54 researchers will have their research activities funded by the NCN. The first results for proposals submitted to MINIATURA 9 in February have just been published.
MINIATURA 9 for research activities was launched in February 2025. 5,000 – 50,000 zlotys is up for grabs for research activities involving preliminary/ pilot studies, library and archive searchers or research visits performed over a period of up to 12 months. Funding will be provided for basic research activities aimed to prepare a research proposal to be submitted to NCN calls in the future.
The call is targeted at researchers with a PhD degree awarded no earlier than 2013 who are not former NCN grantees. Applicants must demonstrate at least one paper published or one artistic achievement or achievement in research in art completed. One can be a MINIATURA grantee only once.
For the first time, NCN mentoring can be requested, involving NCN mentor’s guidance on developing future research projects. The mentoring cost must be included in a research activity budget. Mentors may include PIs of current and former projects funded under MAESTRO, OPUS, SONATA BIS, SONATA, international calls from the NCN call portfolio and calls launched by the European Research Council (ERC). Our database already includes nearly 600 offers of potential mentors from all research domains.
Public Health and Living Conditions in MINIATURA
20 research activities will be funded in Humanities, Social Sciences and Art Sciences, including preliminary / pilot studies on health emigration in rare diseases in Poland conducted by Małgorzata Skweres-Kuchta from the University of Szczecin. Funding was also awarded to Sebastian Czechowicz from the University of Lodz for his library and archive research on legal planes of public health protection and the concept of New Public Health and the doctrine of public health law.
In Life Sciences, 16 researchers received funding, including Anna Krzyżewska from the Medical University of Białystok who will study molecular trap for TGF-β1 ligand as a hope for a new therapeutic strategy – evaluation of P144 in an experimental model of pulmonary hypertension with consideration of sex differences and Monika Ołdakowska from the Medical University of Wrocław for her research on evaluation of inflammatory stage induced by hight doses of glucose and fructose in experimental cell lines and inty-inflammatory effect of the 1,2-dicinnamoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine.
Representatives of Physical Sciences and Engineering received 18 grants, including Tomasz Swebocki from the Gdańsk University of Technology for his research on thermoresponsive natural hydrogels in water/deep eutectic solvent systems as carriers for controlled-release antibiotics and Wojciech Rykała from the University of Silesia for his studies on the origin of the formation of mobile organic and inorganic pollutants from solid waste from landfills.
The ranking lists include the topics of research activities performed by the successful applicants:
MINATURA 9 Ranking List No 1 (.pdf)
Funding Per Panel
- Humanities, Social Sciences and Art Sciences: PLN 554,467
- Physical Sciences and Engineering: PLN 778,366
- Life Sciences: PLN 753,946
Total funding: PLN 2,086,779.
Evaluation of Proposals
Proposals submitted to MINIATURA are evaluated by the expert team formed by the NCN Councils. Various aspects are evaluated, including scientific achievements of researchers performing a research activity, scientific quality, feasibility, potential impact and rationale of the research activity on the development of a scientific discipline, justification of the cost vis-à-vis the subject and scope of the research activity, and development of the proposal.
The total call budget (PLN 20 million) is divided in proportion to the number of months of the call, from February to July. Proposals can be funded as long as they fit into the pool of available funds for the month. Many proposals were refused funding in the past because they were submitted in the last month of the call. Therefore, we encourage researchers to submit proposals as early as possible to make sure that sufficient funds are left.
Proposal submission date: 31 July 2025, 4 pm.
Funding Decision
In view of the recent Electronic Delivery Act of 18 November 2020 (consolidated text in Journal of Laws of 2024, item 1045) and related obligations of the National Science Centre, in conjunction with Article 147 (5) of the Act, to ensure efficient delivery and meet deadlines, the National Science Centre will no longer deliver decisions by the NCN Director pursuant to Act.
Decisions by the NCN Director will continue to be delivered as previously, in an electronic format, to the electronic address specified in the proposal. Decisions must be signed electronically, in PAdES format. Delivery of decisions depends on the applicant’s status.
Decisions by the NCN Director will be delivered to the applicants’ ESP ePUAP address. The applicants authorised as public entities will have their decisions served as an official confirmation of submission, otherwise, as an official confirmation of service.