Announcement of the call for proposals for Research Components in research projects funded under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme launched by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (the “NAWA”)

Proposals in the call may be submitted by the following entities:

1. Universities;
2. 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 of 2019, item 1183, as amended);
3. research institutes operating pursuant to the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010 (consolidated text in Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1350, as amended);
4. international research institutes established pursuant to separate Acts, operating in the Republic of Poland;
5. Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences;
6. institutes operating within the Łukasiewicz Research Network laid down in Article 7 (1) (6) (b) of the Act on Higher Education and Science of 20 July 2018; and
7. other entities involved mainly in research independently on a continuous basis that have been awarded an academic category.

Research Components can only be carried out by the Returning Scientists who are winners of the Polish Returns 2020 Programme and have been awarded funds by the NAWA for research projects containing such Research Components. A research team may be involved in a project provided that it has been comprised by a proposal submitted to the NAWA.

A Research Component covered by a proposal submitted to the NAWA and rejected by the NAWA Evaluation Team shall not be recommended for NCN funding and cannot be submitted under the call even if a part of the project funded by the NAWA is recommended for funding under the programme. 

Restrictions on submitting proposals under the call:

• proposals may only be submitted by institutions awarded funding under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme for their research projects containing a Research Component;
• a proposal cannot be submitted if the NAWA Evaluation Team does not recommend for funding a Research Component contained in a project submitted to the NAWA even if a part of the project funded by the NAWA is recommended by the Evaluation Team. 

Proposals may be submitted to the call covering basic research in any of 25 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 under the call must comply with the Research Component covered by the proposal funded under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme. 

A Research Component shall be carried out over the first eighteen months of performance of the projects funded under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme launched by the NAWA.

A Research Component start date must be the same as the start date of the project funded under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme. If the date on which the Research Component funding decision issued by 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.

In the Planowane koszty [Planned Costs] tab in the OSF 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 Polish Returns 2020 Programme.

PLEASE NOTE:

The budget must be in line with the recommendations of the Team evaluating the proposals submitted under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme launched by the NAWA. Proposals disregarding the recommendations shall be rejected on the grounds that they do not meet the eligibility criteria. 

More information on the budget can be found in the Types of costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre.

Together with other European research-funding institutions, the National Science Centre is a member of cOAlition S. Therefore, the NCN has adopted an “Open access policy” pursuant to which all research results stemming from NCN-funded research projects must be made available in 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 (VoR) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) is published, by the author or publisher, in an open repository immediately upon the article’s online publication;
3. Publication in 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). 

More information on Open Access publication can be found here.

No. Proposals in the call cannot include application for state aid. More information can be found in 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 coordinator are recommended for funding.
4. An applicant whose proposal does not meet the eligibility criteria can submit another proposal in line with the comments provided by the NCN.

Proposals are subject to an eligibility check only. The eligibility check includes:

1. verifying whether the proposal is complete;
2. verifying whether the proposal meets all requirements of the call announcement;
3. verifying whether information in the proposal submitted to the NCN complies with information in the proposal submitted to the NAWA under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme; and
4. verifying whether the costs planned comply with the costs laid down in the Costs in Research Components funded by the National Science Centre.

PLEASE NOTE:

The budget of the Research Component submitted to the NCN must be in line with the comments provided by the Team evaluating the proposals submitted to the Polish Returns 2020 Programme.  

A Research Component covered by a proposal submitted to the NAWA and rejected by the NAWA Evaluation Team shall not be recommended for NCN funding and cannot be submitted under the call even if a part of the project funded by the NAWA is recommended for funding under the programme.

The call results shall be communicated to the applicants by way of a decision by the NCN Director and announced on the NCN website.

Should you have more questions, please contact us by e-mail: informacja@ncn.gov.pl or by phone: +48 12 341 90 00.

Contact details (coordinator in charge of the call):

Dr Aneta Pazik-Aybar

Email: aneta.pazik-aybar@ncn.gov.pl

Read our Call schedule and List of international programmes for 2020 and follow us on our website at https://www.ncn.gov.pl/

If you are intending to submit a proposal under the call for Research Components:

1. read all the documents included in the call announcement carefully, in particular:

1. terms and regulations of the call for funding of Research Components under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme launched by the NAWA;
2. proposal form template;
3. costs in Research Components funded by the National Science Centre; and
4. proposal submission procedure;

2. obtain data from the host institution required to complete the proposal and find out about the internal procedures that may affect the proposal and performance of the Research Component;
3. draw up:

• proposal title the same as the title of the Project funded under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme launched by the NAWA;
• Research Component start date the same as the start date of the Project funded under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme launched by the NAWA;
• full proposal submitted to the NAWA under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme in PDF format;
• costs of Research Component drafted in compliance with 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 compliance 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 ZSUN/OSF system must include the proposal (in PDF format) funded under the Polish Returns Programme 2020 launched by the NAWA. Information in the proposal form submitted to ZSUN/OSF must comply with the information in the proposal submitted to the NAWA and must be in line with the budget recommendations (if any) of the Team evaluating the submitted under 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 ZSUN/OSF 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 entity and submit the signed proposal to ZSUN/OSF; and
4. submit the proposal to NCN via ZSUN/OSF.

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

PLEASE NOTE:

The proposal shall 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 to the NCN for another eligibility check;
3. following the eligibility check, a Research Component funding decision shall be issued by the NCN Director;
4. if the date on which the Research Component funding decision issued by 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 Polish Returns 2020 Programme launched by the NAWA. The applicants must be familiar with 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.