Types of NCN competitions
| WEAVE-UNISONO | an international competition based on the Lead Agency Procedure ("LAP") for bilateral or trilateral research projects for teams from Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Switzerland, Germany and Poland within the framework of the Weave multilateral program, in which NCN does not act as the lead agency |
| OPUS | competition for research projects, including financing of the purchase or manufacture of scientific and research equipment necessary for the implementation of these projects |
| OPUS + WEAVE | The competition opens up the possibility to apply for funding for projects carried out in international cooperation on a bilateral or multilateral basis |
| PRELUDIUM | competition for research projects carried out by persons beginning their scientific careers who do not hold a doctoral degree |
| PRELUDIUM BIS | competition aimed at entities running doctoral schools |
| SONATA | competition for research projects carried out by early career researchers with a doctoral degree |
| SONATA BIS | competition for research projects aimed at establishing a new scientific team, carried out by persons with a degree or scientific title, who obtained a doctoral degree in the period from 2 to 12 years before the year of application |
| MINIATURA | competition for the implementation of a single scientific activity |
| MAESTRO | competition for experienced scientists for research projects aimed at the implementation of pioneering scientific research (including interdisciplinary) important for the development of science, going beyond the current state of knowledge, which may result in scientific discoveries |
| POLONEZ | competition for scientists coming from abroad |
Link to the current schedule of NCN competitions:
https://www.ncn.gov.pl/finansowanie-nauki/konkursy/harmonogram
Current call for proposals:
OPUS 26 LAP/Weave
The National Science Center (NCN) has announced the OPUS 26 LAP/Weave competition for research projects. This competition opens up the possibility to apply for funding of research projects carried out in bilateral or trilateral international cooperation within the framework of the Weave program, as well as undertakings carried out with the use of large international research facilities by Polish research teams. The competition is intended for scientists at all stages of their scientific careers who plan to carry out research:
- Without the participation of foreign partners (OPUS proposal),
- with the use of large international research facilities by Polish research teams (OPUS application),
- with the participation of foreign partners who do not apply for funding for this purpose under the Weave program (although foreign teams may apply for these funds under other research funding programs that are not co-sponsored by NCN based on the lead agency procedure in the Weave program) (OPUS proposal),
- with the additional participation of foreign partners that do not apply for these funds under the Weave program and with the additional use of large research facilities (OPUS proposal),
- within the Lead Agency Procedure (LAP) collaboration in the Weave program - i.e., in collaboration with foreign research teams from Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Belgium-Flanders, which apply in parallel for funding for these research projects to their respective Weave research funding institutions, i.e., FWF, GAČR, ARIS, DFG, SNSF, FNR or FWO (OPUS LAP application),
- within the framework of LAP cooperation in the Weave program with simultaneous participation of foreign partners who do not apply for funding for this purpose within the Weave program, or with additional use of large research facilities (OPUS LAP application).
IMPORTANT: international cooperation in the OPUS 26 competition is not mandatory, and applications with foreign partners are not given preference over applications that do not involve such partners.
IMPORTANT: due to the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, by virtue of the resolution of the Council of the National Science Center, no cooperation of any kind between Polish entities and Russian entities may be planned in applications submitted in competitions of the National Science Center. Planning such cooperation will result in rejection of the application for formal reasons.
The application should be submitted only in electronic form through the OSF system, available at https://osf.opi.org.pl.
The call for applications in the OSF system lasts until December 15, 2023 at 16:00.
IMPORTANT: the OPUS LAP application, prepared by a Polish research team in cooperation with foreign research teams, is submitted to the OSF system by December 15, 2023, 4:00 p.m. In addition, each foreign research team involved in a given project must submit an application for funding, including a set of documents required by it, to the relevant partner institution in accordance with the deadlines and rules of that institution.
Detailed information can be found at:
https://www.ncn.gov.pl/ogloszenia/konkursy/opus26
SONATA 19
The National Science Center (NCN) has announced the SONATA 19 competition, intended for researchers who received their doctoral degrees between 2 and 7 years prior to the year of application. Applicants can apply for funding for projects involving basic research, lasting 12 months, 24 months or 36 months.
Important! Due to the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, under the resolution of the Council of the National Science Center, applications submitted in competitions of the National Science Center cannot plan any cooperation between Polish entities and Russian entities. Planning such cooperation will result in rejection of the application for formal reasons.
The application should be submitted only in electronic form through the OSF system, available at https://osf.opi.org.pl.
The call for applications in the OSF system lasts until December 15, 2023 at 16:00.
The results of the competition will be announced in June 2024.
Detailed information and documentation can be found at: https://www.ncn.gov.pl/ogloszenia/konkursy/sonata19
