OPUS 22: Pre-announcement of the call for research projects, including research projects carried out within the framework of LAP cooperation

On 15 September 2021, we are going to launch the OPUS 22 call for research projects, including research projects carried out within the framework of LAP cooperation under the Weave initiative. Here, you can find the most important information about this edition of the call.

OPUS 22 call opportunities

OPUS 22 is addressed at researchers at all stages of their research careers, who are planning to carry out their research projects:

• without the participation of foreign partners;
• implemented by Polish research teams with the use of large international research equipment;
• with the participation of foreign partners that are not applying for funding for that purpose within the framework of programmes launched by partner institutions and organised in cooperation with the NCN pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure (LAP) under the Weave initiative (however, the foreign teams may apply for funding under other research-funding programmes that are not co-organised by the NCN pursuant to the LAP);
• within the framework of LAP cooperation under the Weave initiative, i.e. in cooperation with foreign research teams that are applying for parallel funding of their research projects to their respective research-funding institutions under the Weave initiative;
• within the framework of LAP cooperation under the Weave initiative with additional participation of foreign partners that are not applying for funding for that purpose under the Weave initiative or with additional use of large research equipment.

Weave initiative

The Weave initiative launched at the beginning of 2021 enables multilateral cooperation between research-funding institutions associated in Science Europe.

The purpose of Weave is to simplify research project submission and selection procedures in all academic disciplines with the participation of researchers from two or three European countries. It is performed pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure (LAP) which means that research projects performed by research groups from two or three European countries are reviewed by one institution only, known as the lead agency, relevant to one of the participating research teams under a scheme from its regular call portfolio. The other partner institutions co-launching the call approve the results of merit-based evaluation performed by the lead agency and award funding to research projects recommended for funding in the course of such evaluation.

Thanks to its simplified submission and selection procedures, Weave enables researchers to collaborate across borders within the limits and in the form they regard as the most relevant for their respective research programmes.

Research teams from Poland intending to cooperate under Weave with one or two research teams from Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Switzerland and/or Germany may choose to submit their domestic proposals either: 

• under the current Weave-UNISONO call for domestic proposals (submitted to the NCN), in the case of which joint proposals must be submitted and evaluated by one of the foreign partner institutions acting as the lead agency (i.e. FWF, GAČR, ARRS, SNSF and/or, from 15 September 2021, DFG)

​or

• under the OPUS call announced on a regular basis in September for domestic proposals for funding of research projects carried out under the LAP cooperation and evaluated by the NCN as the lead agency.

For more information, visit our webpage.

Weave has replaced our bilateral international programmes, such as BEETHOVEN (carried out in cooperation with German research teams), MOZART (carried out in cooperation with Austrian research teams) and ALPHORN (carried out in cooperation with Swiss research teams), as well as multilateral CEUS call.

LAP cooperation under the OPUS 22 call under the Weave initiative

As of 2021, the National Science Centre has continued to cooperate under Weave with the following partner institutions:

• Austrian Science Fund (FWF) from Austria,
• Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) from the Czech Republic,
• Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) from Slovenia,
• Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) from Switzerland, and
• German Research Foundation (DFG) from Germany.

The NCN as the lead agency under OPUS 22 will perform the merit-based evaluation of OPUS LAP proposals for bilateral or trilateral research projects carried out by research teams from Poland, as well as the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Germany or Switzerland under the Weave initiative.

If a research project is recommended for funding, the NCN will provide funds for the Polish research teams, while the other partner institutions (FWF, GAČR, ARRS, DFG or SNSF) will fund the foreign research teams.

International cooperation is not obligatory under OPUS 22 and proposals submitted together with foreign partners will not be given preferential treatment over those that do not involve such partnerships.

The following OPUS LAP proposals are eligible under OPUS 22:

• drafted by the Polish research teams in cooperation with foreign teams under Weave, in compliance with the requirements outlined in the OPUS 22 call announcement, which will be published on the NCN website on 15 September 2021;
• in any academic discipline covered by the NCN review panels
• involving basic research that has not been funded by the NCN or from other sources;
• based on an equal and complementary contribution by all research teams applying for parallel funding of their research projects to their respective research-funding institutions under Weave. This is to say that the contribution of each research team involved in the project must be significant and necessary and their respective tasks should complement one another to create a coherent joint research project. Any OPUS LAP proposal deemed by the Expert Team not to meet this requirement will not be eligible for funding.

An OPUS LAP proposal must be submitted to the NCN by the Polish research team via the ZSUN/OSF submission system available at: https://osf.opi.org.pl, by 15 December 2021, 4 p.m.

In addition, each foreign research team involved in the project must submit a funding proposal to the relevant research-funding institution under Weave, including a set of required documents, before the deadline and in accordance with the terms and conditions; the proposals are submitted by:

• Austrian research teams – to the FWF;
• Czech research teams – to the GAČR;
• Slovenian research teams – to the ARRS;
• German research teams – to the DFG;
• Swiss research teams – to the SNSF.

If the partner institution under Weave requires applicants to submit a copy of the OPUS LAP proposal, a complete English language version of the OPUS LAP proposal in PDF format must be generated in the ZSUN/OSF submission system and sent to the foreign research team.

PLEASE NOTE: OPUS LAP proposals submitted to the NCN must be the same as the one submitted to the partner institution.

NCN Contact Persons:

Scientific Coordinator:

Dr inż. Ewelina Szymańska-Skolimowska

e-mail:Ewelina.Szymanska-Skolimowska@ncn.gov.pl

General inquiries

Dr Magdalena Godowska

e-mail: Magdalena.Godowska@ncn.gov.pl

Magdalena Dobrzańska-Bzowska

e-mail: Magdalena.Dobrzanska-Bzowska@ncn.gov.pl