weave programme, and

• in LAP cooperation under the Weave programme, with the participation of foreign partners who are not applying for funds under the Weave programme or for projects that use large research equipment.

Decision delivery

All the positive and negative decisions for OPUS 22 LAP proposals submitted in bilateral cooperation with Swiss partners were sent out on 1 July 2022. 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 Article 27 (1)-(7) and (9) of the Act on the National Science, the decision will only be delivered to the Electronic Delivery Box (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.