Announcing Institution:

National Science Centre (NCN) 

• Research projects may be carried out over a period of 12, 24, 36 or 48 months, respectively
• The principal investigator’s track record must include at least one research paper published or accepted for publication.
• The principal investigator must be a person employed at the host institution for the entire project duration period pursuant to at least a part-time employment contract.  The foregoing does not apply to persons receiving a pension under the social insurance scheme.
• The project’s principal investigator shall spend at least 50% of the project’s time on the territory of the Republic of Poland, and shall be available for the project’s host entity.  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.
• One may be named as principal investigator only in one proposal. In this edition of NCN calls, the same person may be named as the principal investigator in one proposal only and either an OPUS proposal or PRELUDIUM proposal.
• Please note The total number of NCN projects managed by a researcher and proposals submitted to the NCN and subject to evaluation or recommended for funding, in which that researcher is named as the principal investigator, must not be more than two. This number shall be increased to three if the researcher manages at least one project funded under an international NCN call or has submitted at least one proposal to an international NCN call. The foregoing limits shall not apply to the projects or proposals submitted to PRELUDIUM BIS and/or DIOSCURI.
• Research team: 
  • In research projects, in addition to the principal investigator, research tasks may be carried out by co-investigators, including students, PhD students, post-docs and/or senior researchers.
  • The post-doc type post may be created provided that:
    • a person planned for this post has been conferred a PhD degree in the year of employment in the project or within 7 years before January 1 of the year of employment in the project. For individuals who have obtained more than one PhD degree, the reference date is the date of obtaining the first one,
    • A post-doc type post may be occupied by a person who has been awarded their PhD degree by another institution than the one planned to employ them at this post or must has completed a continuous and evidenced post-doctoral fellowship of at least 10 months in another institution than the host institution for the project and in another country than the one in which they have been conferred their PhD degree.
     The programme allows for receiving NCN research fellowships and allowances known as doctoral scholarships, for doctoral students who meet the requirements specified in the Act of 20 July 2018, “Law on higher education and science”.
  • PLEASE NOTE: The maximum amount of the doctoral scholarship for a doctoral student at a doctoral school, which can be planned and paid after the mid-term evaluation, has been changed.
  • If the principal investigator plans to involve a doctoral student who is a participant in a doctoral school at the application stage, they may plan the doctoral scholarship within the budget for remuneration and scholarships for students and doctoral students in the maximum amount of:
    • PLN 5,000 up to the month in which the doctoral student's mid-term evaluation was conducted,
    • PLN 6,500 after the month in which the doctoral student's mid-term evaluation was conducted.
    A senior researcher post which may be planned in a project is a full-time position co-funded by the host institution, scheduled by the project’s principal investigator for a person who has been conferred a PhD degree within at least 7 years before submission of the proposal, has completed a postdoctoral fellowship abroad, has expertise, unique skills and experience necessary to carry out the research tasks entailed by the project.
  Direct costs may not cover the costs of publishing research 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). 
• Publishing a monograph resulting from a research project implementation do not count as eligible costs until positive evaluation in the review process by the NCN.
• A purchase of a qualified electronic signature should be planned in the project’s budget under direct costs, amounting ca. PLN 370 (this cost includes 2 years of validity with an additional extension for another 2 years (4 years in total)).
• 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 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 proposal are available on the website of the RSC

• and JU acts as a leader in the project:
  • a research project cooperation agreement of a group of entities (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
  and when JU acts as a partner in the project:
  • the research project cooperation agreement of the group of entities (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 Leader and a person responsible for the implementation of the project on the Leader's side. Sending the signed Statement is a condition for signing the Cooperation Agreement by JU Authorities. 
  • a research project registration form, filled out in the JU Project Zone system
  Provisions included in the template agreement (drawn up by the NCN) must not be modified nor appended with additional regulations between the entities. 
• PLEASE NOTE: Supporting a signed agreement (drawn up by the NCN) in the OSF system is a condition of locking proposal for edition and generating the required confirmation. The document in the PDF format should be supported, signed with a qualified electronic signature. Alternatively, a scan of the document with a handwritten signature may be supported.
• 
  After the funding will have been obtained, in order to regulate cooperation between partners within a group of entities, it will be necessary to conclude an additional agreement (an extended version of the cooperation agreement of a group of entities for the implementation of the applied research project) as per the template set out in Annex 2 to this Communication. The conclusion of an additional agreement is a condition for signing the funding agreement. 

• by 23 May 2024 
  • by 23 May 2023, 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 lest the sections: Applicant, Principal Investigator, Investigators, Research plan, Cost estimate and its justification);
  • 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: “Confirmation of proposal submission - entity”, named in accordance with the template: Kowalski_Jan_Opus27_Potwierdzenie JEDNOSTKA
    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_Opus27_06-06-2024),
    • a signed scan of the document generated by the OSF: “Confirmation of proposal submission by the Principal Investigator: named in accordance with the template: Kowalski_Jan_Opus27_Potwierdzenie KIEROWNIK or a document signed with a qualified electronic signature.