We announce the ALPHORN call for Polish-Swiss research projects

We announce the  ALPHORN call for Polish-Swiss research projects to be carried out in cooperation with the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). PLN 7,000,000 has been allocated to finance research.

ALPHORN is a bilateral international call addressed at Polish research teams that apply jointly with Swiss research teams for funding of research projects. The principal investigator at the Polish research team must be at least a PhD holder; the funds acquired under the call may be designated for remuneration for the research team and scholarships for students and PhD students. The call may also provide funding for purchase or manufacturing of research equipment and for other costs relevant to the research projects. Research projects may last for a period of either 24 or 36 months. Proposals may be submitted to the call covering basic research in any of 25 NCN panels within the three core areas: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Physical Sciences and Engineering; and Life Sciences.

“Each year we expand our range of international calls, including those organised in bilateral cooperation. This year, besides calls for Polish-German, Polish-Lithuanian or Polish-Chinese projects, we now offer the opportunity to carry out research jointly with Swiss partners, says Prof. Zbigniew Błocki, NCN Director. “We want Polish researchers to be able to share their scientific ideas with researchers from other countries and thus to expand their scientific horizons”.

The ALPHORN call is held in compliance with the Lead Agency Procedure (LAP). The LAP is aimed at improving and accelerating the review of proposals in calls organised jointly with foreign partners. It provides that in each edition of the call, proposals are subject to merit-based evaluation carried out by one partner agency according to the rules thereof. In the ALPHORN call, the SNSF acts as the Lead Agency.

Proposals are submitted to two electronic submission systems: mySNSF for joint proposals submitted to the SNSF by Swiss research teams and ZSUN/OSF for NCN proposals (to which joint proposals are attached) submitted to the NCN by Polish research teams. Joint proposals must be submitted by 1 October 2019 while NCN proposals must be submitted by 8 October 2019. The results will be announced at the end of June 2020.