We are launching two calls: OPUS 31, for research projects led by researchers at any career stage, and PRELUDIUM 25, for researchers who do not yet hold a PhD. Together, the two calls will fund projects worth a total of PLN 600 million. Proposals will be accepted until mid-June.
The OPUS call is open to researchers at all career stages, regardless of their academic degree or title. The only entry requirement is that applicants have at least one research paper to their name, either published or accepted for publication.
The call offers funding for domestic research projects, as well as projects carried out in cooperation with partners from foreign research institutions or involving the use of major international research facilities by Polish teams. Projects must fall within the scope of basic research, but the call does not prescribe any particular subject matter. Projects may run for one, two, three or four years. The budget is not capped and may include salaries for the principal investigator and co-investigators, including post-docs and scholarship holders; the purchase of research equipment, devices and software; materials and small equipment; outsourced services; business trips; visits and consultations; compensation for collective investigators; and other costs essential to the project. All costs must be justified by the scope of the research, and budgets are among the elements assessed by the experts.
The OPUS 31 call has a budget of PLN 550 million.
The PRELUDIUM call targets a specific group: it is open exclusively to researchers who do not yet hold a PhD. It is a unique scheme, allowing researchers to gain experience as principal investigators and independently carry out a fully-fledged grant very early in their research careers, with the support of a mentor. Many members of the #NCNgeneration began their careers with PRELUDIUM and now lead research teams of their own and have significant scientific achievements to their names.
In its twenty-fifth edition, PRELUDIUM offers grants of up to PLN 70,000, PLN 140,000 or PLN 210,000 for basic research projects lasting 12, 24 or 36 months respectively. The budget may include additional salaries for the research team – the cap on these has been raised to PLN 2,000 per month – as well as the costs of purchasing or constructing research equipment, devices and software, up to a maximum of 30 per cent of the requested funding. The grant may also cover the costs of materials and small equipment, outsourced services, business trips, visits and consultations, compensation for collective investigators, and more.
The project topic may, but need not, be related to the subject of the applicant’s doctoral dissertation. Researchers may act as principal investigator of a PRELUDIUM project only once. This edition of the call has a budget of PLN 50 million.
Retractions in proposals
As previously announced, with the March calls we have introduced a new section in the proposal forms covering publications retracted within the last 10 years (or longer in certain cases). The new section complements the track record evaluation system, giving experts a fuller picture of the publication activity of those applying for research funding. In OPUS, retractions must be disclosed by everyone submitting a track record form with the proposal (including the senior researcher); in PRELUDIUM, they must be disclosed by both the principal investigator and the mentor. The list of retractions must include a description of the reasons behind them. A retraction section will also be mandatory in reports on NCN-funded grants.
Proposal evaluation
Proposals will be peer-reviewed in a two-stage process involving experts from all fields, grouped into expert teams according to the list of NCN Review Panels. NCN experts are eminent researchers from Poland and abroad who hold at least a PhD. They are selected by the NCN Council, which matches the composition of each team to the number and subject matter of the proposals submitted.
In the first stage, each proposal receives at least two expert opinions, and the decision to advance it to the second stage or reject it is taken collectively by the team at its first panel meeting. In the second stage, each proposal receives at least two reviews from external reviewers. Funding recommendations are made by the team after discussing each proposal at the second panel meeting, with the individual reviews taken into account.
Deadlines
Proposals for OPUS 31 and PRELUDIUM 25 may be submitted via the OSF submission system until 2 pm on 16 June 2026. The results of the calls will be announced by mid-December at the latest.
Across all OPUS calls concluded to date, we have funded more than 11,800 projects worth a total of nearly PLN 11 billion. Under PRELUDIUM, we have already funded nearly 8,000 projects worth over PLN 1 billion in total. NCN project database