National Science Centre (NCN) – OPUS 23 call

The National Science Centre hereby announces the OPUS 23 call for research projects addressed to researchers at any stage of their research careers. Research projects may be carried out over a period of 12, 24, 36 or 48 months respectively. Under OPUS 23, funding may be requested for research projects carried out:

• with the use of large-scale international research infrastructure by the Polish research teams;
• without foreign partners;
• in collaboration with partners from foreign research institutions.

PLEASE NOTE: Under OPUS 23, funding cannot be requested under the Lead Agency Procedure, i.e. in collaboration with partners from foreign research institutions that apply for project funding under programmes launched in collaboration with the NCN pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure.

We kindly ask the persons interested to make themselves acquainted with the call requirements as well as to send by 20 April to: awn@wum.edu.pl the proposals (willingness to take part in the call) along with the information on the name of the call and declaration on the fulfilment of the formal criteria (not being subject to the limitation resulting from the provisions of Chapter III – as indicated below) by the person planned to be the principal investigator.

Schedule of submitting proposals at the Medical University of Warsaw:

• By 16 May 2022 – sending to the address of the MUW Project Support Department awn@wum.edu.pl  the proposal in pdf format along with all appendices for verification by the Department’s staff as well as the approvals of the Head of the Hospital Department/Unit and Hospital Director (if applicable);

• By 21 May 2022 – sending to the address of the MUW Project Support Department awn@wum.edu.pl the Cooperation Agreement (document downloaded from the proposal in OSF system) to be signed by Mr. Vice Rector for projects implemented in consortia;
• By 6 June 2022  – sending to the address of the MUW Project Support Department awn@wum.edu.pl  the final version of the proposal in pdf format.

                The deadline for sending approved proposals to be signed by Vice Rector for Science and Technology Transfer expires on  6 June 2022.

The call for proposals in the OSF system closes on 15 June 2022 at 4:00 p.m.

3. DECLARATIONS OF THE PRINCIPAL INBESTIGATOR ON FULFILING THE FORMAL CRITERIA OF THE CALL:

Chapter III Restrictions to submission of proposals in NCN calls

§ 6. A person named as the principal investigator in the proposal must not be named as the authorised representative of the host institution.

§ 7. In a specific edition of calls, the same person may be named as the principal investigator in one proposal only.

§ 8. A person named as the principal investigator in a proposal must not be a person who, on the last day of submitting NCN proposals:

a) manages three or more projects financed under NCN calls (management of the project refers to the period from the date of signing the agreement for implementation and funding of the project under NCN calls to the date of submitting the final report on the implementation of that project);

b) manages two projects financed under NCN calls and is named as the principal investigator in another proposal under evaluation or recommended for funding;

c) manages one research project financed under NCN calls and is named as the principal investigator in two other proposals under evaluation or recommended for funding;

d) is named as the principal investigator in three other proposals under evaluation or recommended for funding under NCN calls.

The limitations do not apply to principal investigators named in the proposals submitted or projects funded under the following calls:

− TANGO, DIOSCURI;

− EXPRESS CALL TO FUND RESEARCH INTO COVID-19;

− PRELUDIUM BIS.

§ 9. A person named as the principal investigator in a proposal submitted to the OPUS call for which the funding decision has not become final must not be named as the principal investigator in a proposal submitted to the SONATA BIS call. The foregoing does not apply to principal investigators named in the OPUS LAP proposals.

§ 10. A person named as the principal investigator in a proposal must not be planned for a research activity in any proposal which has been submitted to the MINIATURA call and for which the funding decision has not become final.

§ 11. The principal investigator must be a person employed at the planned host institution for the research project for the entire project duration period pursuant to at least a half-time employment contract. The foregoing does not apply to principal investigators named in the PRELUDIUM BIS and PRELUDIUM calls or persons receiving pension under the social insurance scheme.

§ 12. The principal investigator must reside in Poland for at least 50% of the project duration period and be available to the host institution. The foregoing obligation does not apply to evidenced project-related business trips or holiday, time off work and other absence from work governed by the applicable laws. The foregoing does not apply to principal investigators under the PRELUDIUM BIS call.

§ 13. No person may manage more than one project financed in the MAESTRO call.

 § 14. No person may manage more than two projects financed in the PRELUDIUM BIS call.

§ 15. A person may act as the principal investigator under PRELUDIUM, SONATINA, SONATA and SONATA BIS calls only once.

§ 16. In one edition of calls, no proposal may be submitted with overlapping research tasks.

§ 17. Proposals covering research tasks overlapping tasks specified in another proposal submitted earlier may only be submitted after the funding decision has become final, subject to § 18.

§ 18. Proposals covering research tasks overlapping tasks specified in another proposal submitted earlier, with respect to which an appeal has been initiated, may only be after the funding decision has become final.

§ 19. Proposals covering research tasks overlapping with the tasks specified in a proposal submitted earlier may be submitted to two consecutive OPUS calls, provided that they:

a) were approved for the second stage of merit-based evaluation and were refused funding;

b) were not approved for the second stage of merit-based evaluation merely on the grounds that they did not comply with the terms of the call, presented unjustified costs to be incurred or were submitted to a wrong panel;

c) were identified by the Expert Team as proposals laid down in § 20 and

d) were rejected as ineligible.

§ 20. The Expert Team may choose 10% of proposals that have not been recommended for the second stage of merit-based evaluation, with the exception of proposals referred to in § 19 (b), that can be submitted to the next edition of the OPUS call. If less than 10 proposals are not recommended for the second stage of merit-based evaluation, the Expert Team can only choose 1 proposal as such.