For more than a decade, the NCN Award has honoured researchers who, at the outset of their careers, have achieved significant accomplishments in basic research. The winners of this year’s edition will be announced on 15 October.
NCN 2024 Award Ceremony
This year, more than 3,800 individuals were eligible to nominate candidates for the NCN Award 2025. A total of 185 applications were submitted, covering 125 candidates:
- 41 individuals (53 nominations) in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Art Sciences (HS),
- 57 individuals (87 nominations) in the Physical Sciences and Engineering (ST),
- 27 individuals (45 nominations) in the Life Sciences (NZ).
The Award was established by the NCN Council in 2013 as a distinction for researchers employed in Poland who have achieved significant success in the field of basic research. Each year, the Award is presented in three fields: Humanities, Social Sciences and Art Sciences (HS), Physical Sciences and Engineering (ST) and Life Sciences (NZ). Winners receive a prize of 50,000 PLN.
Since 2022, the criterion of chronological age has been replaced with that of academic age. Candidates for the Award must be researchers within 12 years of obtaining their PhD degree. This period may be extended to account for career breaks due to illness or childcare.
Winners are selected by a committee composed of NCN Council members and the NCN Director. Nominees may be presented by, among others, former members of the NCN Council, past winners of the Award, principal investigators (PI) of MAESTRO and SONATA BIS projects, and experts who have reviewed proposals in selected calls.
The NCN Award ceremony will be held on 15 October 2025 at 6:30 p.m. at the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology in Kraków. The event will be hosted by Karolina Głowacka from Radio Naukowe. A live broadcast of the ceremony will be available online.
In the following weeks, the winners will take part in the series Science at the Centre, organised by the Copernicus Centre and the NCN.
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