We are pleased to announce that the international project SELENIUS: Selenium in early life to enhance neurodevelopment in unfavourable settings, involving a Polish research team led by dr hab. Kinga Polańska from the Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine in Lodz has been awarded funding in the JPI HDHL Intestinal Microbiomics call for proposals.

Researchers from France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the UK will investigate the effect of  selenium (Se) levels in fetal life on neurobehavioral development. During pregnancy and the rapid growth and development of the fetus, demand for trace elements, including selenium, is particularly high. Existing research suggests that as pregnancy progresses, the concentration of Se significantly reduces and is the lowest at delivery. Selenium deficiency may contribute to shortening the duration of pregnancy and lowering the birth weight, whereas appropriate levels may favourably affect child psychomotor development.

The project will involve not only animal studies, but also the analysis of data from the Polish Mother and Child Cohort Study (REPRO_PL) and other existing birth cohorts in Europe. The researchers will strive to determine the favourable effects of trace elements on the psychomotor development of children with the adverse influence of environmental factors, including exposure to heavy metals. Achievement of the project objectives will speed up expanding knowledge regarding the combined effect of the selected nutrients on psychomotor development and will have strong implications for public health and the design of nutraceutical interventions  for pregnant women and women planning their pregnancy as well as young mothers.

CHIST-ERA invites researchers interested in the field of Information and Communication Sciences & Technologies to the CHIST-ERA Conference 2016, which will take place on the 8^th -10^th of June, 2016, in Vienna.

The CHIST-ERA Conference 2016 brings together scientists working in these research areas and CHIST-ERA representatives to refine the topics contour and scope of the Call 2016.

• Lifelong Learning for Intelligent Systems,
• Visual Analytics for Decision-Making under Uncertainty;

Participation in the conference is free; travel and accommodation costs have to be covered by the participant.

More information: http://conference2016.chistera.eu/

Contact:

Stefan Muelbachler, David Miksits & Mathieu Girerd

Sylwia Kostka: sylwia.kostka@ncn.gov.pl

We would like to inform all researchers interested in applying for POLONEZ 2 fellowship that the OSF electronic submission system is now open. The deadline for submitting applications is 15^th June 2016.Please see also:

1. POLONEZ 2 Guidelines for Applicants
2. POLONEZ 2 Instructions on submitting the proposal
3. POLONEZ 2 Partner Search Tool

For more information please see: www.ncn.gov.pl/en/polonez  

We are pleased to invite all researchers to submit proposals under ERA-CAPS call in Molecular Plant Sciences, which will be opened on June 23^rd, 2016. The deadline for submitting pre-proposals is scheduled for September 28^th, 2016.

The call will include the following topics:

• Food and Nutrition Security,
• non-food crops,
• adaptation to a changing climate,
• biotic/abiotic stressses.

A consortium should minimally include 3 partners from 3 different countries, at least 2 of them being participating ERA-CAPS partners. The expected duration of projects will be three years.

Countries participating in the call: Belgium, Germany, Poland, Portugal (tbc), Serbia, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.

Applicants are also invited to use a web-based Search for collaboration tool, in order to search partner(s) and apply under ERA-CAPS call.

More information

Contact:

dr Magdalena Kowalczyk, tel.  +48 12 341 9160,

dr Malwina Gębalska, tel. +48 12 341 9017.

We are pleased to announce that Grzegorz Pietrzyński, a professor of astronomy from the University of Warsaw, has received an Advanced Grant for the project “A sub-percent distance scale from binaries and Cepheids”. His research aims to measure the Hubble Constant within 1% accuracy.

Professor Pietrzyński has also been awarded funding under NCN calls for proposals. Within the OPUS grant he is investigating eclipsing clump giants. Thanks to the MAESTRO funding scheme, he strives to explore the possibilities of accurate measurement of cosmic distances. This research will help determine the amount of energy which is emitted by studied objects and show us how the Universe is evolving.

To date, Advanced Grants have been awarded to four researchers from Poland. These prestigious awards were obtained by prof. Tomasz Dietl from the Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw (2008); prof. Andrzej Udalski from the Astronomical Observatory, University of Warsaw (2009); prof. Ryszard Horodecki, University of Gdańsk (2011). All awardees have also received funding from the NCN.

The National Science Centre has launched its calls for proposals in basic research: OPUS 11, PRELUDIUM 11, SONATA 11, and POLONEZ 2. The aggregate sum of funding to be distributed will exceed EUR 70 million.

Three of the funding opportunities, i.e. OPUS, PRELUDIUM, and SONATA, are the most popular funding schemes in the Centre’s portfolio.

OPUS has the largest scope of addressees, with no specific preliminary conditions with regard to experience, degree held, or the composition of the research team. The call’s budget has been set at nearly EUR 50 million.

PRELUDIUM is directed at researchers whose career in research has only begun and who have not yet held a doctoral degree. The sum allocated for this call totals EUR 7.19 million.

The SONATA call is another opportunity intended for beginner researchers: proposals will be accepted from applicants who have held a doctoral degree for up to 7 years. The programme is meant to support the project’s principal investigator in pursuing research that employs innovative methodologies and facilities. The sum of funding in the call equals nearly EUR 12 million.

Inasmuch as teaching is a vital responsibility in an academic teacher’s work, we need to ensure that our grantees have the optimum conditions that enable them to focus on their research projects. It is to that end that we have introduced the possibility of cutting the sum of obligatory teaching hours by half. This is particularly important for younger researchers, therefore the Council have been considering a similar solution in future SONATA BIS calls, said professor Michał Karoński, chair of the Council of the NCN.

In addition to the three regular funding opportunities, the second edition of the POLONEZ call has been launched; this is an action within the framework of the EU “Horizon 2020” programme for funding research and innovations. Its offer is extended to incoming researchers willing to carry out research in Polish host institutions. Eligible candidates are researchers with a doctoral degree or at least 4 years of experience in research, who in the past 3 years have not worked or studied in Poland for more than 12 months. The call’s budget totals approx. EUR 4.79 million.

Polish science cannot develop in a void, therefore many of the Centre’s initiatives seek to facilitate the development of international contacts and their continued nurturing. POLONEZ offers a chance for securing employment in Poland for foreign researchers as well as for Polish nationals working in the world’s largest centres. We hope that the programme may also prove instrumental in bringing scholars to Polish research units who will be able to compete with success for prestigious European grants, added professor Zbigniew Błocki, director of the National Science Centre.

On March 15 the ERA-NET Cofund Smart Urban Futures (ENSUF) call closed for submissions of pre-proposals. 187 pre-proposals have been sent in covering the three ENSUF call topics:

1. Concepts and strategies for smart urban transformation, growth and shrinkage;
2. New dynamics of public services;
3. Inclusive, vibrant and accessible urban communities.

Invitations for chosen applicants to submit full proposals will follow in May/June 2016. The final projects that are approved at the end of 2016 will start up during December 2016–March 2017. A total amount of public funding of maximum 23.8 M€ will be provided by national and regional funding agencies from 18 European countries, including support from Horizon 2020.

On 4^th March, the National Science Centre (NCN) celebrated its 5^th anniversary. A central event of the celebration was the conference entitled Best practices in supporting outstanding scientists and helping them successfully apply for ERC grants. The conference was organised jointly by the NCN and the ERC and took place at Jagiellonian University’s Collegium Novum. The event was addressed to researchers conducting their research in Poland, representatives of Polish universities and research institutes, as well as European research funding organisations.

The main theme of the meeting was the various ways of supporting excellent researchers, in particular offering them assistance in applying for ERC grants. The discussion was opened by professor Eva Kondorosi, a member of the ERC Scientific Council, who shared her thoughts on the role of the ERC in supporting researchers from European countries. She was succeeded by representatives of research funding organisations from Hungary, Austria and the Netherlands, who have demonstrated success in ensuring a substantial rise in ERC grant application effectiveness in their respective countries. Speakers included the president of the Academia Europaea scientific association professor Sierd Cloetingh, the president of the European Research Council professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, the president of the European Mathematical Society professor Pavel Exner, the president of the Polish Academy of Sciences professor Jerzy Duszyński, and the president of the Academy of Young Scientists dr hab. Jakub Fichna.

The final highlight of the Centre’s 5^th anniversary was the gala event held at the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre. The opening address was given by the Minister of Science and Higher Education dr Jarosław Gowin, who spoke about the essence of science and basic research: Science is priceless in and of itself. Without a high level of basic research, there is no high level of applied research, and no implementation can take place. A selfless quest for the truth is what constitutes the essence of humankind, the uniqueness of that singular species whose representatives ask such non-utilitarian questions. 

Another speaker was Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, who pointed to the importance of the common endeavours of the NCN and the ERC who aim to support the best researchers. Professor Zbigniew Błocki, director of the National Science Centre, gave an account of essential facts from the institution’s beginnings,  such as launching the first calls for proposals, and summed up the first 5 years of the NCN’s operations. He also spoke on plans for the months and years to come, e.g. launching a funding scheme offering so-called small grants, and the participation of the NCN in the coordination works of QuantERA, a European programme supporting research in Quantum Technologies.

The chair of the NCN Council, professor Michał Karoński, spoke on the role of the Council during the formative years of the Centre’s activity and extended his thanks to all those who have contributed to the development of a transparent grant system in Poland, which promotes the very best research projects. Films were screened showing the silhouettes of NCN awardees and their research which has been funded by the Centre. The final note of the celebration was sounded by the Big Band of the Academy of Music in Krakow, conducted by Wojciech Groborz.

In the course of the 5 years of its activity, the National Science Centre has launched and concluded 54 calls for proposals addressed to researchers at all stages of their career, and has approved nearly 11,000 projects for funding, supporting them with ca EUR 1 billion. The agency was established on 1^st October 2010 by the Act of 30^th April, adopted by the Polish Parliament in that year. By December the NCN Council had already commenced work on the first calls for proposals, launching them on 15^th March 2011, merely a few days after the official inauguration of the Centre’s activity. The founding of the NCN marked a new stage in the development of the grant system in Poland; a process which dates back to 1991 when the State Committee for Scientific Research and the Foundation for Polish Science were established.

Video presenting NCN awardees

We would like to invite researchers to submit proposals under M-ERA.NET call for proposals.

The call targets research in the following topics:

• Integrated computational materials engineering (ICME),
• Innovative surfaces, coatings and interfaces,
• High performance synthetic and biobased composites,
• Functional materials,
• Interfaces between materials and biological hosts for health applications,
• Materials for additive manufacturing.

The timetable for applications is:

• Pre-proposals to be submitted: 14^th of June 2016, 12:00 Central European Time,
• Shortlisted applicants to submit Full Proposals 10^th of November 2016, 12:00 Central European Time.

Applications must be submitted by at least 3 partners from at least 2 different countries participating in the call: http://www.m-era.net/joint-call-2016/participating-countries-regions-call-2016.

Both the National Science Centre (NCN) and the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) are members of the M-ERA network. Applicants whose projects meet basic research criterion (TRL 1-4) can apply to the NCN, and they do not have to involve an industrial partner. Researchers whose project start from TRL 3-6 and achieve TRL 5-8 can apply to the NCBR and the involvement of  an industrial partner is mandatory.

Budget of the Polish part of the research project should be calculated according to NCN eligible costs (p. 5-12). On the full proposal stage Polish applicants will be obliged to complete the budget table.

Call documentation

Please see also NCN Eligibility Requirements: http://www.m-era.net/joint-call-2016/poland-programmes/poland-ncn.

We invite all researchers who plan to apply for basic research projects to contact the NCN.

Contact:

• dr Weronika Bieniasz, weronika.bieniasz@ncn.gov.pl, tel: + 48 12 341 9156
• dr Malwina Gębalska, malwina.gebalska@ncn.gov.pl, tel: +48 12 341 9017