We are proud to announce the list of winning bilateral international projects carried out jointly by Polish and Swiss researchers. The total budget of the winning projects amounts to nearly PLN 9.2 mln.
List of all projects qualified for funding in the OPUS 24+LAP/Weave call
List of Polish-Swiss OPUS LAP projects
In the category of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHS), there will be one Polish-Swiss project carried out, led by Dr hab. Agnieszka Otwinowska-Kasztelanic of the University of Warsaw. In cooperation with Prof. Raphael Berthelé from the University of Fribourg, the Polish researcher will conduct multilingual research to explore how foreign language learners acquire new vocabulary both incidentally and intentionally, with the use of digital tools. The research will focus on Polish learners of English as the second language, and Swiss learners who speak German and French learning English as the third language. The project outcomes may be directly applicable to language teaching in the contemporary digitalised world.
In the category of Life Sciences (LS), there will be two Polish-Swiss OPUS LAP projects carried out. The first of these will be supervised by Prof. Ewa Stępień of the Jagiellonian University. Together with the Swiss team led by Prof. Kuangyu Shi of the University of Bern, Prof. Stępień will conduct multi-faceted research into high-throughput PET imaging by decoding multi-photon signals on long axial field-of-view PET using physics-guided artificial intelligence. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a molecular imaging modality widely applied in clinical practice; however, until now, due to certain methodological and equipment-related limitations no additional physiological measurements have been under clinical conditions. Recent advancements in PET detectors have significantly increased their measurement capacities. The research conducted by the Polish and Swiss researchers focuses on methodological development and verification of positronium images using a clinical PET scanner.
The second winning project in the LS category is an “Investigating the effect of protein and fibre on lipid digestibility in oil-in-water emulsions using an in vitro model”. The research conducted in Poland will be led by Dr. inż. Mirosław Kasprzak of the University of Agriculture in Kraków, who will partner with Prof. Peter Fischer of ETH Zurich. The researchers will focus on the problem of overconsumption of high-fat foods which at the same time are high in sugar and low in dietary fibre, such overconsumption leading to weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension or heart disease. The main objective of the research is to unpick the mechanism of lipid digestion by the addition of fibre or structuring the lipids by plant protein to slow down their digestion. The data obtained over the course of the project will determine the direction for the design of food with satiety-enhancing ingredients.
In the area of Physical Sciences and Engineering, the winning project include the research conducted by Dr hab. inż. Joanna Ferdyn-Grygierek of the Silesian University of Technology in cooperation with Dr Agnes Psikuta of the Empa Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology. The researchers will investigate the topic of energy-efficient building design. The building performance simulations (BPS) which have been used until now to optimise building parameters are not perfect, as they don’t always take all of the factors involved into consideration. The researchers want to develop and validate by measurement a human-building avatar for precise prediction of human comfort and energy demand in buildings under conditions of variable internal and external loads during the year.
The second winning project in the PSE category aims to respond to the currently high demand for food products, especially apparent in the agricultural production sector. Dr inż. Wiesław Fiałkiewicz of the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, together with Prof. Oliver Schilling of University of Basel will attempt to develop an advanced method for sustainable crop fertilisation to reduce environmental pollution resulting from the presence of excess nitrogen from fertilisers used by farmers to protect and maximise crop yields. The method developed by the researchers will be supported by real-time modelling to help farmers to use sustainable fertilisation to achieve high yields without degradation of the local water environment.
Lead Agency Procedure – LAP
In the latest OPUS 24+LAP/Weave call, which concluded in May, the NCN received 1921 proposals with a total budget of nearly 2.7 billion zlotys. Researchers could request funding for projects conducted without international partners, as well as bi- or trilateral LAP projects involving foreign cooperation or access to large international research equipment. The call was open to researchers at all career levels.
LAP is a new proposal evaluation standard adopted by European research-funding institutions, designed to facilitate the funding application process for international research teams and streamline proposal review.
OPUS LAP projects were reviewed at the same time and by the same expert teams as other OPUS proposals, but also underwent an additional evaluation that looked at the research record and the previous projects of the principal investigators in foreign partner teams. Experts also made sure that the contribution of all teams to the project is balanced and complementary.
Decisions and their delivery
The decisions for OPUS LAP proposals qualified for funding under OPUS 24 in bilateral cooperation with the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) have already been sent out. Please remember that the decisions of the NCN Director are delivered to the applicant electronically, to the e-mail address indicated in the proposal.
Learn more about how decisions are delivered