Weave, launched in 2021, is a cross-European initiative to fund and support excellent international research projects. It is based on multilateral cooperation between national research funding organisations, with the support of Science Europe.

Weave aims at simplifying the submission and selection procedures of collaborative research proposals involving researchers from up to three European countries or regions with a single evaluation.

It builds on the Lead Agency Procedure, through which a single funding organisation evaluates proposals put forward by an international team of researchers, within an existing national or regional funding programme, and communicates the funding recommendation to the other funders involved. The lead agency is the institution relevant for the Coordinating applicant determined by the teams involved in a given proposal.

By simplifying the procedure, Weave seeks to make it easier for researchers to collaborate across borders. It also has ambitions to increase the capacity of researchers to freely determine the composition, focus and content of their projects.

Polish research teams intending to cooperate with research teams from one or two of the following countries under the Weave Programme: Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium-Flanders or Luxembourg may submit their NCN proposals to the NCN either:

  • under the on-going Weave-UNISONO call, in the case of NCN proposals submitted to the NCN, for which joint proposals will be submitted to and evaluated by one of the foreign partner institutions acting as the lead agency (FWF, GAČR, ARIS, DFG, SNSF, FWO or FNR); or
  • under the OPUS call announced on a regular basis in September - in the case of NCN funding proposals for research projects performed in accordance with the Lead Agency Procedure and evaluated by the NCN as the lead agency.

 

Call for NCN proposals under the Weave call Weave-UNISONO OPUS LAP/Weave
Lead agency in charge of merit-based evaluation of proposals

Foreign partner institutions relevant for the coordinating applicant:

FWF - Austria

ARIS – Slovenia

GAČR – Czech Republic

DFG - Germany

SNSF - Switzerland

FWO – Belgium – Flanders

FNR – Luxembourg

 NCN
Coordinating applicant in charge of submitting joint proposals to the lead agency

Foreign research team applying to the  lead agency

 Polish research team

Joint proposal submission deadline at the lead agency 

 According to the terms of the lead agency applicable to a proposal At the NCN acting as the lead agency: mid-September – mid-December (September edition of the OPUS call)
Domestic proposal submission deadlines for research teams involved in the project to their respective partner institutions  According to the terms of the respective partner institution, on average 7 days of proposal submission to the lead agency  
 		 According to the terms of the respective partner institution, on average 7 days of proposal submission to the lead agency  
Acceptable types of cooperation  Bilateral or trilateral cooperation between research teams applying to their respective institutions participating in the Weave Programme Bilateral or trilateral cooperation between research teams applying to their respective institutions participating in the Weave Programme
Acceptable configurations of cooperation 

According to the terms of the respective lead agency

Bilateral or trilateral cooperation is possible with foreign research teams from Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia , Germany, Switzerland, Belgium-Flanders or Luxembourg.

Moreover, trilateral cooperation is possible with research teams from Belgium-Wallonia*, Croatia * or Sweden *

*If permitted by the terms of the call launched by the lead agency 

According to the terms of the NCN laid down in the call documents to OPUS LAP/Weave

Under OPUS 26 (launched in September – December 2023): bilateral or trilateral cooperation is possible with foreign research teams from Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium-Flanders or Luxembourg.

PLEASE NOT: Trilateral proposals in Polish-Czech-Belgian cooperation cannot be submitted to OPUS 26 LAP.
Project duration
  • For foreign research team(s): according to the terms
    of the respective partner institution(s)
  • For Polish research teams: 24, 36 or 48 months
  • The same (if possible) or as similar as possible for all research teams involved in the project 

  •  
  • For foreign research team(s): according to the terms
    of the respective partner institution(s)
  • For Polish research teams: 24, 36 or 48 months
  • The same (if possible) or as similar as possible for all research teams involved in the project 
Eligibility requirements for foreign applicants and principal investigators, eligibility of foreign costs, restrictions on submitting proposals to foreign institutions   According to the terms of the respective partner institution  According to the terms of the respective partner institution 
Eligibility requirements for Polish applicants and principal investigators, eligibility of Polish costs, restrictions on submitting proposals to the NCN According to the terms of the NCN laid down in the call documents of Weave-UNISONO According to the terms of the NCN laid down in the call documents of OPUS LAP/Weave 
Drafting joint proposals 

According to the terms of the lead agency

PLEASE NOTE:

Joint proposals submitted to the lead agency and to the NCN must be the same, otherwise the proposal may be rejected at the stage of eligibility check.

PLEASE NOTE:

  • Information in the NCN proposals submitted to the NCN via OSF must be consistent with the data in the joint proposals, otherwise the proposal may be rejected at the stage of eligibility check.
  • Information in the NCN proposal that may affect the merit-based evaluation (e.g. concerning the composition and salary of the research team, costs) must be entered in the joint proposal to allow evaluation of justification of the costs and project feasibility, otherwise the proposal may be rejected at the stage of eligibility check.

PLEASE NOTE:

Under Weave-UNISONO, the amounts requested from the NCN by the Polish research team and the detailed justification thereof, as provided in OSF, must be disclosed in the relevant section of the joint proposal.

If no justification of the costs planned for the Polish part of the research project is provided in the joint proposal, the proposal may be rejected at the stage of eligibility check.

 According to the terms of OPUS LAP/Weave 
Drafting NCN proposals submitted by each research team involved in the project to its respective partner institution  

 

For foreign research team(s): according to the terms of the respective partner institution(s)

For Polish research teams: according to the terms of Weave-UNISONO: the Polish research team completes an NCN proposal in OSF and appends it with the same joint proposal that has been submitted to the lead agency

PLEASE NOTE:

  • Information in the NCN proposals submitted to the NCN via OSF must be consistent with the data in joint proposals, otherwise the proposal may be rejected at the stage of eligibility check.
  • Information in the NCN proposal that may affect the merit-based evaluation (e.g. concerning the composition and salary of the research team, costs) must be entered in the joint proposal to allow evaluation of justification of the costs and project feasibility, otherwise the proposal may be rejected at the stage of eligibility check.

PLEASE NOTE:

Once the work on the NCN proposal has started in OSF, the Polish research team has 45 calendar days to complete the proposal and submit it to the NCN. After that, the proposal can no longer be edited, in which case a Polish research team that has not sent its proposal to the NCN must prepare a new proposal and complete it in OSF.

For foreign research team(s): according to the terms of the respective partner institution(s).
Terms of eligibility check 
  • At the foreign partner institutions, according to their respective terms 
  • At the NCN, according to the terms of Weave-UNISONO/ OPUS LAP/Weave
  • Proposals approved as eligible by all partner institutions involved in the project are subject to a merit-based evaluation
  • At the foreign partner institutions, according to their respective terms 
  • At the NCN, according to the terms of Weave-UNISONO/ OPUS LAP/Weave
  • Proposals approved as eligible by all partner institutions involved in the project are subject to a merit-based evaluation
Subject-matter of merit-based evaluation  

Joint proposals submitted to the lead agency by the coordinating applicant

PLEASE NOTE:

  • Information in the NCN proposals submitted to the NCN via OSF must be consistent with the data in joint proposals, otherwise the proposal may be rejected at the stage of eligibility check.
  • Information in the NCN proposal that may affect the merit-based evaluation (e.g. concerning the composition and salary of the research team, costs) must be entered in the joint proposal to allow evaluation of justification of the costs and project feasibility, otherwise the proposal may be rejected at the stage of eligibility check
 OPUS LAP/Weave proposals submitted to OSF by the Polish research teams
Terms of merit-based evaluation of proposals  According to the terms of the call launched by the lead agency (pursuant to the Regulations of Weave-UNISONO, the NCN may perform an additional evaluation of proposals recommended for funding) According to the terms of OPUS 
Allocation of funds 
  • Only for projects selected in the merit-based evaluation performed by the lead agency and for which all partner institutions involved in the proposal award funds to the co-applicants
  • Each partner institution awards funds to its respective research teams  
  • Only for projects selected in the merit-based evaluation performed by the lead agency and for which all partner institutions involved in the proposal award funds to the co-applicants
  • Each partner institution awards funds to its respective research teams  
Funding decision 

The date of the decision depends on the duration of the proposal evaluation procedure by the lead agency  (no more than 12 months of NCN proposal submission to the NCN)

  11 months of the proposal submission deadline under OPUS, depending on the date of approval of the evaluation by the partner institutions
Project start date  
  • For foreign research team(s): according to the terms of the respective partner institution(s)
  • For Polish research teams: according to the terms of Weave-UNISONO,
  • Project start date should be as similar as possible for all research teams involved in the project 
  • For Polish research team(s): according to the terms of OPUS LAP/ Weave 
  • For foreign research team(s): according to the terms of the respective partner institution(s)
  • Project start date should be as similar as possible for all research teams involved in the project
Project implementation
  • For foreign research team(s): according to the terms of the respective partner institution(s)
  • For Polish research teams: according to the terms of the NCN  
  • For foreign research team(s): according to the terms of the respective partner institution(s)
  • For Polish research teams: according to the terms of the NCN  

OPUS 26 + LAP/Weave call announcement

Weave-UNISONO announcement (continuous call, in line with partner agencies call timelines)