Announcing institution:

National Science Centre (NCN)

Subject of the competition:

The National Science Centre (NCN) has announced a call for basic research projects under the PRELUDIUM programme for projects carried out by persons at the beginning of their academic career who are not PhD holders.

Deadline for submitting proposals to the NCN is 17 June 2024, 4 p.m.

The deadline for delivery of the proposals’ final versions to the call assistant at the RSC is 6 June 2024, 3:30 p.m.

General terms of drawing up proposals:

• A project may be implemented over a period of 12, 24 or 36 months.
• Funding amounts may not exceed:
  • PLN 70,000 per project in projects carried out over 12 months,
  • PLN 140,000 per project in projects carried out over 24 months,
  • PLN 210,000 per project in projects carried out over 36 months.
  The number of project team members may not exceed three (not applicable to joint contractors), and a holder of a doctorate or a degree of habilitation, or a title of full professor may only be named in the proposal as academic supervisor.
• An academic supervisor may not use, in any way whatsoever, the funds allocated for the implementation of a project. In particular, project funds may not be used to cover the costs of remuneration for the academic supervisor and their business trips, including participation of conferences or seminars. 
• Remuneration of up to PLN 1,500 per month may be planned for the research team, i.e. Principal investigator and (optionally) co-investigator; PLN 1,500 a month. Payment of remuneration may be made on the basis of contracts of employment or civil-law contracts.
• The principal investigator must reside in Poland for at least 50% of the project duration period and be available to the host institution. This requirement does not apply to travel documented by business trips directly related to the implemented project as well as holidays, time off work and other absences from work regulated by generally applicable regulations. 
• The entity is obliged to keep documentation allowing clearly state that the Principal Investigator fulfils the above condition. 
• One can be indicated as a principal investigator in a given call only in one proposal. This means that a person may only once be included as principal investigator and only in one funding scheme in the current call edition: (OPUS/PRELUDIUM).
• Total cost of the research equipment to be purchased (fixed assets) may not exceed 30% of the requested funds. Please list purchase of computers or software under the heading of costs of research equipment, devices and software. 
• Direct costs must not cover the costs of publishing articles nor costs of making research data available in Open Access. Calculating open access costs as direct costs shall result in rejecting the proposal at the stage of formal eligibility check. Article Processing Charges in hybrid journals, as defined in the NCN Policy of open access to publications are in no way eligible (including under indirect costs). 
• PLEASE NOTE: costs of publishing a monograph resulting from a research project implementation do not count as eligible costs unless and until positively evaluated in the review process by the NCN. 
• A purchase of a qualified electronic signature should be included in the project’s budget under direct costs, amounting ca. PLN 370 (a signature valid 2 years + validity extension kit valid 2 years). The cost should be listed under the heading of “other direct costs — other expenses”.
• The project’s budget should account for the amount of VAT (VAT is an eligible cost), please use gross amounts in the cost estimate.
• Indirect costs: they are expenditures connected with the research project indirectly, but indispensable to its implementation, which include:
  • Open Access indirect costs in the amount up to 2% of direct costs, which may be directed exclusively toward the costs related to the making available publications or research data available in open access. Please include these costs in the planned budget in the maximum possible amount;
  • other indirect costs in the amount up to 20% of direct costs, which may be directed toward the costs related to the project indirectly, including also costs of making publications or research data available in open access.
  Basic data of the entity (JU) required for the completion of the NCN funding proposal are available on the website of the RSC

PLEASE NOTE: In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, pursuant to a Resolution adopted by the NCN, proposals submitted to the National Science Centre must not provide for any collaboration between Polish and Russian entities. Where any such collaboration is planned, the proposals shall be rejected as ineligible.

Form of submitting proposals:

The PRELUDIUM 23 call admits only of proposals submitted in electronic form. The proposal alongside the required annexes shall be submitted in electronic form by the principal investigator in the OSF (Zintegrowany System Usług dla Nauki/Obsługa Strumieni Finansowania) system.

Internal regulations:

Pursuant to Ordinance No  129 of JU Rector 10 November 2022 on: The procedure for drawing up and implementing projects funded from external sources at Jagiellonian University and hiring and rewarding personnel of the project persons interested in entering the call (not applicable with JU MC) are asked to deliver to the RSC: 

• in the event that JU acts as Leader in the project: 
  • - a research project cooperation agreement (drawn up by the NCN), to be downloaded from the OSF system (under tab “Host entities”) in the form of a PDF file, 
  • a statement to the research project cooperation agreement (as per the template attached as Annex 1 to the Communication) signed by a person authorised to represent the Partner and a person responsible for the implementation of the project on the Partner's side. Sending the signed Statement is a condition for JU Authorities to approve the proposal, 
  • a research project registration form, filled out in the JU Project Zone system:
  where JU acts as partner in the project:
  • a research project cooperation agreement of the group of (drawn up by the NCN) in the form of a PDF file, sent by the project's leader, 
  • a statement to the research project cooperation agreement (as per the template attached as Annex 1 to the Communication) signed by a person authorised to represent the Partner and a person responsible for the implementation of the project on the Partner's side. Sending the signed Statement is a condition for JU Authorities to approve the proposal, 
  • a research project registration form, filled out in the JU Project Zone system:

• by 24 May 2024, the draft version of the proposal in the form of a pdf file generated from the OSF system (the draft version means at least the need to complete at least the sections: Applicant, Principal Investigator/Research Supervisor/Investigator, Research Plan, Cost Estimate and its.
• For self-directed projects, please complete the Project Registration Form in JU Project Zone. Filling in the form will allow you to place the final version of the proposal in JU Project Zone in order to obtain approval from JU authorities, 
• by 6 June 2024 (at 15:30), please place the following in JU Project Zone, in accordance with the instructions constituting Annex 3 to this communication: 
  • in the section for signature: 
    • a document generated by the OSF system in the form of a pdf file: “Confirmation of proposal submission by the principal investigator/authorised representative”,
    in the section for signature: 
    • a final version of the proposal in the form of a pdf file generated by the OSF system: select option ‘Print PDF’ named in accordance with the template: Surname and given name of the principal investigator, name of the programme, date of the document (Kowalski_Jan_PRELUDIUM_23_06-06-2024), 
    • a signed scan of the document generated by the OSF: “Confirmation of proposal submission by the principal investigator” or a document signed with a qualified electronic signature.

Annexes: