Changes to the terms of the CEUS-UNISONO call in relation to the launch of the FWF Urgent Funding for Research Into Humanitarian Crises like Epidemics and Pandemics

We wish to inform you that the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) has now launched a fast-track merit-based evaluation of research proposals on crises like epidemics or pandemics (FWF Urgent Funding for Research Into Humanitarian Crises like Epidemics and Pandemics), submitted to the FWF between 6 April and 15 December 2020 in all academic disciplines. The merit-based evaluation of funding proposals at the FWF will now be shortened to just a few weeks.

For Polish researchers who submit NCN proposals under the CEUS-UNISONO call, along with a joint proposal for the funding of research projects devoted to the subject submitted to the FWF as the lead agency under the Stand-Alone Projects programme, this means that:

1. joint proposals will undergo a merit-based evaluation at the FWF (the lead agency) within just a few weeks from submission, which will accordingly speed up the decision of the NCN to award funding to the Polish part of the project;
2. where the joint proposal is submitted to the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) as the lead agency in the Stand-Alone Projects programme under the "FWF Urgent Funding for Research Into Humanitarian Crises like Epidemics and Pandemics" track, NCN proposals submitted under the CEUS-UNISONO call are exempt from the restrictions outlined in Chapter III § 10 of the Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure, adopted pursuant to the NCN Council Resolution No 34/2020 of 2 April 2020;
3. in the case of projects submitted under other NCN calls, the restrictions specified in Chapter III § 8 of the Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre under international calls carried out as multilateral collaboration pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure do not apply to proposals submitted under the CEUS-UNISONO call or projects to be funded under the CEUS-UNISONO call as long as the joint proposal submitted to the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) as the lead agency of the Stand-Alone Projects programme is devoted to crises like epidemics or pandemics covered by the fast-track merit-based evaluation ("FWF Urgent Funding for Research Into Humanitarian Crises like Epidemics and Pandemics");
4. funding is available for research projects on crises like epidemics or pandemics, to be carried out in cooperation between research teams from Austria and Poland (bilateral projects), as well as between Austria and Poland and the Czech Republic or Slovenia (trilateral projects);
5. in addition, funding can be awarded to projects devoted to crises like epidemics or pandemics, to be carried out in cooperation between research teams from Poland and Austria, with the participation of research teams from Germany or Switzerland or Luxembourg, which apply for funding of such research to their competent foreign research funding institutions, i.e. the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG), the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), or the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR), within the framework of bilateral or multilateral programmes launched by the FWF in cooperation with these bodies pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure;
6. for projects that also involve research teams from Germany, Switzerland or Luxembourg:

• the role of these teams needs to be described in the NCN proposal submitted through the ZSUN/OSF system in the “Współpraca międzynarodowa” [“International cooperation"] section; it is necessary to specify the country (i.e. Germany or Switzerland or Luxembourg), as well as the name of the foreign research institution with which a given team is affiliated;
• the share of budgets planned by individual research teams in the total budget specified in the joint proposal must be proportional. Since only the FWF can act as the lead agency for such proposals, they are not subject to the principles governing the choice of lead agency, as laid down in section 1(7) of the NCN Resolution No 38/2020 of 8 April 2020 on the terms of the international CEUS-UNISONO call for research projects carried out as multilateral collaboration under the CEUS programme pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure. The comparative CEUS cost sheet does not need to be filled out for these projects.