Polish Returns Programme with a research grant

Friday, 3 January 2020

The winners of this year’s edition of the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) Polish Returns programme can receive funding for their research thanks to grants from the National Science Centre (NCN).

Grants for basic research are additional funding for the best projects to be selected in this year’s edition of the Polish Returns programme, to be used during the first 18 months of the project’s implementation by the returning scientist and his/her project team. They are made possible by a cooperation agreement concluded in September 2019 between two agencies under the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education. On 2 January 2020, the NAWA and the NCN concluded an annex to the agreement, which deals with cooperation in the implementation of the Polish Returns programme. The agreement and the annex were signed on behalf of NAWA by director Łukasz Wojdyga, and on behalf of the NCN by director Professor Zbigniew Błocki.

“The Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange supports academic mobility and internationalisation of Polish universities and institutes. Thanks to our cooperation with the National Science Centre, we can respond even better to the expectations of researchers, contributing to the development of their individual scientific careers and increasing the potential of Polish academic and scientific centres. This is particularly important in the Polish Returns programme, whereby we support scientists who, after years abroad, decide to implement their ambitious research projects in Poland” says Łukasz Wojdyga, NAWA Director.

On 7 January 2020, the third edition of the Polish Returns programme will be announced. The programme has been continued by NAWA since 2018. It aims to enable outstanding Polish researchers to return to Poland and take up employment at Polish universities and research institutes. Under the programme, NAWA finances the remuneration of the returning researcher together with the costs of the employer; the remuneration of the members of the project group together with the costs of the employer; the costs of relocation and adaptation of the workplace. In this year’s edition, thanks to the NCN grant, the research component of the project will also be co-funded up to PLN 200 thousand.

“Supporting the arrival of successful researchers abroad is very important for the development of science in Poland. I am convinced that due to the annex just signed, the Polish Returns programme, enriched with a research component, will be even more effective in encouraging the best scientists to take up work in our country and will enable them to create internationally competitive research teams” states Professor Zbigniew Błocki, NCN Director. “Our cooperation with NAWA is developing very well and I hope to continue it in the future” he adds.

Polish Returns is another programme in which the NAWA and NCN cooperate. In September 2019, the agencies announced a joint call for research projects carried out by PhD students – PRELUDIUM BIS. In this programme NAWA finances a foreign fellowship for a PhD student implementing a research project.

The objective of the NCN and NAWA cooperation is to create common forms of research funding to ensure continuity and coherence of research as well as to increase mobility, which is essential for achieving scientific excellence and establishing international cooperation. The result of joint activities of these two institutions will be a complementary call offer, ensuring greater effectiveness of the grant system.