Professor Bartosz Brożek, Professor Joanna Sułkowska and Professor Piotr Sankowski are the winners of the 2018 National Science Centre Award. Each will receive PLN 50,000 for outstanding academic achievements in the area of basic research. As usual, the ceremony was held at the Gallery of the 19^th-Century Polish Art in the Sukiennice in Kraków.

Founded in 2013, the Award is bestowed upon researchers under the age of 40, with the objective of supporting the most outstanding individuals involved in basic research at the Polish research centres. The Award is presented in three research fields: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Life Sciences and Physical Sciences and Engineering.

Professor Bartosz Brożek from the Department for the Philosophy of Law and Legal Ethics at the Faculty of Law and Administration of Jagiellonian University is this year's winner in the area of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. In his research, Professor Brożek also cooperates with the Copernicus Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies. The competition jury of the National Science Centre Award appreciated his innovative conception of normativity of law and other normative systems, based on philosophical argumentation and the findings of cognitive and evolutionary sciences. Professor Brożek's research interests also include theory and philosophy of law, as well as philosophy of science, language, and mind.

“My approach to research could be encapsulated in the following prescription: solve interesting and important problems with any tools you have at your disposal,” Professor Brożek explains. “I believe that no responsible reflection on law and philosophy is possible without achievements of contemporary cognitive science. In the past several dozen years, they have revolutionised our understanding of mind and the mechanisms of human behaviour.”

Professor Joanna Sułkowska from the Centre of New Technologies and the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Warsaw carried off the prize in the field of Life Sciences. She was recognised for her work on “knotted” proteins. The abnormal activity of “knotted proteins” may lead to various lifestyle diseases, and deciphering their secrets may bring about a breakthrough in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and obesity. Professor Sułkowska specialises in molecular and theoretical biophysics. Her research is interdisciplinary and relies on physical, mathematical and biological methods.

“In my work, it’s vital to be able to look at the big picture, without getting too attached to a single discipline, to see the protein structure not only through the eyes of a physicist, but also those of a biologist and chemist. You have to be able to imagine things you cannot see with the naked eye, even though they actually exist,” Professor Sułkowska says.

The third winner, Professor Piotr Sankowski from the Faculty of Informatics at the University of Warsaw, received the Award for his fundamental results in the area of graph algorithms, especially finding associations in graphs. His research interests focus on combinatorial optimisation, with an emphasis on dynamic and stochastic calculations and algorithm engineering.

“Algorithms play an increasing role in our life. They select the information we see on websites, offer us customised ads and decide the prices in online stores and supermarkets,” Professor Sankowski explains. “The great challenge before us is to understand how to do it well and especially how to guarantee that the algorithms we use are fair.”

Candidates for the Award are nominated by scientists, e.g. former Board members of the National Science Centre, former heads of the Expert Teams at the National Science Centre, previous winners, as well as other eminent representatives of the world of science selected by the Board and the Director of the National Science Centre. In this edition, 497 people were eligible to nominate candidates. There were 69 nominations submitted; the shortlist included 6 finalists, two in each of the three disciplines. The final decision was taken by the competition jury of the National Science Centre Award, composed of the representatives of the National Science Centre and the donors of the Award.

The Award also builds bridges between the worlds of science and business. Every year, the National Science Centre invites the cooperation of enterprises involved in social and research activities, which play the role of benefactors and fund the prize of PLN 50,000 for each winner. This year, these have included the Adamed Group, Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa, and Fundacja KGHM Polska Miedź.

NCN 2018 Award winners, NCN representatives and NCN 2018 Award funders

NCN 2018 Award winner in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences – prof. Bartosz Brożek

NCN 2018 Award winner in Life Sciences – dr hab. Joanna Sułkowska

NCN 2018 Award winner in Physical Sciences and Engineering – dr hab. Piotr Sankowski

Photo credit: Michał Niewdana, NCN

• NCN 2018 Award funders
• Honorary patronage
• Media patronage

The CHIST-ERA Network has defined topics for the Call for proposals that will be announced later this month:

• Analog Computing for Artificial Intelligence (ACAI)
• Smart Distribution of Computing in Dynamic Networks (SDCDN)

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 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 proposals is 15^th of January 2019. The projects will be selected in the second half of 2019.

For details please see the attached document and 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 CHIST-ERA consortium nor for any of the participating funding organisations. The official call announcement, to be published later, shall prevail.

Contact:

• Dr Jakub Gadek, tel. 12 341 9152
• Marlena Wosiak, tel. 12 341 9093

In the context of the launch of its 2018 joint call for research proposals on "Biodiversity and its impact on animal, human and plant health”, BiodivERsA organises information webinar to answer the questions of potential applicants.

Webinar session will be organized on 2 October 2018, from 14:00 to 15:30 CEST  – Please register here before 2 October, 10:00 CEST

If you are looking for a Research Partner for your Project or for a Project to join, you can use the BiodivERsA Partner Search Tool.

For more information about the webinars, click here.

The National Science Centre in cooperation with the BiodivERsA network welcomes submissions under a call for international research projects on biodiversity. The call covers two separate actions (Action A and Action B), which are jointly titled: Biodiversity and its influence on animal, human and plant health.

The deadline for submitting pre-proposals is 16 November 2018, 4:00 p.m. CET.

Eligible for funding under Action A are research groups comprised of at least 3 research teams from at least 3 different countries involved in the call.

Eligible for funding under Action B are research groups comprised of at least 5 research teams from at least 5 different countries involved in the call.

Applicants are welcome to use the Partner Search Tool, a tool that will enable them to find partners for their research projects.

Countries involved in the call:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria,* Estonia,* France, Ireland, Lithuania, Germany, Poland, Romania,* Slovakia and Switzerland.

* Decisions on a country’s involvement in the call may be followed at: Countries involved

Call documentation:

• Call announcement
• Pre-registration form – action A
• Proposal application form – action A
• Pre-registration form – action B
• Proposal application form – action B
• FAQ
• NCN eligibility requirements

Detailed call information: BiodivERsA 2018

Additional information for researchers applying for funding from the NCN:

The call is carried out in two stages: in the first stage, the coordinator of an international project submits a pre-proposal on behalf of the entire consortium; in the second stage, the coordinator submits a full proposal. The deadline for submitting pre-proposals is 16 November 2018, 4:00 p.m. (CET). The deadline for submitting proposals will be scheduled for the period between early February and mid-March 2019, depending on the overall number of proposals received.

At the full proposal stage, Polish applicants are required to register projects in the OSF system (type: UNISONO).

1. Please read the information on the eligible costs in the call for Polish applicants, included in annex to the NCN Council Resolution regarding international calls (Terms and regulations on awarding funding for research tasks under the BiodivERsA Call 2018).
2. Should an international project include two entities from Poland, they should establish a consortium. Each entity in the consortium has a separate budget, however, the upper limit on the funding for remuneration applies to the consortium as a whole. Pursuant to the Terms and regulations on awarding funding for research tasks under the BiodivERsA Call 2018, Polish consortia have been granted a higher upper limit on the funding for additional remuneration.
3. The exchange rate of 7 June 2018 (EUR 1 = PLN 4.2634) applies to the call.
4. A project by a Polish research team may be carried out over 36 months.

Contact details:

Dr Anna Wiktor, tel. 12 341 9166

Joanna Komperda, tel. 12 341 9138

This is the sixteenth time that the National Science Centre (NCN) has opened a new call for proposals within the OPUS and PRELUDIUM funding schemes, and the fourteenth time within the SONATA scheme. A total of PLN 480 million is available in all national calls. In addition, BEETHOVEN CLASSIC 3 and a new program, BEETHOVEN LIFE 1, are launched in cooperation with the German Research Foundation. International schemes offer grants up to a total amount of PLN 50 million. Altogether, applicants in the recently announced calls will vie for a record total of PLN 530 million.

Following the success of the previous two editions of the BEETHOVEN call, a new edition is launched this year under a new name, but with the same conditions. BEETHOVEN CLASSIC 3 is targeted at Polish-German research projects in arts, humanities and social sciences, as well as the selected disciplines in physical sciences and engineering. The call’s budget, organised in cooperation with the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG), amounts to PLN 30 million.

A new addition to the call portfolio, BEETHOVEN LIFE is designed as a supplement to BEETHOVEN CLASSIC, and is aimed at scholars involved in life sciences. For the Centre, it will be the first call conducted on the basis of the Lead Agency Procedure, and the DFG will play the role of the lead agency in the first edition. The German agency will have the sole responsibility for scientific assessment, while the National Science Centre will accept national proposals for the funding of the Polish part of research projects in question. A total of PLN 20 million is available within the BEETHOVEN LIFE call.

“We are happy that our cooperation with the German Research Foundation has now been expanded to include a call in the life sciences. This rounds out our offer for researchers cooperating with the German side”, says Professor Zbigniew Błocki, Director of the National Science Centre, “Our office will have a chance to test the Lead Agency Procedure in practice and see whether it facilitates and expedites the assessment of submissions in calls organised in cooperation with foreign partners. In the future, we would like to implement the same system in all such calls.”

Apart from international funding opportunities, the National Science Centre also announced its flagship national calls: OPUS, PRELUDIUM and SONATA. The budgets of all three calls have been substantially increased in this edition with PLN 350 million to be distributed in OPUS 16, 40 million in PRELUDIUM 16, and PLN 90 million in SONATA 14.

“OPUS, PRELUDIUM and SONATA are the most popular calls in the National Science Centre offer. The quality of submitted proposals gets better and better every year and it is not unusual for good projects to be rejected because of insufficient funds, which is why it has been so important for us to increase the budget and thus give many more valuable projects an opportunity to get off the ground”, says Professor Janusz Janeczek, Chairman of the Council of the National Science Centre.

The OPUS 16 funding scheme is open to all researchers, irrespective of their academic level. Within the framework of the project, they may receive funds to hire a research team to work on a given subject matter, as well as purchase or construct the research equipment necessary for the project. Young researchers are also eligible for special fellowships.

PRELUDIUM 16 is dedicated to researchers at the outset of their academic career, who do not yet have the title of doctor. Doctoral students may conduct an independent research project for one, two or three years, not necessarily connected to the subject of their doctoral thesis. The maximum funding for a single project equals, respectively, PLN 70,000, 140,000, or 210,000.

Last, but not least, SONATA 14 is addressed to scholars who earned their doctoral degree between 2011 and 2016 and aims to support them in conducting innovative research with the use of state-of-the-art equipment and original methodology. This edition has done away with the obligatory interviews with principal investigators at the second stage of the assessment process.

Effective as of the new calls announced in September, the Council of the National Science Centre has introduced important changes into the job funding requirements within NCN’s calls. An additional condition has been formulated for post-doc applicants. They must not have had an employment contract with the entity where the research project is to be conducted within 2 years prior to their post-doc.

“The change is designed to create the conditions for increased researcher mobility, both on the national and international scale. The opportunity to cooperate with scholars representing other experiences and work cultures benefits the entire research team and improves the quality of the research project”, says Professor Janeczek.

Proposals should be submitted by means of the ZSUN/OSF system (https://osf.opi.org.pl) until 17 December 2018.

• OPUS 16 call for proposals for research projects, including purchase or construction of research equipment necessary for their completion
• PRELUDIUM 16 call for proposals for research projects conducted by researchers at the beginning of their career in research, who do not hold a doctorate degree.
• SONATA 14 call for proposals for research projects carried out by researchers who have been awarded a doctorate within 2 to 7 years before submitting the proposal
• BEETHOVEN CLASSIC 3 for Polish-German research projects within humanities, social sciences, chemistry, physics, mathematics and material sciences. 
• BEETHOVEN LIFE 1 for Polish-German research projects within life sciences.

QuantERA Consortium is pleased to announce that the 2^nd Call for Proposals in the field of Quantum Technologies will be launched at the end of November 2018.

Thematic scope of the Call will include the topics of:

• Quantum communication
• Quantum simulation
• Quantum computation
• Quantum information sciences
• Quantum metrology sensing and imaging

The 2^nd QuantERA Call will be open for consortia composed of researchers from at least three QuantERA Partner countries, participating in the Call (the list of the countries to be confirmed): Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey.

Please note that this announcement is for information purposes only. It does not create any obligation for the QuantERA consortium nor for any of the participating funding organisations. The official Call Announcement, to be published later, shall prevail.

The BiodivERsA consortium has a new international funding opportunity for researchers in Life Sciences. The launch of the call “Biodiversity and its influence on animal, human and plant health” is scheduled for October 2018, with the deadline for submission of pre-proposals in November 2018. Funding of the projects selected in the call will start in late 2019.

For more information, please refer to : http://www.biodiversa.org/1481

Contact:

• dr Anna Wiktor, e-mail: anna.wiktor@ncn.gov.pl, tel: 12 341 9166
• Joanna Komperda, e-mail: joanna.komperda@ncn.gov.pl, tel: 12 341 9138

Advanced researchers, researchers collaborating internationally and researchers who have been awarded a doctorate within five to twelve years before submitting the proposal may apply for the three funding opportunities open at the NCN. The deadline is 17 September 2018. See the detailed submission instructions of MAESTRO 10, HARMONIA 10 and SONATA BIS 8.

We are pleased to inform you that one of the most prestigious scientific magazines in the world – “Cell” – has published an article written by a team of Polish scientists from the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw (IBB PAN). This is the second publication in its history to have a Polish mailing address in the magazine, the first having been published in 1990.

The first author of the publication and originator of the research project was Dr Zbigniew Warkocki. The other members of the team were Dr Paweł Krawczyk, Dorota Adamska, Krystian Bijata and Jose L. Garcia-Perez and the project was supervised by Prof. Andrzej Dziembowski.

The article published in “Cell”, entitled Uridylation by TUT4/7 Restricts Retrotransposition of Human LINE-1s, concerns the mechanisms of defence against the so-called jumping genes (retrotransposons) which were described for the first time by the Polish researchers. The retrotransposons are DNA fragments that constitute characteristic parasites in cells, they are completely useless, and even harmful. Earlier descriptions involved the manner of inhibition by a cell of DNA fragment activity, which leads to the multiplication of harmful retrotransposons, whereas, at present, the Polish scientists have explained how a cell may defend itself against these genetic parasites during a further stage, when a retrotransposon has already activated.

The research conducted by the team lead by Prof. Dziembowski was, to a great extent, financed by the National Science Centre within the FUGA 1 grant, during which Dr Warkocki came from Germany for an placement in IBB PAN. The research was also financed from the two grants received by Prof. Andrzej Dziembowski: the ERC Starting Grant and the TEAM grant by the Foundation for Polish Science TEAM. Prof. Dziembowski is also a grantee of the National Science Centre and a 2013 NCN prize-winner.

Article in "Cell"