Over € 7 million from the SONATINA programme for researchers beginning their careers

The results of the SONATINA 2 call for researchers in the early stages of their research career are in. Awardees have received the total sum of more than € 7 million for their research projects and international fellowships.

SONATINA is aimed at researchers who have held their doctorate for no longer than 3 years. In the call’s second edition 154 proposals have been submitted, of which 45 have been approved for funding. The budget distributed among the winners exceeds € 7 million. The grants provide for full-time employment of the laureates by research institutions, implementation of their research projects and 3-6 month fellowships at research centres abroad.

SONATINA is an opportunity for those who have received their doctorate relatively recently and thus, on the one hand, need a steady position at a research institution, and on the other, need experience, for which international collaboration is a welcome environment, said Professor Zbigniew Błocki, director of the NCN. When their projects are over, they will be able to apply for funding under SONATA, a call aimed at more experienced PhDs, or SONATA BIS, which comes with the opportunity to launch a new research team.

The largest share of proposals received in the SONATINA 2 call has been submitted to the arts, humanities and social sciences panels. Out of the 59 projects, funding of more than € 1.85 million was granted to 14. Scholars representing physical sciences and engineering have submitted 55 projects, of which 18, worth in total c. € 2.78 million were approved for funding. In life sciences, researchers proposed 40 projects, with funding of nearly € 2.44 million granted to 13 of them.

To see lists of the projects approved for funding under the SONATINA 2 call, click here.