The NCN Council has adopted the amended terms of participation in NCN grant calls announced in June, according to which the number of proposals that a principal investigator may submit in a single year is limited, and eligibility for subsequent OPUS grants is linked to participation in ERC calls. 

At the meeting on 10 September 2026, the NCN Council adopted a Resolution amending the Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre as regards research projects.

Over the past few years, NCN has observed a steady increase in the number of proposals submitted: in the most popular OPUS and PRELUDIUM calls that number has doubled. Meanwhile, the success rate, measured as the percentage of proposals recommended for funding, has remained relatively low (10-20%).

Furthermore, the increased number of proposals poses a significant organisational challenge for NCN, where the growing volume of proposals has not been accompanied by a commensurate increase in the budget available for grant processing, including the necessary recruitment of additional staff. The ever-growing organisational workload of NCN and the experts involved in the evaluation procedure poses a risk to both the quality and timely completion of the evaluation procedure.

The NCN Council’s rationale for the amendment is to maintain the high quality of NCN’s evaluation procedure, ensure that NCN grant opportunities remain available to researchers at all stages of their research careers, and encourage experienced researchers to make greater use of European research funding opportunities 

From 2027 and 2028, respectively, the following amendments will come into effect:

  • Annual restriction in number of proposals 

In a single calendar year, one person may be designated as the principal investigator in only one proposal submitted to NCN. Another proposal may be submitted in the same year, if at least one of the proposals is submitted to an OPUS LAP call or to a call launched by NCN in collaboration with foreign research-funding agencies, and they are not submitted to the same edition of the call. The new rule will apply to the calls with the proposal submission date falling on or after 1 January 2027.

  • Eligibility for subsequent OPUS grants linked to participation in ERC calls 

A researcher who has received at least two OPUS grants over the past 10 years will be eligible to apply for another OPUS grant, provided they are an ERC grant winner or have submitted a grant proposal to ERC in the proposal submission year or over the past five years, which has been evaluated at least in stage 1. The amendments will apply to the calls with the submission date falling or on after 1 January 2028. 

According to the NCN Council, the restrictions are temporary in nature and will be subject to review as NCN’s conditions, including the budgetary situation, evolve.