Poland is the first EU state to sign a MoU for the fourth round of the EEA and Norway Grants. The funds will support, inter alia, basic research, applied research and innovations, as well as green transition.
At an event in Warsaw on 23 April 2025, it was announced that Poland will receive EUR 925 million (nearly PLN 4 billion), the largest amount allocated among the 15 countries covered by the programme.
Ceremony of signing intergovernmental agreements, April 23
The event featured Crown Prince Haakon of Norway as a special guest. Memoranda of Understanding were signed by Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy, Espen Barth Eide, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Martin Eyjólfsson, Secretary of State of Iceland, and Pascal Schafhauser, Ambassador of Liechtenstein to the European Union. Other participants included representatives of the National Science Centre.
The NCN will once again lead the Basic Research programme. The new edition will have a budget of EUR 70.6 million (23 percent more than last time) of which EUR 60 million will be provided by the EEA Financial Mechanism and EUR 10.6 million covered by national co-funding. The NCN will also have access to a bilateral fund of EUR 0.5 million to support research and institutional collaboration with Norway and Iceland.
NCN’s preliminary plans include new GRIEG calls to support bottom-up projects and a new interdisciplinary call to address subjects covered by the Blue Book, such as digital and ecological transition, rule of law, human rights and social resistance.
We wish to continue support for polar research initiated under the third round of the programme. The subject of a new predefined project will be chosen in consultations with researchers from Poland, Norway and Iceland, in anticipation of the upcoming International Polar Year 2032–2033.
In the round of the Basic Research programme, we will continue to promote gender equality in research and support early-career researchers.
In the latest round of the EEA and Norway Grants, we have funded 76 research projects, completed 2 bilateral initiatives and awarded 36 scholarships for students and early-career researchers from Ukraine. We have used 99.3% of available funds.
You can find out more on the EEA and Norway Grants in our latest episode of the NCN Podcast.