We are pleased to announce the results of the 19^th edition of the OPUS and the PRELUDIUM calls. Polish scientists will receive more than 487 million PLN in funding for basic research projects.

For many years now, the OPUS and PRELUDIUM schemes have enjoyed enormous popularity with researchers who look to have their research projects funded. The 19^th edition of the two calls attracted a total of 4096 proposals, 595 of which were awarded funding grants.

OPUS is targeted at researchers at any stage of their research career, no matter their scientific degree, and offers funding for various research projects, including those that involve the purchase or manufacturing of research equipment. In addition, the formula of OPUS 19 has now been extended to include elements of the HARMONIA call, which paved the way for the funding of proposals designed to be carried out in bilateral or multilateral international cooperation, as well as initiatives involving the use of large-scale international research equipment. The 19^th edition of the OPUS call enjoyed record popularity, attracting as many as 2424 proposals for a total amount of more than 2.5 billion PLN. Following the recommendations of peer review, 352 projects were awarded a total of 451 million PLN in funding; interestingly, as many as three will be carried out by researchers who have not yet earned their PhD degree.

PRELUDIUM is a call targeted at researchers who are only at the outset of their research career and have not yet earned their PhD degree. The research team in the project may consist of a maximum of three members, including the principal investigator and the mentor. The 19^th edition of the call attracted 1672 proposals for a total amount of nearly 246 million PLN, out of which 243 were qualified for funding, receiving grants of more than 36 million PLN in total.

Projects submitted for funding in NCN calls can be carried out in three disciplines: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Life Sciences; and Physical Sciences and Engineering. Proposals in each of these disciplines are evaluated by a dedicated expert team composed of outstanding Polish and foreign researchers. It is their review that provides the basis for the final decision as to which projects will be funded.

In the OPUS 19 and PRELUDIUM 19 calls, the greatest number of projects will be carried out in the field of Physical Sciences and Engineering: total funding of more than 174 million PLN was awarded to 213 projects. Researchers working in Life Sciences were awarded 203 grants of more than 228 million PLN in total, while a further c. 85 million PLN will be divided among 179 projects in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

The ranking lists of all projects qualified for funding under the OPUS 19 and PRELUDIUM 19 schemes can be found here.

Furthermore, the decisions concerning projects recommended for funding or rejected in the OPUS 19 and PRELUDIUM 19 schemes will be sent out today. The decisions by the NCN Director are delivered in the form of an electronic document to the electronic address indicated in the proposal.

• If the applicant is an entity mentioned in Article 27 (1)-(7) and (9) of the Act on the National Science Centre, the decision shall be delivered only to the Electronic Inbox (ePUAP) address indicated in the proposal.
• If the applicant is a natural person and lists the ePUAP address in the proposal, the decision shall be delivered to that address.
• If the applicant is a natural person and does not list an ePUAP address, an electronic address from which the decision can be downloaded shall be sent to the e-mail address indicated in the proposal.

The decisions of the NCN Director whether or not to award funding are also submitted to the principal investigator, and if the applicant is a physical person, to the entity indicated as the host institution in the proposal.

Should you not receive the decision, please make sure that the address (ESP, ePUAP, e-mail) you have provided is correct. If not, please contact the person in charge of the proposal, as listed in the ZSUN/OSF system.

On 20 November 2020, the first two proposals submitted to the National Science Centre under the call for proposals for funding of Research Components in projects funded under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme launched by the NAWA, were evaluated. They were both found eligible and recommended for NCN funding. 

The Polish Returns 2020 Programme was launched by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange on 7 January 2020. The aim of the Programme is to allow prominent Polish researchers working abroad to return to Poland and take up employment in Polish higher education institutions, scientific units or research institutes. Projects could have contained a basic Research Component to be funded by the National Science Centre. 

The NAWA evaluation team has selected seven projects containing a Research Component. Before starting the projects, the researchers whose projects contained a Research Component must submit a proposal for NCN funding of such Components under the NCN call. Their proposals will be subject to an NCN eligibility check only. The eligibility check will be carried out on a continuous basis until the last proposal containing a Research Component funded under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme, is submitted to the NCN.  

List 1 of NCN-funded Research Components in projects funded under the Polish Returns 2020 Programme launched by the NAWA.

JPIAMR is pleased to pre-announce this joint transnational research call One Health interventions to prevent or reduce the development and transmission of AMR.

The call advocates for a One Health approach:

• to understand the impact of interventions on the development and transmission of antibiotic resistance and
• to design, implement, evaluate, and compare interventions that will have a true impact on preventing or reducing the development and transmission of antibiotic resistance in and between the different One Health settings (human, animal, environment).

Twenty one (21) JPIAMR member countries participate in this joint call together with the organisations: International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions ICARS, Canadian International Development Research Centre IDRC and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency SIDA.

The call will support research projects that also have the potential for impact in areas where the risk and burden of AMR is greatest, such as in LMIC settings in Asia and Africa.

Estimated call budget 24.9 million Euro. Polish research teams participating in the call will be funded by the National Science Centre (NCN), which allocated  0,5 M Euro for the call.

The call opens early 2021.

For more information about the call, please visit: www.jpiamr.eu/interventions-and-transmission-call-2021

Contact:

• dr Monika Pobiega, monika.pobiega@ncn.gov.pl
• Jolanta Palowska, jolanta.palowska@ncn.gov.pl, tel. + 48 695 211 478

The JPI Urban Europe network has started preparations of the transnational, European call for research and innovation (R&I) proposals dedicated to urban transformation capacities, that is the ERA-NET Cofund Urban Transformation Capacities (ENUTC) call. The call for proposals is currently planned to be launched late January 2021. The expected date for submitting pre-proposals is April 2021.

At the same time, JPI Urban Europe network invites scientists and other stakeholders to participate in public consultations in order to get feedback on the preliminary scope of the call topics, i.e.:

• Urban circular economies;
• Community-based developments and urban innovation ecosystems;
• Robust and resilient urban infrastructure and built environment.

Detailed information can be found at the JPI Urban Europe website.

Please note that this pre-announcement is for information purposes only. It does not create any obligation for the JPI Urban Europe network, nor for any of the participating funding organisations. The official call announcement, to be published later, shall prevail.

Contact:

Dr Katarzyna Jarecka-Stępień, katarzyna.jarecka-stepien@ncn.gov.pl

Alicja Dyląg, alicja.dylag@ncn.gov.pl, tel. +48 532 086 494

Prof. Andrzej Jajszczyk, the first Director of the National Science Centre has been elected as the new Vice President of the European Research Council (ERC) that funds pioneering basic research. Prof. Jajszczyk will be in charge of Physical and Engineering Sciences and will start take up his duties on 1 January 2021.

Prof. Jajszczyk will be one of the three Vice Presidents alongside Prof. Nektarios Tavernarakis in charge of Life Sciences and current Vice President Eveline Crone in charge of Social Sciences and Humanities who will continue her mandate.  

Prof. Jajszczyk has been a member of the ERC Scientific Council since 2017 and professor at the Department of Telecommunications at the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, Poland. Between 2011-2015, prof. Jajsczyk was the Director of the National Science Centre.

For more information, go here.

We are pleased to announce that one of our Council members, dr. hab. Justyna Olko from the Faculty of “Artes Liberales” of the Warsaw University, is one of the winners of the Falling Walls 2020 award presented during the World Science Summit/Berlin Science Week organised by the Walls Foundation.

The Polish researcher was awarded in the area of Social Sciences and Humanities for “breaking the walls between the academy and local communities in favour of linguistic diversity”. She received the title of the “Breakthrough of the Year” in her category alongside nine other researchers selected among over 900 nominees all over the world pursuant to a decision of the ERC jury chaired by Helga Nowotny (former President of the European Research Council). Justyna Olko connects scientific research and engaged community work to promote multilingualism, language revitalisation and ethnic minority empowerment. As she herself says: “Every three months one language disappears from the earth. We need to look for solutions.” Through her research she provides that the use of local heritage languages protects against historical trauma and decolonises our world. She has discussed her breakthrough work during the World Science Summit which, due to the epidemiological situation, was held online 1 and 10 November.

Dear Justyna! Congratulations! 

Today, the decisions will be served concerning proposals that fail the eligibility check in the MAESTRO 12, SONATA BIS 10 and DAINA 2 calls.

The decisions of the NCN Director in an electronic format are served to the applicant’s electronic address specified in the proposal.

• If the applicant is an institution specified in Article 27 (1) - (7) and Article 27 (1) (9) of the NCN Act, the decision of the NCN Director will be served to the Electronic Correspondence Register (ESP ePUAP) address.
• If a natural person acting as the applicant specifies an ePUAP address in his/her proposal, the decision will be served to that address.
• If an applicant (natural person) does not specify his/her ePUAP address, he/she will receive a message to the e-mail address specified in the proposal with the electronic address from which the decision of the NCN Director can be downloaded.
• If no decision is received, it is recommended to check whether the electronic (ESP, ePUAP, e-mail) address specified in the proposal is correct.
• If an incorrect address has been provided, contact the NCN Program Officer in charge of the proposal specified in the ZSUN/OSF system. 

Pursuant to NCN Council Resolution No 104/2020 of 30 September 2020, the call for NCN proposals submitted under the CEUS-UNISONO call will be closed on 31 December 2020, 4 p.m.

PLEASE NOTE: Proposals can be submitted to ARRS acting as a  lead agency between 11 December 2020 and 12 February 2021. If, however, a joint proposal is submitted to ARRS as the lead agency, NCN proposals must be submitted to ZSUN  by 31 December 2020, 4 p.m., after which date it will not be possible to submit proposals under the CEUS-UNISONO call to the NCN.

Cooperation between NCN, FWF, GAČR and ARRS aimed at funding  bilateral and trilateral research projects in all academic disciplines carried out jointly by research teams from Poland, Austria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic will be continued in the framework of the lead agency procedure from the beginning of 2021. More information on the new framework of cooperation will be available on the NCN website in December 2020.

We are pleased to announce the third ranking list in the MOZART international bilateral call for Polish-Austrian research projects, organised in partnership with the Austrian Science Fund (Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, FWF). Our new winner is Dr Krzysztof Szade from the Jagiellonian University.

Ranking list

Dr Krzysztof Szade will receive a total of 1,596,300 PLN in funding for his research project devoted to Identifying the Niches of Hematopoietic and Leukaemic Stem Cells. The objective is to explore and describe the bone marrow niches of hematopoietic and leukaemic stem cells, which will allow potential new treatment targets against leukaemic stem cells to be identified. More about the project: here.

To find out more about our previous winners, Professor Jerzy Kochanowski, Dr Tomasz Goliński, and Dr hab. Karol Nartowski, go here and here.

Grants awarded under the scheme can go towards the costs of remuneration for the research team, including scholarships for under- and post-graduate students, the purchase or manufacturing of research equipment and for other costs crucial to the research project. With a total budget of 5.5 million PLN, the call was targeted at Polish research teams working with Austrian partners. To qualify as a principal investigator in the Polish team, applicants need to hold at least a PhD degree; the project must take 24 or 36 months to complete. The merit-based evaluation of submitted proposals is based on guidelines adopted by the FWF. The terms and conditions of the call set by the FWF can be found in the documents of the “Stand-Alone Projects” programme and, for clinical trials, in “Programme Clinical Research” (KLIF).

The MOZART call was held in accordance with the Lead Agency Procedure (“LAP”) and proposals were accepted on an ongoing basis until 21 February 2020. The results are announced within 12 months from the submission of the domestic proposal, which means that successive ranking lists will be gradually published here.