The latest issue of ”Nature” features an article about new photon-avalanching nanoparticle materials developed by scientists from Poland, South Korea, and the US. The authors of the paper include Prof. dr hab. inż. Artur Bednarkiewicz from the Institute of Low Temperatures and Structural Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (INTiBS PAN) in Wrocław, and the Polish part of the research project has been funded under the OPUS 16 scheme, with Professor Bednarkiewicz as its principal investigator.

The first and the greatest achievement of the research team is the successful generation of the nanocrystals as such. Normally, lanthanide-doped luminescent materials are limited by what is known as concentration quenching: at dopant concentration levels of more than 1%, their luminescence tends to decrease. The authors of the paper relied on the photon-avalanching mechanism to obtain a spectacular (10,000-fold) increase in luminescence. As presented in the journal, their research opens up brand new avenues for the application of nanotechnology in the construction of biosensors (e.g. to detect viruses, bacteria, fungi, or biological processes in cells and tissues) and physical parameter sensors (e.g. temperature, pressure), as well as for neuromorphic computing, mid-infrared detectors, new nanolasers and sub-diffraction limit imaging.

The research team includes scientists from INTiBS PAN (Poland), Columbia University (USA), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (USA) and the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (South Korea).

Read the paper here.

We have published the third ranking list under the call for proposals for funding of Research Components in projects funded under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme launched by the NAWA. This time, only one project was found eligible and recommended for funding.

See the Ranking List

The Polish Returns 2020 Programme was launched by the NAWA on 7 January 2020 in order to allow Polish researchers working abroad to return to Poland and conduct research in the Polish research institutes. Projects could have contained a basic Research Component funded by the National Science Centre.

The NAWA evaluation team has selected seven projects containing a Research Component. Before starting the projects, the researchers whose projects contained a Research Component must submit a proposal for NCN funding of such Components under the NCN call. Their proposals will be subject to an NCN eligibility check only. The eligibility check will be carried out on a continuous basis until the last proposal containing a Research Component funded under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme, is submitted to the NCN.

List 3 of NCN-funded Research Components in projects funded under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme launched by the NAWA

NCN together with the JPIAMR Network is pleased to announce a new call for international research projects on antimicrobial resistance. Funding may be applied for by international research consortia composed of at least 3 research teams from at least 3 different countries participating in the call, with at least 2 from EU member states or associated countries. The principal investigator of the Polish research team must be at least a PhD holder.

The call for proposals is addressed in particular to the research teams applying the One Health approach to:

• to understand the impact of interventions on the development and transmission of antibiotic resistance and
• to design, implement, evaluate, and compare interventions that will have a true impact on preventing or reducing the development and transmission of antibiotic resistance in and between the different One Health settings (human, animal, environment).

Twenty one countries will participate in the call: Argentina, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia Finland, France, Spain, Netherlands, Ireland, Israel, Canada, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Germany, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Hungary, United Kingdom and Italy.

The call will support research projects that have the potential for impact in the areas where the risk and burden of AMR are greatest, such as low and middle income countries (LMIC) in Asia and Africa. The participation of the partners from the LMIC will be funded by the International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions (ICARS) from Denmark, International Development Research Centre (IDRC) from Canada and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

The estimated call budget is 24.9 million EUR. The Polish research teams participating in the call will be funded by the National Science Centre (NCN), which has allocated 500,000 EUR.

Pre-proposals should be submitted by16 March 2021, 12 p.m. (CET).

We are pleased to present the second ranking list under the call for proposals for funding of Research Components in projects funded under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme launched by the NAWA. They were both found eligible and recommended for NCN funding.

See the Ranking List

The Polish Returns 2020 Programme was launched by the NAWA on 7 January 2020 in order to allow Polish researchers working abroad to return to Poland and conduct research in the Polish research institutes. Projects could have contained a basic Research Component funded by the National Science Centre.

The NAWA evaluation team has selected seven projects containing a Research Component. Before starting the projects, the researchers whose projects contained a Research Component must submit a proposal for NCN funding of such Components under the NCN call. Their proposals will be subject to an NCN eligibility check only. The eligibility check will be carried out on a continuous basis until the last proposal containing a Research Component funded under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme, is submitted to the NCN.

List 2 of NCN-funded Research Components in projects funded under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme launched by the NAWA

The National Science Centre invites for the fourth time Polish research institutions to declare commitment as potential Host Institutions to Dioscuri Centres of Scientific Excellence. Applications for establishing Dioscuri Centres may come from research institutions that carry out independently and continuously mainly research activity.

The deadline for submissions is the 15th of  February 2021.

Submissions meeting the formal requirements will be published alongside the Dioscuri call announcement, thus helping researchers find the right research institution in Poland.

Researchers will be able to choose an institution from beyond the published list, provided that the institution meets the formal requirements and will commit to satisfy the basic conditions specified in the announcement.

Dioscuri is an initiative by the Max Planck Society (MPG), intended to establish Centres of Scientific Excellence in Central and Eastern Europe. The Centres will enable outstanding researchers to carry out top level research at research institutions in this part of Europe.

For details of the Dioscuri programme and all formal requirements, see the Dioscuri web-page.

Webinars

Contact

Małgorzata Jacobs, e-mail: Malgorzata.jacobs@ncn.gov.pl

Together with the CHIST-ERA network, we are pleased to announce a new call for international research projects in the following areas: Advanced Brain-Computer Interfaces for Novel Interactions and Towards Sustainable ICT. Funding can be applied for by international consortia consisting of at least three research teams from at least three countries participating in the call. The principal investigator of the Polish research ream must be at least a PhD holder.

Call announcement

Countries participating in the call: Belgium, Bulgaria, Québec (Canada), Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and United Kingdom.

The application procedure:

• International level: a joint proposal drafted by the Polish research teams in cooperation with the foreign partners (in English) and submitted to the electronic submission system (ESS) available on the programme’s website.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a single-stage call which means that only full proposals are submitted at the international level. More on the application procedure at the international level can be found in the Call Announcement available on the CHIST-ERA website.

• 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 ZSUN/OSF electronic submission system within 7 days of the date by which joint proposals must be submitted at the international level.

Call Timeline:

• Submission deadline: 1 March 2021, 5 p.m. CET
• Submission deadline for NCN proposals in ZSUN/OSF: 8 March 2021
• Call results: July 2021
• Project start date: October 2021

Under the CHIST-ERA 2021 call, funds can be applied for to cover salaries for members of the research team, 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 500 000 EUR.

We are pleased to present the second ranking list in the international CEUS-UNISONO call for bilateral and trilateral research projects conducted by research teams from Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Poland in accordance with the Lead Agency Procedure within the framework of the multilateral CEUS programme. 9 research projects have been recommended for funding following a merit-based evaluation conducted by the Czech Science Foundation - Grantová agentura České republiky (GAČR) from the Czech Republic. 

Ranking List

Joint research teams from Poland and the Czech Republic will be awarded nearly 8.6 million PLN to carry out research projects. Funding has been awarded to one research project in the area of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, four research projects in the area of Life Sciences and four in the area of Physical Sciences and Engineering. The research partners from the Czech Republic includes scientists from the research institutions located in Prague, Brno, Ceske Budejovice and Ostrava. 

The CEUS-UNISONO grant may go towards funding research team salaries, scholarships for students and PhD students, purchase or manufacturing of research equipment and other necessary project-related expenses. The total budget of the call equals 20 million PLN and it is targeted at Polish research teams planning to join up with one (in the case of bilateral projects) or two (in the case of trilateral projects) selected partner teams in order to submit a funding proposal for a basic research project in any discipline of science. The principal investigator of the Polish research team must hold at least a PhD degree; the principal investigator of the partner research team must meet the requirements of its own partner agency in this respect. Projects may be planned for a period of 24 or 36 months and in the case of research projects to be carried out jointly with research teams from Austria this can also be 48 months.

The CEUS-UNISONO call is organised in accordance with the Lead Agency Procedure, with proposals being accepted on a rolling basis until 31 December 2020. Results are announced within 12 months from the NCN day of submission of the NCN proposal; the ranking lists will be successively published here.

Together with the JPND network (EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research), we are pleased to announce a new call for international research projects to detect early symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases (Linking pre-diagnosis disturbances of physiological systems to Neurodegenerative Diseases).

See the Call Announcement

Funding can be applied for by international consortia consisting of at least three (and no more than seven) research teams from at least three countries participating in the call. The principal investigator of the Polish research ream must be at least a PhD holder.

Countries participating in the call: Australia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Israel, Canada, Luxembourg, Latvia, Germany, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, Hungary, Italy.

The application procedure:

First stage:

• International level: a joint pre-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.

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 ZSUN/OSF electronic submission system within 7 days of the joint full proposal submission date (international level).

Call Timeline:

• Submission deadline for joint pre-proposals: 2 March 2021, 3 p.m. CET
• Call for joint full proposals: May 2021
• Submission deadline for joint full proposals: 29 June 2021, 3 p.m. CET
• Submission deadline for NCN proposals in ZSUN/OSF: 6 July 2021
• Call results: October 2021

Under the JPND 2021 call, funds can be applied for to cover salaries for members of the research team, 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 500 000 EUR.

The National Science Centre has announced the Weave-UNISONO call for excellent international research projects covered by joint proposals submitted to and evaluated by foreign partner institutions acting as the lead agencies

The Weave-UNISONO call has been launched under the Weave programme which aims to simplify the submission and selection procedures of collaborative research projects submitted by researchers from two or three European countries or regions. Weave builds on the Lead Agency Procedure which means that joint international research projects will only be evaluated by a single funding organisation acting as the Lead Agency relevant to one of the teams participating in a project in the call that constitutes a permanent element of such agency’s offer. Therefore, the Weave initiative is open to NCN proposals covering all academic disciplines submitted under the Weave-UNISONO call (announced today) and under the OPUS call (to be announced in September 2020). As of 2021, the National Science Centre will continue to cooperate with the following partner institutions:  Austrian Science Fund – Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (FWF) from Austria, Czech Science Foundation – Grantová agentura České Republiky (GAČR) from the Czech Republic, Slovenian Research Agency – Javna agencija za raziskovalno dejavnost Republike Slovenije (ARRS) from Slovenia, Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) from Switzerland, and German Research Foundation – Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) from Germany.

The Lead Agency is the institution relevant for the coordinating applicant determined by the teams involved in a given proposal. The Lead Agency evaluates proposals and communicates the funding recommendations to the other institutions involved. By simplifying the procedure, Weave seeks to make it easier for researchers to collaborate across borders in the manner they consider best for their respective research programmes, hence applying a brand new approach to the international project funding. 

The Weave initiative has been launched by 12 European research funding organisations, with the support of Science Europe. It is the first time a large network of this scale has developed an initiative of this kind to enable bilateral and trilateral European research projects in all academic disciplines. In order to meet the needs of the future applicants, the Weave participants have developed, with the support of Science Europe, an interactive online tool that researchers can use to determine the relevant funding opportunities for their research projects. It is available at: https://weave-research.net/find-your-funding/ and can be used by anyone wishing to participate in the Weave-UNISONO call. 

NCN funding proposals for research projects carried out under international cooperation and evaluated by the NCN as the Lead Agency can be submitted under the 22^nd edition of the OPUS call to be launched in September 2021.  

We are pleased to announce that a project involving Polish research team has been awarded funding in the call launched within the ERA-NET programme Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (EN-UAC) by the JPI Urban Europe network.

The EN-UAC Call 2019, launched in December 2019, covered the following topics:

• Evolving solutions for an integrated approach on sustainable urban physical mobility and transport, land use and digital connectivity;
• Develop and support the implementation of innovative mobility systems and services with a potential to contribute to sustainable urban mobility;
• Transform and re-organise urban spaces to pave the ground for sustainable urban mobility and accessibility at local level, from the street scale to the district;
• Develop effective policy options for achieving a shift towards sustainable urban accessibility and connectivity;
• Change behaviours and perspectives towards sustainable urban accessibility and connectivity.

Within the call, applicants have submitted 86 proposals. Over EUR 19 million have been granted to 15 research projects.

Project with Polish research team awarded within the EN-UAC Call 2019:

ITEM: Inclusive Transition towards Electric Mobility. The applicants: Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and Heksagon Research Sp. z o.o. Polish Principal Investigator: dr hab. Aleksandra Lis - Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. The project will involve research teams from the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom.

The implementation of research projects funded within the call will start in early 2021.

More information and the full list of the projects recommended for funding are available on the JPI Urban Europe website.

Congratulations to the laureates!