Research Components under the 2022 NAWA Polish Returns

Eligible applicants referred to in Article 7 (1), Article 7 (2) and Article 7 (4) – (8) of the Act on Higher Education and Science of 20 July 2018 (consolidated text in Journal of Laws 2022, item 574, as amended) include:

1. universities,
2. federations of science and HE entities,
3. research institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences, operating pursuant to the Act on the Polish Academy of Sciences of 30 April 2010 (consolidated text in Journal of Laws 2020, item 1796),
4. research institutes operating pursuant to the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (consolidated text in Journal of Laws 2022, item 498),
5. international research institutes established pursuant to separate Acts, operating in the Republic of Poland,
6. the Łukasiewicz Centre operating pursuant to the Act on the Łukasiewicz Research Network of 21 February 2019 (consolidated text in Journal of Laws 2020, item 2098),
7. institutes operating within the Łukasiewicz Research Network,
8. Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and
9. other entities involved mainly in research independently on a continuous basis that have been awarded an academic category.

Research components may only be carried out by the Returning Scientists who are winners of the 2022 NAWA Polish Returns and have been awarded funds by the NAWA for research projects containing such components. A project team may also be involved in a project if it has been covered by a proposal submitted to the NAWA.

A Research Component covered by a proposal submitted to the NAWA and rejected by its Evaluation Team shall not be recommended for NCN funding and must not be submitted to the Call even if a part of the project funded by the NAWA has been awarded funding under the Programme.

The following restrictions shall apply:

• Proposals must only be submitted by institutions awarded funding under the 2022 NAWA Polish Returns for their research projects containing a Research Component;
• Proposals must not be submitted if a Research Component covered by a project submitted to the NAWA has not been recommended for funding by the NAWA Evaluation Team, even if a part of the project funded by the NAWA has been recommended by the Evaluation Team.

The Call is open to basic research proposals in any of 26 NCN panels within three major areas:

• Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (HS),
• Physical Sciences and Engineering (ST) and
• Life Sciences (NZ).

The subject of a Research Component submitted to the Call must comply with the Research Component covered by the proposal funded under the 2022 NAWA Polish Returns.

A Research Component shall be carried out over the first eighteen months of performance of the projects funded under the 2022 NAWA Polish Returns.

A Research Component start date must be the same as the start date of the project funded under the 2022 NAWA Polish Returns. If the date on which a Research Component funding decision is issued by the NCN Director becomes final is later than the project start date, the Research Component start date is the date the funding decision of the NCN Director becomes finale.

In the Planowane koszty [Planned Costs] tab in the OSF submission system, enter the budget of the Research Component only which must be consistent in its entirety with the costs planned in the project funded under the 2022 NAWA Polish Returns.

PLEASE NOTE:

The budget must be in line with the recommendations of the Evaluation Team reviewing proposals submitted to the 2022 NAWA Polish Returns. Proposals disregarding such recommendations shall be rejected on the grounds that they do not meet the eligibility criteria.

For more information on the budget, please go to the “Costs in Research Components funded by the National Science Centre”.

The funding requested for a Research Component must not exceed 200,000 PLN for the entire Research Component performance period.

Together with other European cOAlition S research funding agencies, the National Science Centre is a member of cOAlition S. Pursuant to the Open Access Policy adopted by the NCN, all research results produced under NCN-funded research projects must be made available in full and immediate open access.

In accordance with the principles of Plan S, the National Science Centre recognizes the following publication routes as compliant with its Open Access Policy:

1. publication in open access journals and on open access platforms registered, or with pending registration, in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ);
2. publication in subscription journals (hybrid journals), as long as the Version of Record (VoR2) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM3) is published, by the author or publisher, in an open repository immediately upon the article’s online publication;
3. publication in transformation journals covered by an open access licence within the framework of so-called transformative agreements, inscribed in the Efficiency and Standards for Article Charges registry (ESAC-registry).

Articles must be made available using the CC-BY licence (in the case of transformation journals, the CC-BY-SA licence can also be used). The CC-BY-ND licence can also be used (regardless of the publication route selected).

For more information on the Open Access publication rules/ instructions, as amended, please go here and here.

More information can also be found in the Open Access Instructions.

No. Proposals in the call must not include application for state aid. For more information, please read the State Aid Section.

1. Proposals are subject to an eligibility check only.
2. An eligibility check is performed by the coordinators.
3. Only proposals approved as eligible by the coordinators can be recommended for funding.
4. Applicants whose proposals do not meet the eligibility criteria can submit another proposals incorporating the instructions received from the NCN.

Proposals are only subject to an eligibility check comprising:

1. verification of a proposal for completeness,
2. verification of proposal’s compliance with the Call Text;
3. verification of whether information provided in the proposal submitted to the NCN complies with information provided in the proposal submitted to the NAWA under its 2022 NAWA Polish Returns; and
4. verification of whether the forecasted costs are eligible pursuant to the Costs in Research Components funded by the National Science Centre.

PLEASE NOTE:

The budget of a Research Component submitted to the NCN must incorporate the instructions of the Evaluation Team reviewing proposals submitted to the 2022 NAWA Polish Returns.

A Research Component covered by a proposal submitted to the NAWA and rejected by its Evaluation Team shall not be recommended for NCN funding and must not be submitted to the Call even if a part of the project funded by the NAWA has been awarded funding under the Programme.

The call results shall be communicated to the applicants in the form of a decision of the NCN Director and published on the NCN website.

Should you have any more questions or queries, please contact us by e-mail at: informacja@ncn.gov.pl or by phone at the following phone numbers:

Coordinator in charge of the Call:

Ewelina Szymańska-Skolimowska

E-mail: ewelina.szymanska-skolimowska@ncn.gov.pl

Please, read our Call Schedule and List of International Programmes and follow us on our website at https://www.ncn.gov.pl/.

If you are intending to submit a proposal to our Call for Research Components:

1. read the documents included in the Call Text, in particular:

1. terms and regulations of the Call for Research Components under the 2022 NAWA Polish Returns;
2. proposal form template;
3. Costs in Research Components funded by the National Science Centre
4. proposal submission procedure;

2. acquire the required information from the applicant to complete the proposal and find out about the internal procedures that may affect the proposal and performance of the Research Component;
3. draft and prepare:

• proposal title the same as the title of the Project that has been awarded funding under the 2022 NAWA Polish Returns;
• Research Component start date the same as the start date of the Project that has been awarded funding under the 2022 NAWA Polish Returns;
• full proposal submitted to the NAWA under the 2022 NAWA Polish Returns in PDF format;
• forecasted costs of the Research Component prepared according to the Costs in Research Components funded by the National Science Centre;
• general budget;
• information on the data management plan concerning data generated or used in the course of performance of the Research Component, as required by the proposal;
• information on the ethical aspects, including any consents, opinions, permits and/or approvals necessary to perform the Research Component in accordance with generally applicable laws and best practices adopted for a specific academic discipline, as required by the proposal;
• in the case of a Research Component which includes clinical trials with a medicinal product or a medical device, a detailed justification of the non-commercial nature of the trials;
• in the case of a Research Component to be performed in a host institution that does not receive any institutional core funding for research activities, information on research carried out over the last 2 years, together with a list of publications and information on research equipment and other instruments/facilities crucial to research; and
• declaration by the applicant, as required by the proposal.

PLEASE NOTE:

A proposal submitted to the OSF submission system must include the proposal (in PDF format) funded under the 2022 NAWA Polish Returns. Information in the proposal form submitted to the OSF submission system must comply with information in the proposal submitted to the NAWA and must incorporate the instructions (if any) of the Evaluation Team reviewing the budget of proposals submitted to the Call.

Before the proposal is submitted to the NCN:

1. check if information in and annexes to the proposal are correct. The verification of the proposal for completeness in the OSF submission system by pressing the Sprawdź kompletność [Check completeness] button does not guarantee that information has been entered correctly and that the required annexes have been attached;
2. disable the final version of the proposal;
3. download the final version of the proposal, have it signed by the authorised representative of the applicant and submit the proposal with a signature to the OSF submission system; and
4. submit the proposal to the NCN via the OSF submission system.

The proposal shall be submitted to NCN electronically via the OSF submission system using the Wyślij do NCN [Send to NCN] button.

PLEASE NOTE:

Proposals must be signed with a qualified electronic signature in the PAdES format.

Once the proposal has been submitted to the NCN:

1. it shall be subject to an eligibility check;
2. if the proposal does not meet the eligibility criteria, the applicant shall be requested to amend it appropriately and re-submit it to the NCN for another eligibility check;
3. following the eligibility check, a Research Component funding decision shall be issued by the NCN Director; and
4. if the date on which the Research Component funding decision of the NCN Director becomes final is later than the project start date, the date the decision becomes final shall be the Research Component start date.

PLEASE NOTE:

No agreement is concluded under the Call. The Research Component is funded and performed pursuant to the General Terms of the Funding Agreement for a Research Component covered by the project funded under the 2022 NAWA Polish Returns. The applicants are required to read the General Terms. By submitting a proposal, the applicants accept the agreement. In the event of a breach of the Call procedure or other formal infringements, the applicant may appeal against the decision of the NCN Director with the Committee of Appeals of the NCN Council. The appeal must be lodged within 14 days of the effective delivery of the decision.