It is the fifth anniversary of the first two Dioscuri Centres for Scientific Excellence in Poland. Forum Akademickie featured an interview with Aleksandra Pękowska and Grzegorz Sumara, Dioscuri Centre leaders, who discussed the work conditions in Poland, achievements and plans for the next five years.

On 30 January, an Information session was held with representatives of research funding organisations and ministries interested in participating in the European Partnership on Social Transformations and Resilience (STR). The initiative focuses on areas such as social protection, the future of work, education, and fair transition to climate neutrality. The coordination of the Partnership will be led by National Science Centre (NCN).

Dr hab. Aleksandra Maatsch from the University of Wrocław, together with researchers from Austria and Germany, will carry out a research project on democratic backsliding in EU member states.

We have launched the MINIATURA 9 call addressed to researchers who have been awarded their PhD in the past 12 years and are not former NCN call winners. The call budget is 20 million zlotys. 

Professor Tomasz Dietl, the new Chair of the NCN Council, is the first guest of the NCN podcast in 2025. In an interview with Anna Korzekwa-Józefowicz, he spoke about the priorities of the Council as well as his own experiences as a researcher and ERC grant winner.

Polish polar researchers have launched the BERA research infrastructure, enabling the collection and analysis of samples from various regions of Norway’s Svalbard and facilitating their transport to Poland. Polar research has been an important research area for Polish scientists for years and is also funded by the National Science Centre.

The European Research Council has awarded Proof of Concept grants. One of the recipients is Prof. Kinga Kamieniarz-Gdula from the Adam Mickiewicz University, laureate of our SONATA BIS programme.

Dr Marek Wagner from the Łukasiewicz Research Network – PORT and Japanese researchers highlight the potential of the type 2 immune response, previously associated with fighting parasites, in slowing the development of melanoma. Their article was published in “Nature”.

Seven Polish-Czech projects and two trilateral research projects performed in collaboration with research teams from Czechia, Germany and Slovenia were recommended for funding under Weave-UNISONO. Polish researchers will perform projects with funding of over 9.5 million zlotys. The successful research teams are based in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław and Katowice.