Announcing Institution: 

National Science Centre

Purpose of the call:

Competition for projects involving basic research within the OPUS 21 programme for research projects intended for scientists at all stages of their scientific career. 

Information on application preparation:

• The project implementation period can be 12, 24, 36 or 48 months.
• Project leader should indicate from 1 to 10 published scientific works
• Change of provisions concerning conditions to be met by Principal Investigator: The Principal Investigator is required to stay in Poland for at least 50% of the project duration. This period includes business trips necessary for the project implementation. Moreover, the Principal Investigator may be a person employed on the basis of an employment contract for at least halftime during the whole project implementation period in an entity planned as a place of project implementation. The employment requirement does not apply to persons collecting pension benefits from the social insurance system.
• In a given edition of call for proposals, one can be indicated as a Principal Investigator only in one application. This means that in this edition of NCN calls for proposals, a given person may be nominated only once as a Principal Investigator in OPUS 21 or PRELUDIUM 20 application.
• Change of requirements to be met by a person planned to be employed as a post-doc:
  • the Principal Investigator was not a promoter or assistant promoter of the doctoral dissertation of the person planned to be employed as a post-doc;
  • obtained a doctoral degree in an entity other than the one where employment on this position is planned, or completed at least 10 months of continuous and documented post-doctoral training in an entity other than the entity implementing the project and in a country other than the country where the doctoral degree was obtained.
• In the OPUS 21 call for proposals, for the first time, it is possible to plan a full-time employment as a Senior Researcher. A person employed on this position must meet all of the following conditions:
  • will be employed for a period of not less than 6 months on a full-time basis.
  • The project can plan remuneration in the amount of PLN 60 thousand per year, and the entity undertakes to co-finance from its own funds the remuneration in the amount of at least PLN 60 thousand per year (it is allowed to employ one person on the position of Senior Researcher for the whole project duration);
  • has completed a documented traineeship or postdoctoral internships lasting a total of at least 24 months in entities other than the entity in which the employment on this position is planned, including at least 10 months of continuous and documented postdoctoral training in an entity other than the entity implementing the project and in a country other than the country where the doctoral degree was obtained;
  • during the period of receiving the full-time remuneration, will not receive other remuneration from
  • during the period of receiving full-time remuneration he/she will not get other remuneration from the funds allocated within the direct costs of research projects financed within NCN calls for proposals o during the period of receiving full-time remuneration will not receive remuneration from another employer based on an employment contract, including an employer based outside of the territory of Poland;
  • will not receive retirement benefits from the social insurance system
• The project may plan so-called doctoral scholarships for doctoral students who meet the requirements set out in the provisions of the Act of 20 July 2018 Law on higher education and Science (doctoral schools).
• Direct costs cannot be used to finance publication costs of scientific articles or costs of making research data available in open access (so-called Open Access). Planning Open Access costs from direct costs will result in the rejection of the application at the stage of formal assessment. Costs of publication charges (so-called Article Processing Charges) in hybrid journals, as defined in NCN Policy on Open Access to Publications, are not eligible at all (including indirect costs).
• NOTE: eligible costs do not include costs of publication of a monograph resulting from the research project until a positive assessment in the review process conducted by NCN.
• In the project budget, within the direct costs, one should include the purchase cost of a qualified signature in the amount of ca. 205 PLN (signature set + extension - valid for four years).
• VAT should be included in the project budget (VAT is an eligible cost of the project), please provide gross amounts in the cost estimate.
• Changes in indirect costs. Indirect costs are costs indirectly related to the research project but necessary for its implementation, consisting of:
  • Open Access indirect costs of up to 2% of direct costs, which can only be used for costs related to making publications or research data available research data in open access. Please include these costs in the planned budget of the project in the maximum possible amount;
  • other indirect costs of up to 20% of direct costs that may be allocated to indirect costs related to the project, including costs of making publications or research data available in open access.
• Basic data of the unit (UJ) necessary to complete the application are available at CAWP: cawp.uj.edu.pl/projekty/dla-wnioskujacych/dokumenty.

Form of application submission:

Applications in the OPUS 21 competition are submitted in electronic form only. The application with the required attachments is submitted electronically by the Principal Investigator in the ZSUN/OSF system (Integrated System of Services for Science/Service for Funding Streams) available at: osf.opi.org.pl

Deadline and form for submission: 

15 June 2021 at 4.00 pm. 

The deadline for delivering the final version of applications to the call supervisor at CAWP UJ is 8 June 2021 at 3.30 pm.

JU Internal regulations:

In accordance with Announcement No. 56 of the JU Vice-Rector of 11 July 2016 on: Rules of Procedure for the Preparation and Implementation of Externally Funded Projects at the Jagiellonian University, those interested in participating in the call for proposals please send to the call supervisor at CAWP:

• by 20 May 2021 - if the project is planned in cooperation with other entities:
  • and UJ acts as a leader in the project:
    • an agreement on cooperation of a group of entities for the implementation of the requested research project (developed by NCN), downloaded from the ZSUN/OSF system (tab "Implementing entities") as a PDF file,
    • additional agreement approved by the JU Team of Legal Advisors, prepared in accordance with the rules which constitutes Attachment No. 1 to this Announcement (extended version of the agreement on cooperation of a group of entities for the implementation of the proposed research project),
  • in a situation where UJ acts as a partner in the project:
    • agreement on cooperation of a group of entities for the implementation of the proposed research project (prepared by NCN) in the form of a PDF file sent by the Principal Investigator,
    • additional agreement approved by the JU Team of Legal Advisors, prepared according to the rules which constitutes Attachment No. 1 to this Announcement (extended version of the agreement on cooperation of a group of entities for the implementation of the proposed research project),
  • The provisions included in the model agreement (prepared by NCN) cannot be modified or supplemented by additional regulations between the entities.
  • NOTE: Enclosing a signed agreement (prepared by NCN) in ZSUN/OSF system is a condition for blocking the application and generation of required confirmations. It is required to attach the document in PDF format signed with a qualified electronic signature or a scan of a document signed by hand.
  • In order to regulate the cooperation between partners within a group of entities, it is necessary to conclude an additional agreement (Attachment No. 1 to this Announcement - extended version of the agreement on the cooperation of a group of entities for the implementation of the proposed research project).
  • Please note that the additional agreement should not be attached to the application for funding in the ZSUN/OSF system.
• by May 27, 2021 a draft version of the application in the form of a PDF file generated from the ZSUN/OSF system,
• by 8 June 2021 (until 3.30 p.m.):
  • the final version of the application in the form of a PDF file generated from the ZSUN/OSF system document: option "Print PDF" with the name according to the formula: Surname and first name of the Principal Investigator, name of the programme, date of the document (Kowalski_Jan_OPUS21_08-06-2021), signed with a qualified signature by the head of the organisational unit of the Jagiellonian University, i.e. Dean or Director/Manager of another organisational unit) in which the project will be realised,
  • document generated from ZSUN/OSF: "Confirmation of submission of the application by the person representing the entity",
  • a scan of a signed document generated from ZSUN/OSF: "Confirmation of application submission by the Principal Investigator" or a document signed with a qualified signature, and
  • Project Registration Form, completed in the UJ Project Zone system,
  • in case of planned hiring of a Senior Researcher, please submit a Project Registration Form in the UJ Project Zone system (due to providing own contribution of the UJ unit for covering the costs of hiring the Senior Researcher).

UJ Project Zone system is available at: https://strefaprojektow.uj.edu.pl/.

Instructions for filling in the forms are available at: https://cawp.uj.edu.pl/strefa-projektow. Out of concern for the quality of submitted projects, especially in terms of meeting formal requirements, I encourage you to consult applications and submit documents to the CAWP on earlier dates than specified above.

Please treat the above deadlines as final.

Please note that sending an application through the system is an irreversible operation, which makes it impossible to make any later changes. The application should be sent in the ZSUN/OSF system after attaching the signed document "Confirmation of submission by the person representing the entity" and "Confirmation of submission by the Principal Investigator".

The documents indicated above, signed by the UJ authorities, will be sent by the call supervisors at CAWP to the email addresses provided by you

More information:

Vice-Rector's communication

Annex no 1 to communication on submitting research project funding proposals under the OPUS 21 call

 Data of the entity necessary for completing application for financing a research project financed from the NCN funds

NCN