Proposals in the call may be submitted by the following entities specified in the Act on the National Science Centre (NCN):

1. universities;

2. federation of science and HE entities;

3. research institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, operating pursuant to the Act on the Polish Academy of Sciences of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 1475);

4. research institutes operating pursuant to the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 736);

5. international research institutes established pursuant to separate Acts, operating in the Republic of Poland;

5a. Łukasiewicz Centre;

5b. Institute operating within the Łukasiewicz Research Network;

6. Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences;

7. other institutions involved in research independently on a continuous basis;

8. groups of entities comprising at least two entities mentioned in sections 1-7 or at least one institution as such together with at least one company;

9. research centres of the Polish Academy of Sciences within the meaning of the Act of on the Polish Academy of Sciences 30 April 2010;

10. scientific libraries and

11. legal entities with registered office in Poland.

The Polish research team may be headed by a person who holds at minimum a doctoral degree at the time the proposal is submitted.

Yes. Restrictions applicable to submitting proposals are detailed in Chapter III of the Regulations on awarding funding for the implementation of research tasks funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as bilateral cooperation pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure.

Proposals may be submitted to the call covering basic research in any of 25 NCN panels within the core areas: HS – Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; ST – Physical Sciences and Engineering; NZ – Life Sciences. The principal investigator shall select the panel.

Please note that new amended NCN panels applicable to the calls have been in place since 14 December 2018.

In the call, research projects may be planned for a period of either 24 or 36 months.

[Updated on 21.11.2019] The research project carried out by a Polish research team shall begin on 15 January 2020 at the earliest.

Preparation of a breakdown of costs for a research project is one of the major stages in project planning. Focus should be aimed at identifying the required resources and exact estimation of costs. A breakdown of costs must be justified versus the subject-matter and scope of research, based on realistic calculations and specifying the expenditures to be covered by the NCN (eligible expenses).

Costs in the project will include direct costs and indirect costs.

Direct costs shall include:

1. salary:
   • full-time employment: funds may be acquired for full-time employment of the principal investigator or persons employed as post-doc(s);
   • additional salary that can be used to finance the remuneration for members of the research team;
   • remuneration and scholarships for under- and post-graduate students;
2. purchase or manufacturing of research equipment, instruments and software;
3. purchase of materials and small instruments;
4. outsourcing;
5. business trips;
6. visits and consultations

   (Please note! The costs of consultations and visits of Austrian partners who at the same time receive project funding from the FWF are not eligible);

7. compensation for collective investigators;
8. other costs crucial to the project that are compliant with the catalogue of costs for research projects funded by the NCN (annex to the LAP Regulations).

Indirect costs may be a maximum of 40% of direct costs with the exception of the amount for the purchase or manufacturing of research equipment, instruments and software. During the project implementation, the host institution shall agree with the principal investigator the coverage of a minimum of 25% of the indirect costs.

When developing the breakdown of costs, it is necessary to take the following into account:

1. NCN proposals shall specify the breakdown of costs for tasks to be performed by the Polish team; a joint proposal – for the tasks of the Polish and Austrian team;
2. the breakdown of costs in the NCN proposal shall be specified in PLN; in the joint proposal – in EUR;
3. the breakdown of costs planned for the Polish team in the joint proposal must be consistent with the budget in the NCN proposal;
4. the EUR exchange rate to be used to calculate the budget of the Polish part of the project in the joint proposal: 1 EUR=4.3015 PLN (exchange rate of 14 March 2019);
5. [Updated on 21.11.2019] the Polish part of the project shall commence on 15 January 2020 at the earliest;
6. the minimum funding to the Polish part of the project throughout its performance: PLN 150,000;
7. maximum funding amount: not specified (the costs must be justified) and
8. limits of remuneration and scholarships are specified in the annex to the LAP Regulations.

The breakdown of costs planned for the tasks to be performed by the Polish research teams must be in line with the regulations applicable to the costs planned for the project, including the costs for the remuneration and scholarship budget, specified in the catalogue of costs for research projects funded by the NCN (annex to the LAP Regulations).

If unjustified costs are planned and/or there are discrepancies between the costs of the project to be performed by the Polish research team in the NCN proposal and the joint proposal, the proposal may be rejected.

The terms of the call do not specify the minimum or maximum number of members of research team members. However, the rationale for the involvement of each member of the research team versus the performance of the project shall be assessed by the experts. The proposal in ZSUN/OSF shall detail the qualifications and tasks to be performed by each member of the Polish research team. Detailed information on the remuneration and scholarship budget is provided in the catalogue of costs for research projects funded by the NCN, attached to the LAP Regulations.

Please note that recipients of NCN scholarships or persons employed as post-doc(s) in the project must be selected in an open call. If any name of a scholarship recipient or person employed as post-doc is specified in the proposal, the proposal will be rejected during the eligibility check. 

No, state aid will not be granted under the MOZART call. Detailed information can be found on the State aid page.

Proposals shall be subject to an eligibility check and merit-based evaluation. Eligibility check shall be carried out by the NCN and the FWF separately. Merit-based evaluation shall be performed solely by the FWF.

Eligibility check shall be carried out at the NCN by the NCN Scientific Coordinators and shall cover:

• verification of formal criteria specified in the call announcement;
• verification of whether the joint proposal attached to the NCN proposal is identical to the joint proposal submitted to the lead agency by the Austrian research team and
• compliance of the data in the joint proposal with the data in the NCN proposal.

Only complete proposals that meet all call requirements shall be accepted for merit-based evaluation. Only proposals successfully evaluated by the NCN and the FWF during the eligibility check shall be subject to merit-based evaluation.

Joint proposals shall be subject to merit-based evaluation carried out according to the rules set forth by the lead agency. The FWF shall deliver the results of merit-based evaluation to the NCN along with the list of research projects recommended for funding. The list shall be subject to approval by the NCN Director. The NCN Director shall award funds for research projects to be carried out by Polish research teams.

Information on the proposal evaluation procedure at the FWF can be found at FWF’s website.

The merit-based evaluation of proposals shall be subject to the criteria specified by the FWF in the “Stand-Alone Projects” programme. In the case of clinical research, the criteria for the “Programme Clinical Research” (KLIF) shall apply.

Merit-based evaluation of proposals shall be performed in compliance with the principles applicable at the FWF. The terms of the FWF’s calls shall be set forth in the documents applicable to the “Stand-Alone Projects” programme and in the case of clinical research, in the “Programme Clinical Research” (KLIF).

The call results shall be announced on the NCN’s website and communicated to the applicants by way of a decision by the NCN Director within 12 months of submission of the NCN proposal. Due to the proposal evaluation procedure applicable under the MOZART call, the period may be extended of which the applicants shall be notified in advance. 

Should you have any questions, please contact:

Coordinator for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences:

• Dr. Aneta Pazik
• e-mail: aneta.pazik@ncn.gov.pl
• tel.: +48 (12) 341 91 57

Coordinator for Physical Sciences and Engineering:

• Dr. inż. Ewelina Szymańska-Skolimowska
• e-mail: ewelina.szymanska-skolimowska@ncn.gov.pl
• tel.: +48 (12) 341 91 55

Coordinator for Life Sciences:

• Dr. inż. Anna Fiust
• e-mail: anna.fiust@ncn.gov.pl
• tel.: +48 (12) 341 91 52

General affairs:

Dr. Magdalena Godowska

• e-mail: magdalena.godowska@ncn.gov.pl
• tel.: +48 12 341 90 16 (contact time: 09:00 am – 1:00 pm)

Contact person at the FWF:

Dr. Christoph Bärenreuter

• Sensengasse 1, 1090 Wien
• Phone: +43 (0)1 / 505 67 40 – 8702
• christoph.baerenreuter@fwf.ac.at

Read our Call Schedule and Schedule of International Programs for 2019 and follow news on our website: https://ncn.gov.pl/

If you plan to submit a proposal in the MOZART call:

1. read call documents included in the call announcement, in particular:
   1. Resolution on the terms of the MOZART call;
   2. Regulations on awarding funding for the implementation of research tasks funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as bilateral cooperation pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure;
   3. FWF’s guidelines concerning joint proposals – in FWF’s “Stand-Alone Projects” programme or, in the case of clinical research, in the “Programme Clinical Research” (KLIF);
2. read the NCN’s proposal submission procedure;
3. decide how long the project is to be: 24 or 36 months;
4. collect data from the applicant that is required to complete the proposal and find out about the internal procedures of the applicant that may affect the proposal and project performance (cost planned in the project, procedure for acquiring signature(s) or authorised representative(s) of the institution to confirm submission of the proposal);
5. draw up:
   • a joint project description (in English);
   • CV with a list of publications by members of the Polish and Austrian research teams, in compliance with the FWF’s requirements (in English);
   • research project’s abstract for the general public (in Polish and in English) and
6. when the proposal is submitted by a group of entities on the Polish part, draw up an Agreement on collaboration for the purposes of completion of the requested research project.

Before the proposal is submitted to the NCN:

1. check if all information in and annexes to the proposal are correct. The verification of the proposal for completeness in ZSUN/OSF by pressing the Sprawdź kompletność [Check completeness] button does not guarantee that all information has been entered correctly and that the required annexes have been attached;
2. verify if the joint proposal submitted to the NCN is identical to the joint proposal submitted by the Austrian partner to the FWF;
3. disable the final version of the proposal to NCN and
4. download and sign the confirmation of submitting the proposal in the call – the principal investigator and authorised representative(s) of the institution.

Once the call for proposals has been closed:

1. eligibility check of proposals shall be carried out by the NCN and the FWF;
2. merit-based evaluation shall be carried out by the FWF;
3. experts evaluating proposals at the FWF will select projects recommended for funding;
4. the FWF shall provide the NCN with the list of projects recommended for funding;
5. funding decision adopted by the NCN Director, concerning a research project to be conducted by a Polish research team, shall be delivered;
6. the NCN shall sign a funding agreement with the Polish applicant and the principal investigator of the Polish research team and
7. the project will be commenced in compliance with the funding agreement and the Regulations on the implementation of research projects, fellowships and scholarships.

The rules of appeals in the MOZART call are set forth in Articles 33-35 of the Regulations on awarding funding for the implementation of research tasks funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as bilateral cooperation pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure.