The climate of our planet is constantly evolving. In the context of the recent acceleration of climate change, it is particularly important to understand the factors that affect it, and in order to do so, scientists are studying surface karst structures known as solution pipes.
Solution pipes are formed as limestone rocks are dissolved by carbonic acid (water saturated with carbon dioxide) and humic acids produced through the decay of organic matter in the soil. An attempt to discover the relationship between the shape of solution pipes and the climate conditions under which they formed is at the heart of a project conducted by Prof. Dr hab. Piotr Aleksander Szymczak from the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw, entitled “Solution pipes as new paleoclimate proxies”. The project won more than 1.2 million PLN under the CEUS-UNISONO scheme.
The research will involve a team of Polish physicists and Slovenian geomorphologists. The former will use numerical simulations and lab experiments to try to identify relationships between different environmental factors and the features of solution pipes. The latter, on the other hand, will carry out field studies of existing structures of this kind so as to be able to draw conclusions about the paleoclimate. These will then be compared with the results of other paleoclimate reconstruction techniques. An important role in the research programme will be played by lab experiments, designed to test various theoretical models of the formation of solution pipes, which will also provide a benchmark for the validation of numerical simulations.
The CEUS programme is organized by the NCN in cooperation with research-funding agencies from many countries, based on the Lead Agency Procedure (LAP). Its purpose is to fund basic research projects in all disciplines of science, carried out by research teams from two or three CEUS-participating countries. More details about the CEUS-UNISONO call can be found HERE.
BarkBuild: Tree bark as a renewable source of wood protection materials for building applications. Polish applicant - Warsaw University of Life Sciences. Polish Principal Investigator: dr hab. eng. Grzegorz Marek Kowaluk. The project will involve research teams from Finland, Latvia, Norway, Slovenia and Sweden.
The implementation of research projects funded within the Call will start at the beginning of 2022.
More information and the full list of the projects recommended for funding can be found at: Forest Value website.
“Even though we are now living in an era of digital reality and conquering of outer space, research into the human past is still needed and important. This award confirms me in my belief that my work matters and has an audience”, says Dr Paweł L. Polkowski, one of the winners of the 2021 NCN Award.
The NCN Award is given to young researchers from Polish research centres in three categories. Dr Paweł L. Polkowski, an archaeologist employed at the Archaeological Museum in Poznań and the Polish Centre for Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw, won an award for his work in arts, humanities and social sciences. The winner for life sciences was Dr hab. Sebastian Glatt from the Malopolska Centre for Biotechnology of the Jagiellonian University, while Professor Yonatan Gutman from the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences triumphed in physical sciences and engineering.
The ceremony was held on 6 October in the Gallery of 19th-century Polish Art in the Sukiennice. The statuettes and diplomas were also handed out to last year’s winners: Professor Jakub Growiec, Professor Wojciech Fendler, and Dr hab. Michał Tomza. In 2020, the awards ceremony did not take place due to the pandemic situation.
Dr Paweł L. Polkowski studies the rock art of Egypt and Sudan, as well as other issues related to iconography, landscape and theory in archaeology. He ranks as one of the most competent researchers of North African rock art in the world.
He has run a mission known as The Petroglyph Unit of the Dakhleh Oasis Project which studies petroglyphs in the Dakhleh Oasis in Egypt, since 2016, and has stood at the head of the Dakhleh Oasis Project for more than a year now. With a history spanning over 40 years, the latter project combines a number of research missions that look into various aspects of the oasis and the Egyptian Western Desert in general.
Petroglyphs are figurative representations on rocks and boulders, created with techniques such as carving or picquetage. They were created inside the oasis, as well as in the surrounding Western Desert, over thousands of years. The most important aspect of Dr Polkowski’s research, in his own words, involves “an attempt to weave rock art into a broader narrative of the past landscape of the oasis”. “My research shows that the meaning and function of rock art varied between different periods. My job is to consider the role of this creative endeavour in the process of transmitting knowledge about the world and to study the ontological status of rock art and the creatures that it depicts. I also look into the rock carvings of the Pharaonic period, many of which were created by people travelling across the desert”, he explains.
Dr Polkowski has won three NCN grants, a scholarship awarded by the Municipal Office of Poznań to young researchers from the local research community (2013) and a scholarship for outstanding young researchers granted by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (2018-2020).
Groundbreaking results in dynamical systems
Prof. Yonatan Gutman works in dynamical systems theory, especially topological dynamics and ergodic theory. He won the NCN Award for a collection of six extensive papers published between 2019 and 2021, which addressed a series of problems on the borderline between dynamical systems theory, ergodic theory and classical topology. His results, especially those concerning the optimal dimensions for embedding dynamical systems into Hilbert cubes and the theory of nilspace structures, are now considered as groundbreaking. As specified in the nomination, the problems tackled by Professor Gutman “aroused active interest among top, world-class mathematicians, and their proposed solution deserves great recognition”.
Prof. Gutman has been affiliated with the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences since 2010. “The robust Polish community of mathematicians who work in the field of dynamical systems has always been a source of inspiration for me”, he says. He studied at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and Stanford University and earned his PhD at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, followed by a postdoctoral degree (habilitation) at the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He also completed numerous postdoctoral fellowships, including at Cambridge and Oxford, and won two NCN grants.
“The movement of balls on a billiards table, the motion of gas particles in a container and the evolution of stock price in the stock market are all examples of dynamical systems. To analyse systems in mathematics, we first need to create abstract models. This means some information must be kept and some discarded. For example, we need to decide whether we want to represent a gas particle as a point, a sphere or a more complex structure. By discarding certain data that describe the real world, mathematicians are able to see the ‘general picture’ and discover universal principles”, he explains.
Team award
“My research group specializes in studying the three-dimensional structure of proteins and nucleic acids with the aid of cryoelectron microscopy and crystallography. Distinctions such as the NCN Award may be received individually, but they are always won by team effort”, says Dr hab. Sebastian Glatt. Peers who nominated him for the award listed as many as four achievements: Dr hab Glatt discovered the spatial structure and mechanism of action of the elongator protein complex, described the mechanism of tRNA modification by the elongator complex, defined the structural and functional features of eukaryotic tRNA-modifying complexes, described the structure and function of their components and established a link between their mutations and the risk of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders.
Dr hab. Sebastian Glatt completed his studies and earned his PhD at the University of Vienna. He then conducted research at the European Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Heidelberg. Since 2015, he has worked at MCB UJ and headed the Cryo-EM lab team at the National Centre of Cryoelectron Microscopy. He has initiated a fruitful cooperation with researchers from other centres in Poland, Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Australia.
Glatt has won many grants, including the ERC Consolidator Grant, the EMBO Installation Grant, two NCN grants and the First Team and TEAM-TECH Core Facility FNP. His research results have been published in Nature Communications, Nature Structural Molecular Biology, Genes & Dev, Nature and Cell, to name but a few.
This year, more than 600 researchers were eligible to nominate candidates for the NCN Award from among researchers born in and after 1980. There were 71 nominations in total. The winners will receive an award of 50 thousand PLN each.
Copernicus Center lectures
2020 and 2021 NCN Award winners will deliver lectures for the general public, organized by the National Science Centre in cooperation with the Copernicus Center, which will be available for viewing at: https://www.youtube.com/user/CopernicusCenter. The first lecture is scheduled for 20 October; the other two will follow in November and December.
The awards ceremony was held under the auspices of Nauka w Polsce PAP and Forum Akademickie.
On 6 October 2021 Prof. Jakub Growiec, Prof. Wojciech Fendler and Dr hab. Michał Tomza will receive the 2020 NCN Award and the of the 2021 NCN Award will be announced.
The Award of the National Science Centre is a distinction for young researchers, awarded for significant achievements in basic research carried out in Poland. It has been awarded since 2013 in three areas: Arts, Humanities, Social and Sciences, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering. In 2020, the winners were Prof. Jakub Growiec, Prof. Wojciech Fendler and Dr hab. Michał Tomza, however due to the pandemic situation, the award ceremony could not have taken place. The researchers will receive their statuettes on 6 October at the Gallery of 19th Century Polish Art at Sukiennice. On the same day, the winners of the 2021 NCN Award will also be announced. The event will begin at 6pm and will be streamed online.
Prof. Jakub Growiec of the Warsaw School of Economics is the author of advanced research on economic growth, particularly considering the role played in it by technological progress and human capital. “Despite the turmoil of the pandemic, I have tried to maintain my usual work rhythm over the past year. I have managed to publish three scientific articles in international journals and have started another NCN grant in which I am one of the main investigators”, says the researcher. His articles included a theoretical analysis of the phenomenon of the transition from partial to full automation of production processes, which may revolutionise the world economy in the future. He also co-authored an article estimating the contribution of immigration from Ukraine to economic growth in Poland in recent years.
Prof. Wojciech Fendler from the Medical University of Lodz was awarded last year for his significant results in research on microRNAs as biomarkers of accidental exposure to ionising radiation and complications of radiotherapy. In his study, he showed that specific microRNA molecules identifiable in serum were indicative of irreversible damage to the bone marrow by ionising radiation. As the researcher points out, the constraints of the pandemic and the transfer of classes to the internet have limited scientific opportunities. “Most of our activities take place in front of a computer screen, but interactions with other team members are very important. However, we were able to finalise a project on predicting prognosis in bladder cancer and complications of radiotherapy in head and neck cancers. I believe that the most interesting thing is yet to come and by the end of 2021 we will have something to boast about again”, he says.
Dr hab. Michał Tomza from the University of Warsaw was recognised in 2020 for his theoretical description of the interactions between ultracold atoms, ions and molecules. “The award has motivated me to continue to work hard and develop my research group. Continuing the theme for which I was awarded, I managed to go one step further and together with my students and an experimental group, this time from Freiburg, we realised for the first time the quantum control of ultra-cold collisions between a single ion and atoms using a magnetic field”, explains the award winner.
The profiles of the winners and video footage of them were presented in the 2020 text.
The NCN Award is PLN 50,000. Laureates are selected by the Chapter, which includes the Director and members of the NCN Council and representatives of the funders. Last year, the award in Physical Sciences and Engineering was sponsored by KGHM Polska Miedź Foundation, in Life Sciences by Adamed Pharma S.A., whiles INGLOT Sp. z.o.o. co-sponsored the award in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
The winners of the 2021 NCN Award will be announced at a ceremony on 6 October. Over 600 researchers could nominate candidates for the Award. They could nominate researchers born after 1980. A total of 71 people were nominated.
The agenda of the event in the Sukiennice will include speeches by six prize-winners and a concert by Piotr Wiese.
The media patronage over the event was taken by Science in Poland, PAP and the Academic Forum.
“NCN gave me support and a credit of confidence. If they had not believed in me three years ago, I would not have won the ERC grant”, emphasises Dr hab Valentina Lepri in a reportage on NCN's 10th anniversary celebrations.
Over the decade of the National Science Centre’s activities, we have announced 200 calls and awarded over 23,000 grants. We have allocated almost PLN 11 billion for their implementation. Grants have enabled thousands of researchers to carry out ambitious projects, fellowships and scientific activities resulting in important discoveries, significant results and numerous national and global successes.
In the second material produced on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the National Science Centre, researchers talk about their projects and successes, and share their valuable reflections:
Fot. Michał ŁepeckiThanks to a grant in the SONATA 8 call, Dr hab Urszula Stachewicz was able to purchase her first electroplating machine. “The advantage of these electrospun membranes is their high porosity, more than 90%, in addition to which we have a very high active surface area, which can be functionalized and helps, for example, in the process of wound healing or bone tissue regeneration”, emphasises Prof. Stachewicz. It was this project that led her to come up with innovative ideas for further research and to form a group working on polymer fibres for various applications.
In her scientific projects, Dr hab Magdalena Winiarska tries to find different ways to fight cancer cells. “My team and I are trying to find ways to fight cancer cells. For this we want to use the immune system of patients who have cancer. We have been able to identify and learn about certain pathways and drugs that may interfere with the action of antibodies that recognise the CD20 antigen. I am very proud of this research because we were the first in the world to show these interactions”, says Prof. Winiarska. This research was funded by the first grant of the researcher received in the OPUS 4 call
The work of Dr hab Paweł Gancarczyk involves studying medieval manuscripts and musical prints and extracting information about the musical past. Thanks to this kind of research, today we can hear what music sounded like in the late Middle Ages and early modern times.
We invite you to watch the film and find out more about the research conducted by researchers and the initiatives undertaken by NCN. You can also read about the researchers' projects in our anniversary publication.
Thursday, 30 September saw the opening of the RNA-Protein Interaction Laboratory – Dioscuri Centre, headed by Prof. Gracjan Michlewski. It will be established at the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw.
The centre's German project partner is Juri Rappsilber from the Institute of Biotechnology, Technische Universität Berlin. Researchers will investigate the cellular roles and structural characterisation of novel RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) and RNA-protein interactions. The focus of their work will be RNA-protein interactions in the innate immune response to RNA viruses such as influenza.
RNA viruses have already caused several epidemics in the 21st century. The outbreak of a new flu pandemic or a viral bioterrorist attack could have catastrophic consequences for public health and the global economy. Therefore, understanding the interaction between host and virus at the cellular level is crucial to find the best way to inactivate the virus and prevent large disruptions and losses, stressed Prof. Gracjan Michlewski in 2019. In the current pandemic situation, his words, and above all his research, will have an even greater role and importance.
Dioscuri is an initiative of the Max Planck Society (MPG) carried out together with the National Science Centre and funded by the Polish Ministry of Education and Science and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The programme aims to support the development of Centres of Scientific Excellence in Central and Eastern Europe. An important aspect is financial support for outstanding researchers wishing to carry out research in the region. Dioscuri centres are set up where, thanks to the infrastructure that has been created, the conditions and the right environment already exist for conducting top-level research. They will run for five years, with the possibility of extension for a further five years following a positive evaluation by external experts. Past winners and therefore unit managers have also been:
Dr Aleksandra Pekowska – Centre of Excellence for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics of Astrocytes, i.e. specific cells in nervous tissue,
Dr Grzegorz Sumara – Centre of Excellence at the Lech Walesa Institute of Experimental Biology M. Nencki PAN,
Dr Paweł Dłotko – Centre for Dioscuri Topological Data Analysis at the Institute of Mathematics, Polish Academy of Sciences,
Dr Bartłomiej Wacław – Dioscuri Centre of Excellence for research on physics and chemistry of bacteria at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
The National Science Centre (NCN) in collaboration with the European Biodiversity Partnership (BiodivERsA+) is launching a call for international research projects to support the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems across land and sea.
International consortia including at least 3 research teams from at least 3 countries participating in the call are eligible to apply for funding. The NCN budget for all Polish research teams participating in the call is 500,000 EUR. Funds may be used to cover remuneration for the research team members, salaries and scholarships for students and PhD students, purchaser or construction of research equipment and for other costs crucial to the research project.
The call aiming to support the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems across land and sea will be carried out in two steps. During the first step, a joint pre-proposal will be submitted together with the foreign partners. The best research teams will be recommended for the second step during which joint full proposals will be submitted.
In September or October 2022, lists of projects recommended for funding will be published and the project performance will start at the end of 2022 and beginning of 2023.
On 5 October 2021 (10 a.m.), a webinar will be held for all those interested in acquiring funding for research and innovation in the area of biodiversity. Go here HERE for more information.
The National Science Centre, Poland and the Polish Science Contact Agency of the PAS (PolSCA) in Brussels are pleased to invite you to an information session on the first international call for proposals of the European co-funded Partnership on Biodiversity under Horizon Europe. The event is scheduled for 5 October at 10.00 a.m.
The Partnership will officially start operating in the beginning of October 2021 as the successor to the BiodivERsA network. It is established under the 2nd pillar of the Horizon Europe framework program and is co-financed by the European Commission. It acts as an European platform connecting national and regional research & innovation programmes supporting rescue and protection of biodiversity on Earth. Poland will be among over 30 member states of this network. It will be represented by the National Science Center (NCN), which in the first call serves an important role of the Call Secretariat.
The upcoming call for research proposals, entitled Supporting the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems across land and sea, will be announced in early October 2021 and will cover the following non-exclusive themes:
Knowledge for identifying priority conservation areas, establishing effective and resilient ecological networks, enhancing species-based protection, and preserving genetic diversity,
Multiple benefits and costs of biodiversity and ecosystem protection: synergies and trade-offs,
Effective management and equitable governance to deliver bold conservation outcome.
Proposals may concern terrestrial, freshwater or marine ecosystems.
Meeting participants will have a chance to meet representatives of the Partnership and the National Science Center who will present the Partnership mission and activities, as well as provide all necessary information on the first joint call: thematic areas, requirements and procedures on the international and national levels. Moreover, the general overview on the partnerships landscape within cluster 6 of the Horizon Europe will be presented by a representative of the National Centre for Research and Development – National Contact Point.
The event is opened to everyone interested in securing funds for research and innovation actions in the field of the biodiversity. The webinar will take place on October 5, 2021 at 10.00, i.e. few days after the launch of the expected first call for proposals under the new partnership.
The meeting agenda is available here. Only registered participants will be provided with necessary connection details prior to the event. The registration deadline is October 3, 2021.
The Weave-UNISONO call for proposals is open at the partner agencies. A reminder for Polish research teams of the dates and application procedure for joint and NCN proposals.
Please note that under the Weave-UNISONO call, if a joint proposal is submitted to the SNSF as the lead agency by 1 October 2021, an NCN proposal must be submitted electronically via the ZSUN/OSF submission system as soon as possible following the submission of the joint proposal to the SNSF, by 8 October 2021 at the latest.
PLEASE NOTE: Once the work on the NCN proposal has started in the ZSUN/OSF submission system, the Polish research team has 45 calendar days to complete the proposal and submit it to the NCN. After that, the proposal can no longer be edited, in which case a Polish research team that has not sent its proposal to the NCN must prepare a new proposal and complete it in the ZSUN/OSF submission system which may impact the budget for research tasks performed by the Polish research teams specified in the NCN proposal (see points 3 and 4 below).
PLEASE NOTE: The 45-day period applies only to the period during which NCN proposals may be edited in the ZSUN/OSF submission system. Under WEAVE-UNISONO, NCN proposals must be submitted to the NCN via the ZSUN/OSF submission system as soon as possible following the submission of joint proposals to the lead agency, within 7 calendar days at the latest.
PLEASE NOTE: NCN proposals processed in the ZSUN/OSF submission system:
by 30 September 2020 (inclusive), may include research projects that will be carried out by the Polish research teams from 2020 onwards.
The following years will be included in the project budget, depending on the project implementation period:
2022-2023 for two-year projects,
2022-2023-2024 for three-year projects,
2022-2023-2024-2025 for four-year projects;
from 1 October 2021 (inclusive), may include research projects that will be carried out by the Polish research teams from 2023 onwards.
The following years will be included in the project budget, depending on the project implementation period:
2023-2024 for two-year projects,
2023-2024-2025 for three-year projects and
2023-2024-2025-2026 for four-year projects.
In the case of joint proposals submitted to the lead agencies covering Polish team budgets from 2022 onwards, make sure that:
the work on NCN proposals in the ZSUN/OSF submission system starts before 30 September 2021 and
NCN proposals are submitted to the NCN within 45 days of the date that the work on the proposal has started in the ZSUN/OSF submission system.\
If the work on NCN proposals in the ZSUN/OSF submission system starts before 30 September 2021, with project performance scheduled to begin in 2022, and the NCN proposal is not completed and submitted within 45 days of the date the work on the proposal has started in the ZSUN/OSF submission system, a new proposal must be created. A new NCN proposal (created after 1 October 2021) may cover research projects with a start date in 2023. If a joint proposal has already been submitted to the lead agency for a research project involving 2022 funding, information in the NCN proposal will be inconsistent with information in the joint proposal and may result in the proposal being rejected on the grounds that it does not meet the eligibility criteria.
The budget of the Polish part of the project in the joint proposal should be calculated according to the following exchange rate:
In joint proposals, for which NCN proposals are processed in and submitted via the ZSUN/OSF submission system by 31 December 2021: 1 EUR= 4.4385 PLN;
In joint proposals, for which NCN proposals are processed in and submitted via the ZSUN/OSF submission system from 1 January 2022 onwards: 1 EUR= 4.5315 PLN;
NCN proposals processed in the ZSUN/OSF submission system in 2021, to which the exchange rate of 1 EUR= 4.4385 PLN applies, must be completed in and submitted via the ZSUN/OSF submission system by 31 December 2021 at 23:59:59. Otherwise, the proposal can no longer be edited, in which case a Polish research team must prepare a new proposal and complete it in the ZSUN/OSF submission system, to which the exchange rate 1 EUR = 4.5315 PLN will apply. If a joint proposal has already been submitted to the lead agency, in which the budget of the Polish part of the project was calculated according to another exchange rate, information in the NCN proposal will be inconsistent with information in the joint proposal and may result in the proposal being rejected on the grounds that it does not meet the eligibility criteria.
As of 1 January 2022, the updated Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as multilateral cooperation pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure shall apply.
As of January 2022, the National Science Centre will start cooperation with under the Weave programme with:
the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR)
the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO)
Please consult the updated call documentation, including the Guidelines for Polish research teams (update will be available soon).
The National Science Centre (NCN) and the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) are pleased to announce the ARTIQ call for research projects aimed at creating three Centres of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence (CE AI).
Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to be one of the crucial technologies of the future. The European Parliament has recognised AI-related actions as one of EU’s priorities. Poland has also adopted its AI Strategy from 2020.The objective of the joint project launched by the NCN and the NCBR is to increase Poland's potential in the area of artificial intelligence. The Centres of Excellence AI managed by internationally renowned leaders will accommodate basic research, industrial research, as well as development and pre-development work.
The NCN will fund basic research while applied research and formation of special purpose vehicles will be funded by the NCBR. The maximum eligible costs of a single project funded by the NCN and the NCBR is 20 million PLN.
The ARTIQ call for proposals will be open between 20 September 2021 and 20 December 2021 (4 pm). Proposals must be submitted electronically via the LSI submission system available at https://lsi.ncbr.gov.pl.
