The World Quantum Day, celebrated on 14 April, is an international celebration featuring researchers from 65+ countries dedicated to spreading awareness about quantum technologies (QT). Scientists predict that within a decade these technologies will significantly impact our daily lives. Medical diagnostics will be expedited and more precise, data security in networks unparalleled and new materials boasting revolutionary properties will be developed.

The global landscape of quantum technologies is experiencing rapid expansion, with Europe aspiring to be the world’s first Quantum Valley. To this end, researchers are supported by, inter alia, the Quantum Flagship and QuantERA, with Poland playing the key role.

Europa of new ideas

photo: Krzysztof Magda The Quantum Technologies Flagship, initiated by the European Commission, with a budget of over EUR 1 billion, is one of the most important endeavours in the field of research and innovation that aims to put Europe at the forefront of quantum technologies. In February, representatives of the Quantum Technologies Flagship presented a new quantum development agenda 2023, in which they defined their ultimate goal as turning Europe into the world’s first “Quantum Valley” thanks to its scientific and industrial potential and qualified workforce. “Many concepts and ideas in quantum technology were born on our continent,” says Prof. Konrad Banaszek, scientific coordinator of the QuantERA Network.

QuantERA, which works in close cooperation with the Quantum Flagship, is Europe’s largest quantum research-funding programme. QuantERA promotes ambitious, foundational and cutting-edge engineering research projects in quantum technologies (QT), monitors activities and strategies in quantum technologies, and creates responsible research guidelines. So far, the Network has funded over 100 international projects in the field of basic and applied research involving 550 research groups.

The National Science Centre is the Network coordinator. “We are well aware of what’s going on in quantum technologies, we know what projects are underway in Europe at the moment and, most importantly, we can influence the directions of development in the field,” says Sylwia Kostka, programme coordinator from the National Science Centre.

Pushing the boundaries

In the latest QuantERA call, concluded at the end of 2023, the highest-ranked proposals included research into quantum imaging, colour-centre quantum sensors and quantum-dot single-photon sources.

Dr Radek Łapkiewicz from the University of Warsaw studies how quantum effects can be used in imaging. He was awarded funding for his project “Quantum Multi-Modal Microscopy” carried out in tandem with researchers from France, Germany and Switzerland. When asked what changes quantum technologies may bring to imaging in the nearest future, he says that it would be only natural to use quantum instruments to push the boundaries of what can be done in biomedical imaging. “Advanced biomedical imaging is often limited by the amount of light available. For instance, if you want to look at the structures deep inside a tissue, it is often difficult to introduce enough light there in a non-invasive way and it is just as hard to detect the light coming out. Quantum optics scientists specialise in detecting even very weak light pulses, while quantum metrologists know how to plumb each photon for maximum information,” he explains, adding that “the scientific community has already witnessed the first demonstrations of the quantum advantage”.

Dr hab. Adam Wojciechowski Dr hab. Adam Wojciechowski from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow works on a project that can also be used for biomedical purposes. Together with researchers from Germany and Spain, Dr Wojciechowski aims to develop novel quantum sensing protocols tailored for use with nanodiamonds (NDs). “Our objective is to enhance the material properties of nanodiamonds and introduce advanced measurement techniques to obtain detailed information about their surrounding environment. Ultimately, our goal is to embed those nanodiamonds into biological cells and measure signals related to the presence of specific substances delivered to the cells” explains Wojciechowski.

Knowledge and competencies all over Europe

Prof Banaszek emphasises “the abundance of promising research endeavours underway” across our continent, advocating for their “parallel support.” In that regard, QuantERA stands as a direct facilitator, incentivising collaboration among European scientists and fostering partnerships between countries participating in the programme.

At the stage of merit-based evaluation of proposals submitted in the QuantERA calls, emphasis is placed solely on their scientific merit. However, in cases where two or three projects receive equally high ratings, priority is given to the one involving researchers from the countries where the level of research and innovation is lower than the EU average – the so-called “widening countries.” The same approach is used to ensure more balanced participation of women and men in the research teams giving priority to projects involving participation of female researchers.

According to Prof. Katarzyna Roszak from the Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences, winner of the call in 2023, formation of research consortia by researchers from less prominent research centres, often including young researchers, is possible due to the rules and regulations adopted by the Network. “This team formation improves the quality of research, allowing less conventional research directions to be developed, which can lead to important discoveries,” she says. Researchers from Czechia, Germany, Poland and Italy are involved in research under the leadership of Prof. Roszak.

Dr hab. Adam Wojciechowski hopes that participation in the projects of the Network will improve the significance of researchers from the widening countries. “Many quantum technologies in Poland are developed at the world-class level. QuantERA programmes increase our chance for international recognition and may as such enhance our participation in top European projects which now mostly include large consortia,” he explains.

“Strengthening scientific excellence in the widening countries is crucial for fostering a Europe without borders and gaps. Spreading of excellence across the entire European Research Area should play a major role in evaluating the long-term impact of individual funding programmes,” adds Prof Ticijana Ban from the Institute of Physics in Zagreb. The project “QNet: Transport, metastability, and neuromorphic applications in quantum networks” under her management involves participation of researchers from Croatia, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.

QuantERA brings together 41 research-funding agencies from 31 countries and will continue until 2026. Representatives of the Network are already working with the European Commission on the continuation of the programme.

Anna Korzekwa-Józefowicz

Researchers in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences are strongly encouraged to take part in a survey on Social Transformations and Resilience. The goal of the survey is to boost promotion of Poland’s priority areas. The survey can be completed by the end of April.

The European Partnerships are initiatives introduced in the Horizon Europe Framework Programme that aim to address Europe’s most pressing challenges of health, digitalisation, environment climate, energy, agriculture or mobility by joint R&I initiatives. In the light of the upcoming European Partnership on Social Transformations and Resilience, the European Commission has launched a survey for potential stakeholders.

The survey aims to identify potential stakeholders in the partnership and to collect suggested objectives and subject for the partnership. Representatives of institutions, departments and heads of research groups in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences are all welcome to take part in the survey. Information collected will feed into the process of partnership formation at international level. The contribution of Polish researchers will help promote Poland’s priority areas in research and relevant to Polish society.

Link to the survey: Stakeholder Survey ST&R

End date: 30 April 2024

Contact details:  malwina.gebalska@ncn.gov.pl

Dr hab. Jakub Urbanik from the University of Warsaw will perform a project under Weave-UNISONO together with researchers from Germany and Austria. The Polish research team will receive a grant of nearly 150 thousand zlotys for their work on the documents from Roman Empire period.

Dr hab. Jakub Urbanik from the University of Warsaw in tandem with Prof. Rudolf Haensch from the German Archaeological Institute and Prof. Thomas Corsten from the University of Vienna will carry out a project focused on a complete edition of the imperial correspondence preserved as edicts and letters and collected by the Corpus of the Documents of the Roman Rule (Corpus der Urkunden der römischen Herrschaft, CURH). The documents will be available to a much wider public than before by completing each document with a translation, and a thorough historical, legal and philological commentary. The project will extend our knowledge of the history of Roman administration and emperor’s communication with his subjects. 

The proposal was evaluated by the German Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the evaluation results were approved by the National Science Centre and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF).

Weave-UNISONO

The Weave-UNISONO call is the result of multilateral cooperation between research-funding agencies associated in Science Europe and aims at simplifying the submission and selection procedures for research proposals that bring together researchers from two or three different European countries in any discipline of science.

The selection process is based on the Lead Agency Procedure (LAP), under which only one partner institution is responsible for merit-based review and the others simply accept the result.

Under Weave, partner research teams apply in parallel to the lead agency and their relevant domestic institutions. Their joint proposal must include coherent research programmes and clearly spell out the added value of international cooperation.

The Weave-UNISONO call accepts proposals on a rolling basis. Polish teams wishing to partner up with colleagues from Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium-Flanders are encouraged to carefully read the call text and submit their funding proposals.

Dariusz Wieczorek, Minister of Science and Higher Education has created an Advisory Team to promote Polish science abroad. The Team includes Dr Marcin Liana, Deputy Director of the National Science Centre.

Dr Marcin Liana, photo by Łukasz Bera/NCN

Internationalisation of Polish science is one of NCN’s priorities. Our agency fosters various types of international collaboration to effectively support research projects carried out by Polish research teams in tandem with foreign partners. Together with the German Max Planck Society, the National Science Centre operates the DIOSCURI programme aimed to create Centres of Scientific Excellence in Poland. Furthermore, the NCN coordinates the CHANSE and QuantERA programmes carried out in collaboration with other European research funding agencies and operates the “Research” programme for basic research funded by the EEA and Norway Grants. The NCN is also an active member of Science Europe and Global Research Council that impact public science policies. 

Dr Marcin Liana has been the Deputy Director of the National Science Centre since 2018. Other Team members include Dr Marta Łazarowicz-Kowalik, Deputy President of the Board of the Foundation for Polish Science and Dr Zofia Sawicka, Deputy Director of the Polish National Academy for Academic Exchange (NAWA). The term of office of the Team members will start on 10 April and will last till the end of December 2026.

The call for proposals at the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) acting as lead agency ends on 17 April 2024, 14:00.

If a joint proposal is submitted to the FNR as the lead agency, an NCN proposal must be submitted electronically via the OSF submission system as soon as possible following the submission of the joint proposal to the FNR, i.e., by 24 April 2024, 23:59 at the latest.

Once the work on the NCN proposal has started in the OSF submission system, 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 the OSF submission system.

You can now registrate to our workshops during the 2024 NCN Days in Bydgoszcz.

The 2024 NCN Days will be held on 15 and 16 May 2024 at the Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology on the Fordon campus.

A number of workshops will be held for researchers, including PhD students, university administrative staff, open research data officers and students.

You can now register for:

• Workshop on Data Management Plans (DMP)
• Workshop for researchers: evaluation of proposals- Expert Team meeting at the NCN

Media support

The Swiss National Science Foundation has launched the MAPS (Multilateral Academic Projects) call for projects carried out by scientists based in Switzerland in collaboration with research teams from Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, and Romania. Proposals may be submitted by the end of June. Under the call, Polish research teams will receive funding from the Swiss-Polish Cooperation Programme as part of the second Swiss contribution to selected EU member states.

Under the recently opened MAPS call, researchers may request funding of their basic research projects in all academic disciplines. Apart from a Swiss team (project leader), the international consortium comprising Polish researchers must include at least one partner from another participating country. A partner search tool is available.

The MAPS call is addressed to experienced researchers who, on the closing date for proposal submission, have been PhD holders for at least four years. Additionally, the Principal Investigator of the Polish component of the joint research project must be qualified to lead research teams. They will be evaluated by the Swiss agency (SNSF) based on the qualifications described in the proposal, such as experience in leading research projects or research teams, acting as the supervisor or the assistant supervisor in the process for an award of the doctoral degree, publishing record, etc.  

Polish institutions eligible to host international research projects under MAPS are listed in an Annex to the call documentation. The Principal Investigator must be employed by the host institution from the project start date to its end date pursuant to an employment contract. Such host institution must ensure that the research team will have access to the respected research facilities. The Swiss project leader must submit a declaration in the mySNF electronic submission system for the purposes of MAPS proposals, operated by the SNSF, signed by the authorised representative of the Polish host institution, confirming required involvement and support of such institution for the project, should it be recommended for funding.

The projects may have a duration of between 36 and 48 months and may involve researchers and auxiliary staff. Personnel cost eligibility criteria are laid down in an Annex to the call documentation. The project budget may also include funds for services, business trips, reciprocal visits and short research stays with consortium partners, purchase of research equipment, devices and software, as well as materials and small equipment. Other costs necessary to the research project implementation must be in line with the call announcement and eligible costs in SNSF projects.

The maximum amount of funding for each team in each country is 350,000 francs. The cost of the Polish part of the project will be financed entirely by the SNSF. The call is not financed by the NCN or any other Polish institution.

The Swiss project leader submits a proposal under the MAPS call by Monday, 1 July, via the mySNF electronic submission system operated by the SNSF. Polish applicants are not required to submit a separate proposal to the OSF submission system. The head of the Swiss research team must enter information on the merits and finances of the Polish part of the project to the mySNF submission system in agreement with the Polish partners. 

Evaluation procedure and project results 

Projects will be subject to a multi-stage merit-based evaluation. First, they will be reviewed by external reviewers and then evaluated by the Expert Team. Next, a ranking list of proposals will be compiled by the Funders Forum, based on the available funding in a budget of each participating country. Finally, an official decision will be taken by the Steering Committee of the MAPS Programme.

The call results will be published once the evaluation procedure is over, by the end of April 2025. Projects may start in May 2025 and must end by 30 June 2029. Polish applicants will enter into agreements with the Swiss institution identified in the joint proposal submitted to the SNSF, the Swiss PI and other consortium partners. The Swiss PI will be in charge of disbursing funds to the Polish applicants from the Swiss Host Institution’s account. 

Contact Details

Barbara Świątkowska

Should you have any questions on the submission of proposals in the mySNF submission system or SNSF project funding terms, please contact the Swiss project leader or SNSF International Cooperation Department.

The NCN is considering launching a mentoring initiative for participants of the MINIATURA call for proposals. Researchers willing to mentor their colleagues are strongly encouraged to complete our questionnaire. This will help us to establish how many researchers are interested in the initiative.

Mentoring will be available under MINIATURA from 2025 to ensures mentoring support in the development of future research projects submitted to NCN calls. The National Science Centre will compile a list of mentors including principal investigators of projects submitted to the NCN calls, such as MAESTRO, OPUS, SONATA BIS, SONATA, as well as winning applicants of ERC calls. 

The questionnaire with the link to a questionnaire for potential mentors, has been sent to the e-mail addresses of the winning applicants of our calls who have been entered into our database. We have received response from over 1600 people, of which over 1430 expressed their intention of becoming a mentor and nearly 140 are still considering that possibility.

In the next few days, researchers interested in becoming a mentor who have not yet participated in our questionnaire may still do so.

An active participation of more experienced researchers in the initiative may provide valuable assistance to researchers intending to apply for NCN funding of their own research projects.

Mentoring programme and link to the questionnaire 

Participates of the questionnaire are not automatically enrolled in the mentor database. Enrolment is voluntary.

We have launched a call for research components addressed to scientists who decide to return to Poland under the Polish Returns NAWA 2023 programme.

Polish Returns NAWA (Polskie Powroty NAWA) is a programme of the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA). The aim of the programme is to allow the outstanding Polish scientists working abroad to return to Poland and conduct their research at Polish universities and research institutes. Junior and experienced scientists can request funding of their research and project teams established in Poland. More on the programme. 

By collaborating with the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange, the National Science Centre provides funding for research components carried out by scientists who return to Poland under the Polish Returns NAWA programme. 

The NCN call is open to scientists whose projects have been recommended for funding under the Polish Returns NAWA 2023 programme and include research components recommended by the NAWA Evaluation Team. Among the eleven winners of the Polish Returns NAWA 2023 call, there were nine such projects.

Research components can be carried out over the first eighteen months of the project performance. The maximum funding of one component is PLN 200,000.

The NCN Council has allocated PLN 2 million for research components to be completed under the Polish Returns NAWA 2023 programme.

Proposals must be submitted electronically via the OSF submission system together with the final version of the proposal funded under the Polish Returns NAWA 2023 programme in PDF format. Proposals submitted to the NCN must include the same information as proposals submitted to NAWA and must comprise the budget recommendations of the Evaluation Team (if any).

Funding proposals for research components are only subject to NCN’s eligibility check following their merit-based evaluation performed by the NAWA.