Over EUR 10 million for supporting mobility of Polish researchers

The National Science Centre will allocate almost EUR 10 million for doctoral scholarships and post-doctoral internships for young researchers within recently concluded call for proposals ETIUDA 4 and FUGA 5. Out of 570 submitted proposals, 199 were granted funding.

ETIUDA is a funding opportunity for doctoral scholarships aimed at PhD students preparing a doctoral thesis. In addition to receiving financial support to the amount of EUR 700 monthly, awardees will obtain funding for the realisation of internships in excellent research institutions abroad, indicated in their proposals. In this year’s edition, funding of more than EUR 2.5 M was granted to 128 researchers.

FUGA is addressed to researchers with a doctoral degree obtained within 7 years of submission of the proposal, who want to carry out post-doctoral internships in Polish research Institutions. Each of the grantees will spend from one to three years in an institution located outside of the region (województwo) where they had been affiliated or employed. In addition to the monthly salary, the NCN will also cover the costs of the research conducted by awardees. For the 71 projects selected within this call for proposals, the NCN has allocated more than EUR 7.5 M.

- The main goal of the ETIUDA and FUGA funding opportunities is to increase the mobility of the Polish research community, in particular younger researchers - says prof. Zbigniew Błocki, the NCN director. - Encounters within a new scientific environment, other than the one where we gained our initial experience, are extremely valuable both for individual scientists, as well as for the Polish research community as a whole. The sooner you begin the process of establishing cooperation with other research centres, the greater the chance to create a large and diverse research team in the future. - Such teams are the essence of innovative research. However, moving to another city or country is an enormous financial and organisational effort. Our task is to help the most promising scientists at this difficult but crucial stage in their career development.

Within the ETIUDA funding scheme, the biggest award (over EUR 25 000 ) was granted to Jakub Zdarta from Poznan University of Technology, who conducts research on immobilisation – the process of binding of enzymes to an insoluble carrier which increases enzymes' resistance and their activity. In the field of Humanities, a big portion of funding, over EUR 24 000, went to Dominika Czerniawska-Szejdy from the University of Warsaw. In her research, she strives to describe how cooperation within the research community is initiated. Her interests also include the mobility of researchers. In the area of Life Sciences the biggest grant of ca. EUR 24 000 was awarded to Justyna Piłat from Wroclaw Medical University who will conduct research dedicated to an innovative method of cancer treatment.  

Within the FUGA funding scheme, one of the largest grants of ca. EUR 139 000 was awarded to dr Aleksandra Jaworska from the University of Warsaw, who investigates SERS spectroscopy – a technique which may help in early detection of gene mutations leading among others to the onset of melanoma and colorectal cancer. Among FUGA grantees, there is also dr Urszula Doboszewska from the University of Warsaw who will analyse the development and treatment of epilepsy. In the field of Humanities and Social Sciences, the biggest award of more than EUR 105 000 was obtained by dr Marta Marecka from Jagiellonian University who will look into the issue of foreign language acquisition.