Dr hab. n. med. Wojciech Fendler from the Medical University of Łódź, Dr hab. Jakub Growiec from the Warsaw School of Economics and Dr hab. Michał Tomza from the University of Warsaw are the winners of the eighth edition of the NCN awards. Each will receive a prize of 50,000 PLN.

Just like every year, the prestigious distinction was awarded to three outstanding young researchers who made significant discoveries in basic research conducted at Polish host institutions. The award was handed out in three fields: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Life Sciences, and Physical Sciences and Engineering. Due to the epidemiological situation, the traditional October gala in the Gallery of 19^th-century Polish Art in Sukiennice had to be cancelled and our winners will be presented with their award statuettes at another time.

The NCN Award 2020 for Life Sciences went to Dr hab. n. med. Wojciech Fendler from the Medical University of Łódź in recognition of his research into microRNAs as biomarkers of accidental exposure to ionising radiation and the side effects of radiotherapy. Fendler showed that certain microRNA molecules circulating in the blood serum may indicate the presence of irreversible radiation-induced damage to the bone marrow.

“My research is aimed at detecting exposure to ionising radiation and predicting its adverse side effects. The purpose is to develop a diagnostic test that would allow exposure to a potentially lethal dose of radiation to be identified and speed up the selection of exposed patients who need a life-saving bone marrow transplant,” explains Dr hab. n. med. Wojciech Fendler, “Having completed wide-scale research on the mechanisms that regulate the production of radiation-dependent micro-RNAs and the application of microRNA-based diagnostic tests to monitor the side effects of radiotherapy, we are now entering the implementation phase”, he adds.

Dr Fendler initially studied to be a medical doctor. Following graduation, he began to investigate the causes of rare types of diabetes, their epidemiology and the tools that could facilitate their diagnosis. After his habilitation in 2013, he turned his attention to the use of microRNAs as biomarkers, conducting his research in cooperation with scientists from the Harvard Medical School.

Professor Jakub Growiec from the Warsaw School of Economics carried the day in the field of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, winning the award for his advanced research into economic growth, with a special emphasis on the role of technological progress and human capital.

”Long-term economic growth depends on technological advancement and investment in capital and education, as well as, from the 1980s onwards, the rate of automation”, says Dr hab. Jakub Growiec, “In my research, I try to pin down the mechanisms that make new technologies translate into growth and change the income distribution, both within societies and between different countries. I hope my work will help us understand the future a bit better. For example, it can let us know if we are headed for a long-term slowdown in growth or should expect it to accelerate until the point of so-called technological singularity.”

Jakub Growiec is a professor and Head of the Department of Quantitative Economics at the Warsaw School of Economics, as well as an economic advisor to the National Bank of Poland. He boasts an impressive publication record and many awards, while his contribution to research on economic growth is widely considered as unique in the field.

In Physical Sciences and Engineering, the award for went to Dr hab. Michał Tomza from the University of Warsaw for his theoretical description of interactions between ultra-cold atoms, ions and molecules.

“In my work, I study the properties, dynamics and potential applications of matter at ultra-low temperatures. Ultra-cold matter consists of atoms, ions or particles at temperatures close to absolute zero. Under such conditions the quantum nature of our world manifests itself very strongly. On the microscale, on the atomic level, the entire world around us can be described by the laws of quantum physics, and a number of currently used devices, such as lasers, tomographs, or the GPS would not exist if it weren’t for quantum effects”, explains Dr hab. Michał Tomza. “My goal is to develop concepts and theoretical methods to identify and offer a quantum description of the properties of matter at ultra-low temperatures, although my results are also used for new experiments on the borderline between physics and chemistry and contribute to the development of new quantum technologies.” he adds.

Michał Tomza is a theoretical physicist and chemist associated with the Department of Theoretical Physics at the Faculty of Physics of the Warsaw University. On a daily basis, he cooperates closely with the world’s leading theorists and experimental teams from Amsterdam, Basel, Stuttgart and Freiburg. His research results may allow us to better understand the nature of the world on the microscale, which is of essential importance for all areas of physics and chemistry, as well as for the development of new technologies.

An important aspect of the award is the remuneration designed to support winners financially in their further career and research growth, which would not be possible without the involvement of sponsors: Polish businesses and foundations that wish to actively work to strengthen the position of Polish science on the international arena. This year’s awards for Physical Sciences and Engineering and Life Sciences were funded, respectively, by KGHM Polska Miedź Foundation and Adamed Pharma S.A; INGLOT Sp. z.o.o. co-funded the award for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

This year’s winners were selected from among 53 candidates by a jury composed of the NCN Director and the Members of the NCN Council, as well as our sponsors’ representatives. Candidates could be nominated by former Council members, previous heads of NCN Expert Teams, previous winners, as well as other outstanding scientists indicated by the NCN Director and Council Members.

We are pleased to announce that three projects involving Polish researchers have been awarded funding in the call entitled BiodivClim: Biodiversity and Climate Change. The call covered the following subjects:

• Consequences of climate change on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people;
• Climate-biodiversity feedback processes;
• Potential of nature-based solutions for mitigating and adapting to climate change;
• Synergies and trade-offs between policies on biodiversity, climate and other relevant sectors, and the role of agents of change.

Within the call applicants have submitted 234 proposals. Over EUR 25,5 million have been granted to 21 research projects.

Polish projects awarded within the BiodivClim call:

• BaltVib: Pathogenic Vibrio bacteria in the current and future Baltic Sea waters: mitigating the problem. Polish Principal Investigator: dr Marcin Rakowski, National Marine Fisheries Research Institute. The project will involve research teams from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Germany and Sweden.
• PRINCESS: Peatland Rewetting In Nitrogen-Contaminated Environments: Synergies and trade-offs between biodiversity, climate, water quality and Society. Polish Principal Investigator: dr hab. Wiktor Henryk Kotowski, University of Warsaw. The project will involve research teams from Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany and Norway.
• NAPERDIV: Nature-based perennial grain cropping as a model to safeguard functional biodiversity towards future-proof agriculture. Polish Principal Investigator: prof. dr hab. Katarzyna Hrynkiewicz, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. The project will involve research teams from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Romania and Sweden.

The implementation of research projects funded in the BiodivClim call will start in December 2020. More information and the full list of the projects recommended for funding are available on the BiodivERsA web page.

Congratulations to all the laureates!

Further to the announcement of the results of the Polish Returns 2020 programme by NAWA, the National Science Centre (NCN) announces the opening of the call for proposals to finance Research Components that are part of the projects financed by NAWA under that call. This is the third edition of the programme that enables Polish researchers working abroad to return to Poland and conduct research at Polish universities, scientific units and research centres.

Only applications recommended for funding under the Polish Returns 2020 programme and containing a Research Component may be submitted to the NCN. In the third edition of the call, a NAWA Expert Team has selected a total of thirteen research projects for funding, of which seven meet the condition.

Proposals submitted to the OSF system must be appended with a PDF version of the proposal that has obtained funding under the Polish Returns 2020 programme. A proposal must contain information consistent with the data in the proposal submitted to NAWA. Proposals for funding Research Components will be subject to an eligibility check since Research Components have been part of a merit-based evaluation performed by NAWA. Detailed information on the proposal submission procedure can be found in the call announcement.

Results of the Polish Returns 2020 call at the website of NAWA

Announcement of the call for proposals for NCN funding of Research Components

NCN contact person for proposals to fund Research Components:

Dr Aneta Pazik-Aybar

The BiodivRestore call for proposals is already open. BiodivRestore, announced by the National Science Centre in cooperation with the BiodivERsA and Water JPI networks call, is a call for international research projects in the area of conservation and restoration of degraded ecosystems and their biodiversity, including a focus on aquatic systems.

Funding proposals may be submitted by international consortia composed of at least 3 research teams from at least 3 countries participating in the call.

See the call announcement

Pursuant to NCN Council Resolution no 104/2020 of 30 September 2020, the submission of NCN proposals under the CEUS-UNISONO call will be closed on 31 December 2020, 4 p.m.

PLEASE NOTE: NCN proposals processed in the ZSUN/OSF system from 30 September 2020 inclusive, may include research projects to be carried out by the Polish research teams from 2020 onwards.  If the funding decision by the NCN Director is taken in 2021, the applicants may incur pre-financing costs from their own resources before the funding agreement is executed by the NCN, the applicant and the principal investigator. Such pre-financing costs shall be deemed eligible from the date the funding decision by the NCN Director becomes final until the date the research project is completed. 

Furthermore, from the commencement of the work on the NCN proposal in ZSUN/OSF, the Polish research team shall have 45 calendar days to complete the proposal and send it to the NCN, after which date the proposal shall be disabled for editing. In this case, if the Polish research team has not sent its proposal to the NCN, a new proposal must be drafted and completed in ZSUN/OSF (whereas, for such NCN proposals, the Polish research teams may plan their research projects in the ZSUN/OSF submission system starting from 2022).

Cooperation between NCN, FWF, GAČR and ARRS aimed at funding  bilateral and trilateral research projects in all research areas carried out jointly by research teams from Poland, Austria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic will be continued in the framework of the lead agency procedure from the beginning of 2021. More information on the new framework of cooperation will be available on the NCN website in December 2020.

As much as 660 million PLN have been slated for four calls targeted at researchers at different stages of their academic career. They will be able to apply for funding under OPUS 20 (including OPUS LAP), BEETHOVEN CLASSIC 4, SONATA 16 and PRELUDIUM BIS 2.

The first of the newly announced calls is  OPUS 20 (including OPUS LAP).  The new edition will involve a significant change, as the call will now also be open to proposals for projects carried out in the framework of LAP cooperation (LAP, Lead Agency Procedure). The call is targeted at all researchers, regardless of research seniority, planning to carry out projects without the cooperation of foreign partners, with the use of large international research equipment, or with the participation of foreign partners (including pursuant to the LAP). The Lead Agency Procedure (LAP) is a new standard used to evaluate proposals applied by the European research-funding agencies. It is meant to make it easier for international research teams to apply for funds for joint research projects and to streamline the evaluation of proposals by research-funding agencies thanks to the reliance on domestic calls harnessed for this purpose.

“The key aspect of the Lead Agency Procedure is the mutual trust between the cooperating agencies as to the quality of their proposal review”, says Professor Małgorzata Kossowska, President of the NCN Council, “This is what makes it possible for proposals that involve at least two research teams from different countries to be evaluated in a single institution, known as the lead agency. This year, this role will be taken on by the NCN”, she adds.

In OPUS 20, the LAP will rely on cooperation agreements between the NCN and the following partner institutions: FWF (the Austrian Science Fund), GAČR (the Czech Science Foundation), ARRS (the Slovenian Research Agency), DFG (the German Research Foundation), and SNSF (the Swiss National Science Foundation).

Pursuant to the cooperation agreements, the NCN, as the lead agency under OPUS 20, will perform the merit-based evaluation of OPUS LAP proposals for research projects carried out by research teams from Poland, as well as the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Germany, and Switzerland.

If a research project is recommended for funding, the NCN will provide funds for the Polish research team, while the other partner institutions (FWF, GAČR, ARRS, DFG or SNSF) will fund the foreign research teams. OPUS 20 is also open to funding proposals for research projects (including OPUS LAP proposals) to be carried out with the participation of partners from foreign research institutions who are not planning to apply for funding at the FWF, GAČR, ARRS, DFG or SNSF in the framework of programs organized by the NCN pursuant to the lead agency procedure. In such cases, the foreign research teams involved must seek other sources of funding.

“We would like to reassure those used to the previous format of the OPUS call that international cooperation is not obligatory under the scheme, and proposals submitted together with foreign partners will not be given preferential treatment over those that do not involve such partnerships”, adds Zbigniew Błocki, the NCN Director.

The budget of the OPUS 20 call (including OPUS LAP) amounts to PLN 450 million.

The NCN and the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft – DFG) also keep up their cooperation and announce the BEETHOVEN CLASSIC 4 call. The scheme continues the BEETHOVEN CLASSIC 3 call, relying on a joint merit-based review of Polish-German research proposals by Expert Teams selected by the NCN and the DFG, as well as independent experts. The call will be open to Polish-German research projects in the humanities, social sciences, and art. It is worth noting that a call for proposals for Polish-German research projects in life sciences, physical sciences, and engineering will be opened at the NCN in the framework of LAP cooperation under the OPUS 20 call. The budget of the call, organized jointly with the German Research Foundation (DFG), is PLN 10 million.

We also have the pleasure to announce a new edition of the SONATA call, targeted at researchers who earned their PhD degree 2 to 7 years prior to the submission of the proposal. The purpose of the call is to support researchers at the beginning of their career to carry out innovative basic research projects using modern research facilities and/or original methodology. Applicants can plan projects that will take 12, 24, or 36 months to complete. This year, the budget of the call equals PLN 100 million.

Last but not least, the  PRELUDIUM BIS  call is targeted at institutions operating doctoral schools. The objective of the call is to support PhD student education in doctoral schools and fund research projects carried out by PhD students as part of their doctoral dissertation. The maximum funding awarded to a single project under PRELUDIUM BIS may be as much as PLN 180,000. Research projects funded under the scheme should be carried out over a period of 36 or 48 months. The call also supports international mobility, obliging PhD students to complete a 3 to 6-month foreign research fellowship funded by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA). The budget of the call is PLN 100 million.

Proposals in all the four calls can be submitted until 4 pm on 15 December 2020 via the OSF electronic system.

Prof. Urszula Stachewicz of the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, Dr Wojciech Czerwiński and Dr Michał Pilipczuk, both of the University of Warsaw, were awarded in the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant call under the Horizon 2020 programme. All three are winners of the National Science Centre calls.The first of the grant recipients is Prof. Urszula Stachewicz of the AGH University of Science and Technology, who in her project Bioinspired Composites Strategies for Saving Energy will work on innovative insulation materials that will reduce daily energy consumption. The aim of the research is to develop a material that will reproduce the insulating properties known in nature. It will be based on fibrous membranes that effectively dissipate but also release heat as required. This will result, among other things, in lower energy consumption. Such solutions can be used in the building industry as insulation, in electronic devices or cabling infrastructure. For her five-year project, Urszula Stachewicz, PhD, has been granted nearly EUR 1.7 million. The research will begin early in 2021.

Professor Stachewicz has implemented four projects under NCN calls: Investigating the properties of nature-inspired polymer nanofibre networks in the context of their application to water recovery and energy generation (SONATA BIS 5), 3D image analysis of electrospun fibre scaffolds for bone tissue engineering (SONATA 8), Cell responses to electrospun polymer fibres for tissue engineering applications (OPUS 17) and New constructions of bio-inspired polymeric nanocomposites under the UWERTURA 1 call, the specific aim of which is to support scientists conducting research in Polish research institutions in their efforts to apply for European research funds and to increase their participation in the group of ERC grant winners.

Another of the winners is Wojciech Czerwiński, PhD. He is active in the fields of automatics theory, concurrency models, databases and logic in computer science. In the years 2017-2019, he carried out a SONATA-11-co-financed project titled Separation problems in automata theory. His current project, Challenging Problems in Infinite-State Systems (INFSYS), to which the ERC has allocated EUR 1.34 million, aims to address a number of important challenges concerning the information systems known as infinite-state systems. Among other things, the aim of the research is to create an algorithm which, for a given system, would determine the initial situation and the set of movements available, would answer the question of the possibility of moving to a specific end situation. In the future, the algorithm may be useful for automatic verification of programmes, and thus vetting programmes for errors.

The third Polish laureate of the ERC grant is Michał Pilipczuk, whose earlier project, Optimality in Parameterized Complexity, was also awarded under the NCN SONATA 6 call. In the project Decomposition Methods for Discrete Problems, he will examine structural and decomposition properties of the network and try to use them to create fast calculation methods to solve difficult problems. Dr Pilipczuk’s research team will be involved in the application of graph structure theorem in four areas: theory of sparse graphs, dynamic parameterized algorithms, algorithms in planar graphs, and algorithms in forbidden sub-structure graphs. The ERC has allocated almost EUR 1.4 million to the project.

Researchers from Poland were among the 436 awarded researchers from all over the world. This year, EUR 677 million was allocated to projects. The projects will be implemented in 25 countries, a majority of them in Germany (88), Great Britain (62) and the Netherlands (42). The call is addressed to independent researchers with an established track record, who are 2 to 7 years after their doctorate, and their projects may last up to 5 years. Receiving a grant in the ERC call is a great distinction, its mission being funding breakthrough and pioneering research. The only criterion for evaluating research under the call is its scientific excellence.

See the complete list of winners on the ERC website.

The CHIST-ERA Network has defined topics for the next call for proposals that will be announced in December 2020:

• Advanced Brain-Computer Interfaces for Novel Interactions
• Towards Sustainable ICT.

Researchers are encouraged to start discussing possible projects with prospective partners. The call will require that projects are submitted by international consortia with partners in at least three partcipating countries (the list of countries which have shown preliminary interest in participating in the Call is provided in the pre-announcement on the CHIST-ERA website). The national/regional eligibility criteria will be defined by each participating funding agency.

The anticipated deadline for proposals is 15^th February 2021. The projects will be selected in the second half of 2021.

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.

In preparation for the Call 2020, the national and regional research funding organisations of CHIST-ERA Network invite the researchers to participate in the CHIST-ERA Conference 2020, which will be held on-line on 29-30 September and 1 October 2020.

This event creates an excellent opportunity for the scientific community to directly participate in scoping the call content, discuss with experts and exchanging views on the future of the domains with their peers.

September 29 is dedicated to the topic Advanced Brain-Computer Interfaces for Novel Interactions, September 30 explores the topic Towards Sustainable ICT promising research directions, and October 1 gathers Open Science specialists to exchange on the challenges of Research Practices and Open Research Data in the context of potential CHIST-ERA Open Science Call.

Please check the CHIST-ERA webiste for detailed information.

Contact:

• Dr Anna Wieczorek,  the Physical Sciences and Engineering Coordinator Unit, phone: 12 341 9164
• Alicja Dyląg, International Cooperation Office, phone:  12 341 9069

We are pleased to announce that in October 2020 BiodivERsA and the Water JPI will launch a joint call on the following topic: Conservation and restoration of degraded ecosystems and their biodiversity, including a focus on aquatic systems.

This call will cover the following three non-exclusive themes:

• Studying the biological and biophysical processes at stake for conservation/restoration, and their interactions
• Assessing trade-offs and synergies between targets, benefits and policies for conservation and restoration
• Knowledge for improving the effectiveness and upscaling of conservation and restoration actions

Researchers are encouraged to start discussing possible projects with prospective partners. To be eligible, research consortia will have to include participating organisations from a minimum three different countries participating in the call, including at least 2 from EU Member States or EU Associated Countries (the list of countries which have shown preliminary interest in participating in the Call is provided in the pre-announcement). The national/regional eligibility criteria will be defined by each participating funding agency.

The anticipated deadline for pre-proposals is 7^th of December 2020.

For details please see the website, where a Partner Search Tool is available.

Please note that this pre-announcement is for information purposes only. It does not create any obligation for the BiodivERsA and Water JPI consortium nor for any of the participating funding organisations. The official call announcement, to be published later, shall prevail.

Contact:

• Dr Monika Pobiega, tel. 12 341 9176
• Anna Kotarba, tel. 12 341 9091

In 2021, the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR) will launch another five-year ERA-Net programme  called JPIAMR-ACTION. The programme will be supported by the European Commission and the Polish research teams participating in the research projects will be cofunded by National Science Centre. The first call for proposals,  will target projects in the area of AMR transmission and interventions. In order to refine the scope of this action, JPIAMR in collaboration with the French National Research Agency (ANR) is organising an online workshop specifically focused on this research area.

The main goals of the workshop, to take place on 3-4 September, 2020 are:

• to identify the recent progress in the research area of AMR transmission, with a specific focus on the results obtained by the projects funded by JPIAMR in 2016 and 2017 – The Call on Transmission Dynamics and the Call on Prevention and Intervention strategies to Control AMR infections.
• to identify the gaps and needs and the future challenges in the research area of AMR transmission.

The workshop will be organised in two half-day sessions entirely dedicated to scientific discussions and debates. Videos presenting the results obtained by the projects funded by JPIAMR will be available shortly before the workshop. These will include three projects involving Polish research teams:

EMerGE-NeT: Effectiveness of infection control against intra- and inter-hospital transmission of MultidruG-resistant Enterobacteriaceae – insights from a multi-level mathematical NeTwork model

ImpresU: Improving rational prescribing for urinary tract infections (UTI) in frail elderly

INART: Intervention of antimicrobial resistance transfer into the food chain

Download draft workshop agenda: Agenda JPIAMR workshop on AMR transmission, 3-4 September 2020 (pdf)

To register to the event and to ask questions to the panellists, please follow this link: Registration page JPIAMR workshop on AMR transmission, 3-4 September 2020

Contact:

• dr Monika Pobiega, tel. +48 12 341 9176
• Jolanta Palowska, tel. + 48 12 341 9139