We wish to inform you that the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) has now launched a fast-track merit-based evaluation of research proposals on crises like epidemics or pandemics (FWF Urgent Funding for Research Into Humanitarian Crises like Epidemics and Pandemics), submitted to the FWF between 6 April and 15 December 2020 in all academic disciplines. The merit-based evaluation of funding proposals at the FWF will now be shortened to just a few weeks.

For Polish researchers who submit NCN proposals under the CEUS-UNISONO call, along with a joint proposal for the funding of research projects devoted to the subject submitted to the FWF as the lead agency under the Stand-Alone Projects programme, this means that:

1. joint proposals will undergo a merit-based evaluation at the FWF (the lead agency) within just a few weeks from submission, which will accordingly speed up the decision of the NCN to award funding to the Polish part of the project;
2. where the joint proposal is submitted to the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) as the lead agency in the Stand-Alone Projects programme under the "FWF Urgent Funding for Research Into Humanitarian Crises like Epidemics and Pandemics" track, NCN proposals submitted under the CEUS-UNISONO call are exempt from the restrictions outlined in Chapter III § 10 of the Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure, adopted pursuant to the NCN Council Resolution No 34/2020 of 2 April 2020;
3. in the case of projects submitted under other NCN calls, the restrictions specified in Chapter III § 8 of the Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure do not apply to proposals submitted under the CEUS-UNISONO call or projects to be funded under the CEUS-UNISONO call as long as the joint proposal submitted to the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) as the lead agency of the Stand-Alone Projects programme is devoted to crises like epidemics or pandemics covered by the fast-track merit-based evaluation ("FWF Urgent Funding for Research Into Humanitarian Crises like Epidemics and Pandemics");
4. funding is available for research projects on crises like epidemics or pandemics, to be carried out in cooperation between research teams from Austria and Poland (bilateral projects), as well as between Austria and Poland and the Czech Republic or Slovenia (trilateral projects);
5. in addition, funding can be awarded to projects devoted to crises like epidemics or pandemics, to be carried out in cooperation between research teams from Poland and Austria, with the participation of research teams from Germany or Switzerland or Luxembourg, which apply for funding of such research to their competent foreign research funding institutions, i.e. the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG), the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), or the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR), within the framework of bilateral or multilateral programmes launched by the FWF in cooperation with these bodies pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure;
6. for projects that also involve research teams from Germany, Switzerland or Luxembourg:

• the role of these teams needs to be described in the NCN proposal submitted through the ZSUN/OSF system in the “Współpraca międzynarodowa” [“International cooperation"] section; it is necessary to specify the country (i.e. Germany or Switzerland or Luxembourg), as well as the name of the foreign research institution with which a given team is affiliated;
• the share of budgets planned by individual research teams in the total budget specified in the joint proposal must be proportional. Since only the FWF can act as the lead agency for such proposals, they are not subject to the principles governing the choice of lead agency, as laid down in section 1(7) of the NCN Resolution No 38/2020 of 8 April 2020 on the terms of the international CEUS-UNISONO call for research projects carried out as multilateral collaboration under the CEUS programme pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure. The comparative CEUS cost sheet does not need to be filled out for these projects.

In the CHIST-ERA Call 2020, to be published in the 2^nd semester of 2020, two new and emerging research topics are addressed, namely:

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

In preparation for the Call 2020, the national and regional research funding organisations of CHIST-ERA invite the researchers to participate in the definition of the call at the CHIST-ERA Conference 2020, which will take place in Bratislava (Slovakia) in the 2^nd half of 2020 (dates TBA).

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

Detailed information can be found in CHIS-ERA flyer, as well as on the CHIST-ERA website.

Contact :

National Science Centre, Poland

• Dr Anna Wieczorek, Coordinator for the Physical Sciences and Engineering
• Alicja Dyląg, International Cooperation Department

Due to the state of epidemic in Poland and the related restrictions, the National Science Centre requests that all correspondence be sent only by electronic means. Please note that the National Science Centre will not accept hard copies of correspondence concerning research projects, fellowships, scholarships and research activities sent as of 3 April until further notice. Additionally, as of 2 April 2020, the NCN building can only be accessed by its employees, couriers and post office workers.

As of 2 April 2020, any documents concerning funding agreements for research projects, post-doctoral fellowships, doctoral scholarships and research activities (“grant agreements”) should bear a qualified electronic signature of the competent persons and be delivered to the Electronic Delivery Box address of the National Science Centre: (/ncn/SkrytkaESP). This refers to the documents the NCN Beneficiaries must submit pursuant to the grant agreements as well as those they are authorised to submit. 

If the principal investigator is unable to sign the documents referred to above with a qualified electronic signature, the following solutions are allowed: 

1. if a document must be signed by the principal investigator only, a scan/photograph of the document signed by hand by the principal investigator can be sent to the NCN either to its Electronic Delivery Box address or to the mentor by e-mail; 

2. if a document must be signed by the principal investigator as well as the authorised representatives of the host institution for the grant agreement:

1. a scan of the document signed by hand by the principal investigator bearing a qualified electronic signature of the authorised representative of the host institution can be sent to the Electronic Delivery Box address of the National Science Centre only; or 
2. two files: scan/photograph of the document signed by hand by the principal investigator and the same document bearing a qualified electronic signature of the authorised representatives of the host institution, can be sent to the Electronic Delivery Box address of the National Science Centre only.

Once this communication is cancelled, the original documents signed by the principal investigators will have to be delivered to the National Science Centre pursuant to the provisions to date of which you will be informed in a separate message. 

The above rules apply to the grant agreements pursuant to which written documents (hard copies) must be delivered. The documents concerning grant agreements whose provisions require the documents to be sent in an electronic format must bear a qualified electronic signature of the competent persons and delivered to the Electronic Delivery Box address of the National Science Centre.

We apologise for the above changes and any inconveniences they may cause but they are necessary to reduce the risk of all those who draft and send the correspondence on your side as well as the couriers, postmen and NCN officers on the other. Therefore, please adhere strictly to this communication.

Please remember that the NCN encouraged you to fulfil your obligations under the grant agreements using electronic means as soon as 20 March 2020.

We are pleased to announce the EXPRESS CALL TO FUND RESEARCH ON COVID-19. The call is addressed at researchers who can expand knowledge on COVID-19 diagnostic procedures, treatment and prevention, and the psychological and social effects of the pandemic. The call budget is PLN 10,000,000.

See the Announcement

In order to ensure prompt joint action by researchers needed to understand the mechanisms of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, as well as to improve diagnostic tests, find drugs and mitigate the effects of the pandemic, we are launching an express call for proposals to fund research on COVID-19. Funding provided under the call will be designated primarily for basic research related to pathophysiology of the disease, including research that can contribute to the development of future therapeutic strategies or diagnostic methods for COVID-19, research on infection mechanisms, including ways of protecting healthcare workers, and research on the psychological and social effects of the pandemic and ways of reducing them (including health policy and organisation of medical care, ethics in research and patient care, social behaviour in the face of pandemics).

“Dealing with COVID-19 is the key challenge facing us today. This is why researchers around the world have taken efforts to understand the mechanisms of the virus, develop diagnostic tests and identify therapeutic measures to eradicate the disease. It is equally important to explore ways to mitigate the psychological and social effects of the pandemics, ones we are experiencing now and will face in the future. Knowing that work on COVID-19 is also carried out in Poland we have decided to launch an express call to fund such research”, says Professor Małgorzata Kossowska, the President of the NCN. “We are aware of the seriousness of the situation and time pressure which is why we are launching a call for proposals which is in many ways different from our other calls. It has very short submission and evaluation deadlines, specific group of researchers at which it is addressed and very flexible rules for spending the grant money. We believe that additional funding and relaxation of the rules will allow the teams of researchers working on the problem to intensify their work. We believe that Polish researchers can successfully engage in the fight against COVID-19, provide good medical solutions as well as psychological and social ones. We need them more than ever”, says Professor Kossowska.

The call is addressed at researchers with a documented research track record in the areas in question who are at least PhD holders and have acted or act as principal investigators in at least one research project funded under NCN calls for proposals (OPUS, SONATINA, SONATA, SONATA BIS, HARMONIA, MAESTRO, SYMFONIA, POLONEZ) and international bilateral or multilateral calls for proposals, or who have been winners of other prestigious national or international calls for proposals. Research projects can be planned for the period of up to 18 months. The results must be made available to the public as soon as they are available. 

Proposals completed pursuant to the data required in the form must be submitted electronically via the Electronic Platform of Public Administration Service (ePUAP). The submission deadline is 14 April 2020. The results will be announced in the first half of May.

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, an increased joint effort by researchers is now needed to understand the mechanisms of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, improve diagnostic tests, find drugs and prevent the effects of the pandemic. In order to pursue the objectives laid down in the NCN Act, we have decided to launch an express call for proposals to fund research on COVID-19. The call is addressed at researchers who can expand knowledge on COVID-19, diagnostic procedures, treatment, prevention and the psychological and social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The funds will be designated primarily for basic research related to:

1. pathophysiology of the disease, including research that can contribute to the development of future therapeutic strategies or diagnostic methods for COVID-19,
2. infection mechanisms, including ways of protecting healthcare workers, and 
3. psychological and social effects of the pandemic and ways of reducing them (including health policy and organisation of medical care, ethics in research and patient care, social behaviour in the face of pandemics).

The call will addressed at researchers with a documented research track record in the areas in question. Other researchers with the required experience and research infrastructure may also participate in research projects requiring an interdisciplinary approach, within the scope of cooperation or contracted work.

The results must be made available to the public as soon as they are available.

Terms of the call

1. Proposals may cover basic research related to the subject of the call specified in the call announcement.
2. The following entities may submit research funding proposals: universities, federations of science and HE entities; research institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences, research institutes; international research institutes; institutes operating within the Łukasiewicz Research Network; centres of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and other entities involved in research independently on a continuous basis.
3. Research projects can be planned for the period of up to 18 months.
4. The person acting as the principal investigator in the proposal must meet all of the following criteria:

1. be at least a PhD holder,
2. be employed pursuant to an employment contract by the host institution acting as the applicant,
3. must have acted or act as principal investigator in at least one research project funded under the following NCN calls for proposals: OPUS, SONATINA, SONATA, SONATA BIS, HARMONIA, MAESTRO, SYMFONIA, POLONEZ and international bilateral or multilateral calls for proposals or be a winner of other prestigious national or international calls for proposals.

PLEASE NOTE: Acting as the principal investigator will not count towards the limit of research projects in connection with restrictions to apply in other NCN calls.

Submission of proposals

PLEASE NOTE: Proposals completed pursuant to the data required in the form must be submitted electronically via the Electronic Platform of Public Administration Service (ePUAP).

Detailed and final information on the call for proposals along with the documents will be made available on 30 March 2020.

Contact details:

Dr inż. Tomasz Szumełda, e-mail*: tomasz.szumelda@ncn.gov.pl

*Since we work from home at the moment, you can only contact us by email. 

We are pleased to announce the results of the call for Polish-Swiss research projects in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering, and Life Sciences. Polish research teams cooperating with the Swiss researchers will receive over PLN 5,000,000 for research.

See the ranking list

The National Science Centre launched the ALPHORN call jointly with the Swiss National Science Foundation (“SNSF”). Five out of thirty proposals submitted in the call were recommended for funding. As much as PLN 5,011,062 was awarded for research to be carried out by the Polish research teams.

The ALPHORN call is addressed at Polish research teams that intend to carry out high-quality cutting-edge research jointly with their Swiss partners. The call was carried out pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure, with the SNSF acting as the Lead Agency (proposals were subject to merit-based evaluation conducted by the Swiss agency only). Proposals were submitted to the SNSF under the SNSF Project Funding Programme where projects from the Polish and Swiss research teams competed with other international projects submitted pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure. Under the ALPHORN call, the National Science Centre will fund research tasks carried out by the Polish research teams under the joint Polish-Swiss research project.

The highest amount of funding (over PLN 1,500,000) was awarded to a project to be carried out at the Warsaw University of Technology. Under the ALPHORN call, researchers could have planned their research to last 24 or 36 months and the principal investigator of the Polish project was required to be at least a PhD holder.

The ranking list is available here.

Contact details:

• Dr Aneta Pazik, Coordinator for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences: aneta.pazik@ncn.gov.pl
• Dr Jadwiga Spyrka, Coordinator for Physical Sciences and Engineering: jadwiga.spyrka@ncn.gov.pl
• Dr Anna Wieczorek, Coordinator for Life Sciences: anna.wieczorek@ncn.gov.pl

In order to facilitate our Beneficiaries to perform their duties arising under grant agreements (agreements for funding of research projects, post-doctoral fellowships, doctoral scholarships and research activities), including agreements pursuant to which written documents (hard copies) must be delivered, final reports, annual reports, annexes and other correspondence arising under the powers of the grantees will be considered as duly submitted, provided that they bear a qualified electronic signature of the competent persons and are delivered to the Electronic Correspondence Register (/ncn/SktytkaESP) available in the ePUAP system.

The foregoing should be regarded as a right rather than obligation, hence the obligations performed as provided for in the grant agreements (i.e. annual or final reports submitted in writing) will be fully accepted by the National Science Centre.

Nevertheless, the electronic delivery of correspondence is widely encouraged. 

NCN director’s letter on the delivery of documents to the National Science Centre.

Please remember!

Submission dates for annual and final reports have been postponed

Consider rescheduling trips to foreign research centres funded under the calls launched by the National Science Centre

You can contact NCN officers by e-mail

The opening hours of the Correspondence Registration Office (Dziennik Podawczy) have been changed

The National Science Centre and the M-ERA network announce the M-ERA.NET 2 call for international research projects in the area of material science and material engineeringFunding proposals may be submitted by international consortia composed of a minimum of 3 research teams from at least 2 countries participating in the call. The principal investigator of the Polish research team must hold at least a PhD degree. M-ERA.NET 2 Call 2020

We have launched new editions of the most popular calls, OPUS and PRELUDIUM, as well as a new POLS call funded from Norway Grants and addressed at researchers arriving to Poland from other countries.

POLS is one of the three calls funded from the Norway Grants 2014–2021 under the “Research” Programme. The National Science Centre is the operator of the basic research part of the Programme. The objective of the POLS call is to promote researcher mobility; it is addressed at researchers arriving from all over the world who wish to carry out their research in Poland. A principal investigator must be at least a PhD holder who have not lived, worked, studied or managed a research project in Poland in the two years prior to the closing of the call. Researchers can apply for project funding ranging between EUR 100,000 to 200,000, which can be used to finance the costs of remuneration for the research team, depreciation or purchase of equipment, materials and services, conference fees and travel expenses, as well as other project-related costs. The maximum indirect costs under the POLS call can account for up to 25% of the funds applied for in the project, including the value of the purchased research equipment, with the exception of subcontracting costs. Research projects may last either 12 or 24 months. In justified cases, the project implementation period may be extended, however no longer than by 30 April 2024. The total call budget is over EUR 7,000,000.

In the meantime, the OPUS call, addressed at researchers at any stage of their research career, has just entered its 19^th edition. Research projects may be carried out over a period of 12, 24, 36 or 48 months. Since the previous edition, the OPUS call has been extended to include certain elements of the HARMONIA call, whereby researchers can apply for funding of research projects carried out in bilateral or multilateral international cooperation as well as initiatives involving large-scale international research infrastructure. A principal investigator under the OPUS call must have at least one paper published or accepted for publication or at least one artistic achievement or achievement in research in art completed. The principal investigator must reside in Poland for at least 50% of the project duration period. In addition to the principal investigator, research may be carried out by co-investigators, including students, PhD students and post-docs. However, as of the previous edition of the call, researchers who have been awarded a PhD degree by the host institution for the project cannot be employed as post-docs. Indirect costs may be a maximum of 20% of direct costs and will be calculated on the direct costs, including equipment, devices and software. The terms of the OPUS call do not specify the total minimum or maximum amount of the project budget and as much as PLN 450,000,000 in funding is available in total.

Furthermore, the 19^th edition of the PRELUDIUM call has just been announced. It is addressed at researchers who are not PhD holders. The subject of the project may, but does not have to, be connected with the subject of a PhD dissertation. Young researchers are eligible to receive funding for projects to be carried out over the period of 12, 24 or 36 months. Depending on the project duration, the grants may amount to PLN 70,000, 140,000 or 210,000 PLN respectively. Indirect costs may be a maximum of 20% of direct costs. As of the previous edition of the call, the indirect costs are calculated on direct costs, including research equipment, devices and software. Apart from the principal investigator and the mentor, the research team may only include one other member. Not unlike in the OPUS call, the principal investigator must reside in Poland for at least 50% of the project duration period, and is eligible to take on that role in the PRELUDIUM call only once. The total budget of the call is PLN 35,000,000.

Proposals must be submitted electronically via ZSUN/OSF, available at https://osf.opi.org.pl.  The proposal submission deadline is 16 June 2020. The call results will be announced in December 2020 at the latest.