The EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) initiative launched a new joint transnational call for multinational research projects on personalised medicine for neurodegenerative diseases. The call is launched in partnership with the European Commission and has a budget of ca. EUR 30 M.

Neurodegenerative diseases are debilitating and still largely untreatable conditions. They are characterised by a large variability in their origins, mechanisms and clinical expression. When searching for a medical solution, e.g. a treatment or an optimised approach for care, this large variability constitutes a major hurdle if not controlled. Indeed a treatment addressing one disease pathway may not be useful for all patients experiencing the relevant symptoms. Thus, one of the greatest challenges for treating neurodegenerative diseases is the deciphering of this variability.

The following neurodegenerative diseases are included in the call:

• Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias
• Parkinson’s disease and PD‐related disorders
• Prion diseases
• Motor neuron diseases
• Huntington’s disease
• Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA)
• Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)

JPND has chosen to focus in the area of Precision Medicine, which relates to the targeting of specific elements responsible for pathology in a given individual at a particular point in time. It is an emerging approach for disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment that takes into account individual variability in genes, biological/molecular characteristics together with environmental and lifestyle factors.

Thus, the call focuses on Precision Medicine in the following research areas:

• Diagnosis (e.g. biomarkers, imaging data, omics approaches, big data analyses)
• Prevention (e.g. biomarkers for studying novel treatments and interventions, co-morbidities, digital technologies, stratification within cohort studies and clinical trials)
• Care (e.g. improvement of social and health care systems, molecular profiling, imaging, lifestyle data)

A two-stage application procedure (pre-proposals and full proposals) will be open for consortia composed of researchers from at least three countries participating in the call: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany *, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

*to be confirmed

All applicants are advised to check the relevant national eligibility criteria and requirements, as those provide important information, for instance on how to fill out the budget tables.

Draft timetable for applications:

• Deadline for pre-proposal submission: 12^th March 2019, 15.00 CET
• Deadline for full proposal submission: 25^th June 2019, 15.00 CET
• Submission deadline for UNISONO proposals for the participating Polish teams: 2^nd July 2019, 23.59 CET.
• Notification of accepted proposals: October 2019

Projects duration: 24 or 36 months.

Call documents:

• Call Text
• Pre-proposal template
• Pre-proposal guidelines 

For more information please visit the call website:

http://www.neurodegenerationresearch.eu/initiatives/annual-calls-for-proposals/open-calls/personalised-medicine-2019/

Contact:

• dr Małgorzata Hasiec, tel. 12 341 9153
• Marlena Wosiak, tel. 12 341 9093

Information for Polish applicants:

1. We strongly encourage all applicants to read information on rules of participation and eligible costs included in the Annex to NCN Council’s Resolution on funding granted within calls for proposals for international research projects (UNISONO).
2. At the pre-proposal stage Polish applicants are not required to send any additional documents to the NCN.
3. Up to 7 days from the full proposal stage (no later than 2^nd July 2019) Polish applicants must submit their national applications in the ZSUN/OSF submission system. The application will include a budget that should be calculated according to the Annex to NCN Council’s Resolution on funding granted within calls for proposals for international research projects (UNISONO).
4. If one international project includes partners from two or more different Polish Host Institutions, these institutions apply as a group of projects. Each entity within the group has a separate budget, but the limit on the remuneration applies to the group as a whole (please see UNISONO). Please note that groups of projects have higher limits on the remuneration. 
5. Projects including Polish teams may last 24 or 36 months.
6. Budget of the Polish part of the research project in the ZSUN/OSF system should be given in PLN: 1 EUR= 4,1733 PLN.

A Polish research team has made the list of winners of the JPI UE – CHINA call: Sustainable and Liveable Cities and Urban Areas for international research projects. The call was organised by the Chinese funding agency NSFC and the JPI Urban Europe  network, the umbrella for the National Science Centre.

Project entitled Urban nitrogen cycles: new economy thinking (UNCNET) to master the challenges of climate change will be carried out by researchers from Austria, China and Poland. Polish team will be headed by dr Monika Suchowska-Kisielewicz from the University of Zielona Góra

Entitled Sustainable and Liveable Cities and Urban Areas the call drew 122 submissions. 11 research projects were selected to receive funding of 10,8 million Euro.

On Monday, 17 December 2018, the grand opening of the new registered office of the National Science Centre was held in Kraków. The event was attended by Jarosław Gowin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and Higher Education. Furthermore, the Deputy Prime Minister handed over nominations to the newly appointed NCN Council Members.

After eight years of renting offices, the National Science Centre acquired its own property. The grants administration centre and place of Expert Team meetings is now located at ul. Twardowskiego 16 in Krakow. The final sale agreement pursuant to which the building was purchased from Moonoffice was entered into on 22 June 2018. The National Science Centre moved its registered office to the new building on 1 December 2018.

“The fact that the National Science Centre has been located in Krakow is a great opportunity for the city, which is why I always wanted the institution guided by the world highest standards to have its own permanent registered office and to have it in a building at the highest international standard” said Vice Prime Minister Gowin at the opening ceremony. 

At present, the National Science Centre employs over 170 people. The calls for proposals are conducted almost all year round, which is why most of the office space at the NCN is constantly used by the Expert Teams for their meetings, during which funding decisions are taken following multi-stage evaluation procedures. Additionally, more and more calls are announced, during which interviews are held with the applicants as part of the evaluation procedure. Those activities require a large number of conference rooms. The new building meets all those needs.

“We have rented an office space of approx. 3,500 sqm so far. The extra space will be used for additional conference rooms and new purposes, e.g. a canteen. Furthermore, we are expecting employment at the NCN to increase over the next few years due to the ever-increasing grant-in-aid and number of proposals submitted to the NCN” says prof. Zbigniew Błocki, NCN Director.

The purchase of a new building for the NCN’s registered office has solved the problem pending since the date of the decision to establish the National Science Centre and locate it in Krakow. In 2010, the authorities of the City of Kraków proposed to locate the National Science Centre in the buildings at Mały Rynek. However, they turned out not to meet the requirements of the institution that was being created. Since then, a number of locations has been discussed upon but none was chosen for many different reasons. It took a year to purchase the new building. It is a modern office building that has been recently delivered for use, has a usable space of 5,300 sqm and has been built in accordance with the LEED certification awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council.

“This purchase would not be possible without the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and Deputy Prime Minister Gowin in particular, who managed to secure funds for the transaction in the 2018 state budget” says prof. Błocki.

Along with the grand opening, the new Council Members received nominations for the 2018-2020 term of office. The former Council Members, who looked after the highest level of the NCN’s activity during their term of office, were released from their duties. The Minister of Science and Higher Education appointed twelve outstanding Polish scientists in their place. They will be responsible for, inter alia, determining the priority areas of basic research, specifying the terms of the calls announced by the NCN, announcing the calls for doctoral scholarship and post-doctoral fellowships and selecting members of the Expert Teams to evaluate proposals submitted with the NCN.

The National Science Centre has announced the SONATINA and UWERTURA calls for the third time and ETUIDA call for the seventh time. Polish scientists can apply for funding of their research projects, doctoral scholarships and foreign fellowships. The total call budget is PLN 56,000,000.

The SONATINA 3 call for proposals is aimed at persons who have been awarded a doctorate within 3 years before submitting the proposal or will be awarded a doctorate by the end of June 2019. The objective of the call is to provide young researchers with employment opportunities and possibility to carry out research in Polish research institutions and to allow them to gain experience during fellowships in foreign research institutions. Research projects will be carried out over the period 24 or 36 months, whilst foreign fellowships will last between 3 and 6 months. The amount designated to cover the cost of foreign stay under SONATINA 3 has been increased from PLN 9,000 to 12,000. The call budget is PLN 35,000,000.

UWERTURA 3 is a call for proposals intended for experienced researchers, preparing them to apply for prestigious grants of the European Research Council (ERC). Researchers wishing to apply for fellowships in foreign research teams using ERC grants must be holders of at least a doctorate degree. Work in international research teams is a great opportunity to gain valuable experience. A researcher must apply for an ERC grant within 18 months of completing the fellowship. Such grant must be used at a Polish research institution with the researcher acting as a principal investigator. The fellowship will last at least 3 and no more than 6 months. This year, the call has been allocated PLN 1,000,000. 

ETIUDA 7 is a call aimed at researchers on the threshold of their careers in research, i.e. applicants who have embarked on a doctorate or will embark on a doctorate at a Polish research institution by 30 April 2019. Young researches may be awarded a scholarship of PLN 4,500 per month, for a period of 6 to 12 months. Doctoral scholarships will be funded as of 1 October 2019. Furthermore, the grant may be allocated for fellowships at a foreign research institution lasting between 3 and 6 months. Under ETIUDA 7, the amount to cover the cost of foreign stay has been increased from PLN 9,000 to 12,000. The call budget is PLN 20,000,000, i.e. PLN 5,000,000 more than last year.

“The purpose of the calls we have just announced is to increase the mobility of Polish researchers, in particular young researchers. We know how important it is for researchers to exchange experience in international research teams, on which the contemporary science relies. We wish to create the best conditions possible for Polish researchers to work abroad and have therefore decided to increase the amount allocated for scholarships to PLN 12,000” says Zbigniew Błocki, NCN Director.

By 15 March 2019, proposals under the calls announced by the National Science Centre will be submitted via the ZSUN/OSF system. They will undergo a two-stage evaluation by the NCN Expert Teams comprising outstanding researchers specialising in their particular fields, supported by external reviewers, including foreign experts.

The results of the SONATINA 3, UWERTURA 3 and ETIUDA 7 calls will be known in autumn of 2019 .

The call announcements are available on the NCN’s website.

The National Science Centre has presented its preliminary timeline for 2019 calls.

* calls within EOG and Norway grants, calls schedule might be changed in the course of the year

Specific information on the terms and start dates for individual calls will be published on the NCN’s website once they have been approved by the relevant resolutions of the Council of the NCN.

A Polish research team headed by dr hab. Krzysztof Stachowiak from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań has made the list of winners of the EqUIP call  entitled Sustainability, equity, wellbeing and cultural connections.

This call for collaborative research projects has been developed as part of the EU-India Platform which promotes cooperation between funding agencies to help enhance research collaboration between social science and humanities research communities in Europe and India.

Within the framework of the successful Filmind project, Polish researchers, alongside partners from Switzerland, Finland, India and Slovenia will study the Indian film industry as a driver of new socio-economic connections between India and Europe.

The call drew 65 submissions. 6 research projects were selected to receive funding of over 5 million Euro.

National Science Centre, Poland is pleased to announced a new call for proposals in the field of Solar-Driven Chemistry. Subject of this call for proposals is fundamental research in all sub-areas relevant to the photochemical transformation of small, abundant molecules, such as carbon dioxide, water or nitrogen, into more valuable, storable chemicals by means of solar radiation. Focus of the proposals should be on the photochemical processes (reactions) and on solving fundamental problems. 

Typical (but not exclusive) examples include preparative, physicochemical, analytical and theoretical work (always related to the general call topic) on:

• Research on light-converting/harvesting, catalytic, electrode, membrane , etc. materials,
• Materials issues (e.g. photochemical stability of relevant materials), as long as they are used for the photochemical conversion of small molecules,
• Investigating mechanisms of catalysis and light harvesting, if focus is on photochemical conversion of small molecules,
• Heterogeneous photoelectrochemistry/ photocatalysis,
• Photocatalytic water splitting,
• Photochemical or photoelectrochemical CO₂ reduction,
• Development of new photoactive systems if related to the general call topic,
• Reaction engineering,
• Molecular model systems capable of direct conversion, e.g. for mechanistic studies.

A two-stage application procedure (pre-proposals and full proposals) will be open for consortia composed of researchers from at least two countries participating in the call: Finland, France, Germany, Poland, Switzerland.

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) acts as Call Secretariat, therefore all pre-proposals and full proposals must submitted to the DFG’s “elan” submission system. Information on the submission of pre-proposals can be found here.

Draft timetable for applications:

• Deadline for pre-proposal submission: 13th February 2019, 23.59 CET
• Notification of accepted pre-proposals: June 2019
• Deadline for full proposal submission: July 2019
• Notification of accepted proposals: 2019 / 2020

Polish part of the project must have a duration of either 24 or 36 months.

All applicants are advised to check the relevant national eligibility criteria and requirements, as those provide important information, for instance on how to fill out the budget tables.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE CALL

Information for Polish applicants:

1. We strongly encourage all applicants to read information on rules of participation and eligible costs included in the Annex to NCN Council’s Resolution on funding granted within calls for proposals for international research projects (UNISONO).
2. Within 7 days from the full proposal phase Polish applicants must submit their national applications in the ZSUN/OSF submission system. The application will include a budget that should be calculated according to the Annex to NCN Council’s Resolution on funding granted within calls for proposals for international research projects (UNISONO).
3. If one international project includes partners from two or more different Polish Host Institutions, these institutions apply as a group of projects. Each entity within the group has a separate budget, but the limit on the remuneration applies to the group as a whole (please see UNISONO). Please note that groups of projects have higher limits on the remuneration. 
4. Projects including Polish teams may last 24 or 36 months.
5. Budget of the Polish part of the research project in the ZSUN/OSF system should be given in PLN: 1 EUR= 4,3833 PLN.

Contact:

• dr Marta Buchalska, marta.buchalska@ncn.gov.pl, tel. +48 12 341 9158
• Marlena Wosiak, marlena.wosiak@ncn.gov.pl, tel. + 48 12 341 9093

We are pleased to announce that the I-MAESTRO project, involving researchers from Poland, has been awarded funding within the “ForestValue – Innovating the forest-based bioeconomy” call for proposals. The Polish team, led by prof. Jarosław Socha from the University of Agriculture in Kraków, will cooperate with researchers from France, Germany and Slowenia. The project will be coordinated by the National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture (IRSTEA) from France.

The main aim of the project is to improve the scientific basis for developing management strategies that increase the resilience of the bioeconomy to future natural disturbances and climate change, while also maintaining a high level of wood production, carbon storage, and habitat quality for biodiversity.

More information about the ForestValue Call is available on the programme website.

Contact:

• Małgorzata Hasiec, malgorzata.hasiec@ncn.gov.pl, tel. 12 341 9153
• Marlena Wosiak, + 48 12 341 9093

NCN together with JPI AMR network is pleased to announce a new transnational call on antimicrobial resistance. The Call on Diagnostics and Surveillance 2019 will fund joint transnational research projects addressing the development of diagnostic and surveillance tools, technologies and methods to detect antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Projects should address the diagnosis of AMR infections in clinical and veterinary settings, or the surveillance of AMR in humans, animals and the environment. The call promotes projects with impact in low and middle income countries (LMICs) in Asia and Africa.

AMR has become one of the major global health and development challenges of the 21st century. The threat of AMR is particularly high in resource-limited and high-risk settings. This is linked to issues such as weak human and animal health systems; diverse means of food production, processing and consumption; food safety and food security; water, hygiene and sanitation challenges; and the global movement of people and goods.

In response to these challenges, the JPIAMR is pleased to launch this joint transnational call for proposals for innovative research projects on new or improved diagnostic and surveillance strategies, tools, technologies and methods.  The call will support research projects that also have the potential for impact in areas where the risk and burden of AMR is greatest, such as in LMIC settings in Asia and Africa. Projects are encouraged to use a One Health approach where relevant.

The projected call budget is approx. 20 million Euro, including 0,5 Euro allocated by he NCN Council to fund Polish research teams participating in the call.

Scope of the call

Projects should aim to either:

• Develop strategies, tools, technologies, and methods for the detection, monitoring, profiling and/or surveillance of antimicrobial resistance and dynamics leading to resistance.
• Study ways to facilitate and implement the uptake and use of existing strategies, tools, technologies, and/or methods for the detection, monitoring, profiling and surveillance of antimicrobial resistance and dynamics leading to resistance.

Expected Outcomes

It is expected that this JPIAMR call will contribute to the urgent need to curb the burden associated with the most prioritised infections in different geographical settings. This topic area is also suitable to reinforce collaborations involving industry and social sciences. Regional LMIC led collaborations are welcomed. The results of the funded projects should contribute to improved understanding, monitoring and detection of AMR where efforts to curb AMR will have a global impact.

Suggested Focal Areas

• Establish the validity of new or improved diagnostic tools, technologies and methods.
• Evaluate how new or improved diagnostics can promote more prudent use of antibiotics (e.g. narrow spectrum antibiotics) in human and veterinary use
• Rapid diagnostics (essential for optimal antimicrobial selection) and point-of-care techniques, to improve personalised or individual therapies
• Development of new, or more efficient use and accessibility of already existing, tools, technologies and/or methods to detect AMR in multiple reservoirs, for example human, animal and environmental samples

Projects are encouraged to consider the global use of the tools, technologies and methods, including use in low and lower middle income settings (e.g. lack of laboratory facilities, affordable diagnostic tests, unreliable or unavailable electricity supplies or points-of-care-tests).

The following sub-topics are not within the scope of the call:

• Investigations based on, or involving, clinical trials.
• Investigations aiming to improve existing commercial technology or products (more details on this will be in the full call text and annexes)

Participating countries & eligibility

• Full eligibility criteria is included in the Call text, below.
• Consortia of eligible scientists from participating JPIAMR member countries and eligible countries in Africa and Asia may apply to this call.
• Applicants must adhere to the specific regulations of their national funding organisation, see Annex B.
• Consortia must include a minimum of three and a maximum of six project partners from at least three eligible countries.
• Participating JPIAMR member countries include Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Latvia, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, South Africa, Spain and Sweden.
• China and specified LMICs in Southeast and South Asia (DAC list) will be funded by IDRC (See Annex B).
• Low income countries in Africa will be funded by SIDA (See Annex B).

Information and application

• Call text. All specific information on the 9th call.
• Proposal Application Form. Mandatory for submitting proposals. No other routes are accepted
• Application website: Applications should be submitted via https://ptoutline.eu/app/JPIAMR2019 
• Pre-eligibility check form for Italian applicants. For more information, see the specific requirements in the call text (Annex B).

Expected timeline

The call has a two-step application process (pre-proposal, full proposal) with the following targeted timetable:

• February 18, 2019 (11:00 CET)  – submission deadline for joint pre-proposals
• June 17, 2019 (11:00 CET) –  submission deadline for joint full proposals
• June 24, 2019 (23:59 CET) – submission deadline for UNISONO proposals for the participating Polish teams
• Mid October 2019 –  final funding decision announced to applicants
• End of 2019/Early 2020 – start of funding

Information for Polish applicants:

1. At the pre-proposal stage Polish applicants are not required to send any additional documents to the NCN.
2. At the full proposal stage no later than  June 24, 2019 they must submit their UNISONO proposals in the OSF submission system. The UNISONO proposal includes the following budget table: http://ncn.gov.pl/sites/default/files/pliki/UNISONO_budget_table.xlsx.
3. We strongly encourage all applicants to read the information on eligible costs included in the Annex to NCN Council’s Resolution on funding granted within calls for proposals for international research projects (please see UNISONO).
4. If one international project includes partners from two (or more) different Polish Host Institutions, these institutions must apply to the NCN as a group of entities.  Please note that each member of the group will have a separate budget, but the limit on personnel costs, given in paragraph 2.1.2 of the Annex to NCN Council’s Resolution, applies to the group of entities as a whole (please see  UNISONO).
5. At the full proposal stage, the budget of the Polish part of the research project in the OSF system should be given in PLN, with the exchange rate of  1 EUR= 4,3833 PLN.
6. Projects including Polish teams may last 24 or 36 months.

Contact

Please contact the Call Secretariat directly for more information or specific questions regarding the call.

• Email: Akin.Akkoyun@dlr.de
• Email: Barbara.Junker@dlr.de
• Email: Isabella.Napoli@dlr.de

NCN

• dr Jerzy Frączek, tel. +48 12 341 9165; e-mail: jerzy.fraczek@ncn.gov.pl
• Jolanta Palowska tel. +48 12 341 9139; e-mail: jolanta.palowska@ncn.gov.pl

News and updates

Updates about the call will be published on the JPIAMR web and make sure to follow JPIAMR on Twitter @JPIAMR , Facebook.com/JPIAMR and LinkedIn, for further news and updates.