Announcement of the call for proposals – SONATINA 3

The objective of the SONATINA call is to support the careers of young researchers by providing them with employment opportunities, possibility to carry out research in Poland and gain knowledge and experience through fellowships at high-quality foreign research institutions.

Pursuant to Article 25 (1) of the Act on the National Science Centre of 30 April 2010 (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 947, as amended) and NCN Council Resolution No 108/2018 of 8 November 2018, the Coordinators hereby announce the SONATINA 3 call for proposals for research projects carried out by persons with a doctorate. 

• Proposals under the SONATINA 3 call shall be submitted in an electronic format only via the OSF system at https://osf.opi.org.pl.
• A proposal shall be deemed electronically submitted when its status in the OSF system changes to “submitted”. The applicant shall be responsible for verifying whether his/her proposal has been submitted correctly. 

Principal Investigator: a person who has been awarded a doctorate within 3 years before submitting the proposal or will be awarded a doctorate by 30 June 2019.

Duration: 24 or 36 months

Funding:

The entity acting as the host institution shall receive funding for:

• employing a principal investigator pursuant to a full-time contract of employment for the duration of the research project carried out thereby;
• implementation of the research project in accordance with the breakdown of costs laid down in the proposal;
• foreign fellowship by the principal investigator in a foreign research institution of his/her choice:

• PLN 12,000 per month, multiplied by the percentage correction rate set for a given country, to cover the costs of staying abroad;
• PLN 1,000 to PLN 10,000, according to the rates set, to cover the cost of return travel.

Proposals which do not provide for the purchase or construction of research equipment, devices and software can be submitted under the SONATINA 3 call for proposals.  

Evaluation criteria:

• whether or not the criterion of basic research is fulfilled;
• research achievements of the principal investigator, including publications in renowned academic press/ journals;
• evaluation of other projects carried out by the principal investigator and funded by the NCN;
• scientific level of research or tasks to be carried out;
• innovative nature of the research project;
• impact of the research project on advancement of the scientific discipline;
• justification of the costs to be incurred with regard to the subject and scope of research;
• assessment of the research project’s feasibility;
• appropriate choice of the foreign fellowship location, including academic rank of the institution, appropriate choice and impact on the development of principal investigator’s research career; and
• preparation of the proposal.

Evaluation procedure: two-stage evaluation. First stage: evaluation by two members of the Expert Team and decision of the Expert Team to qualify the applicant for the second stage of evaluation. Second stage: evaluation by at least two external reviewers and interview with the principal investigator.  

Call timeline

SONATINA 3 – most important changes

PLEASE NOTE: On 5 July 2018, the NCN Council adopted new discipline panels (containing disciplines or groups of disciplines) attached to NCN Council Resolution No 66/2018. Please, read it carefully - text.

Furthermore, please read the detailed call documentation and information for applicants.

SONATINA 3 – call documentation:   

1. NCN Council Resolution on the terms of conducting the SONATINA 3 call for proposals – text
2. List of countries where fellowship can be planned under the SONATINA 3 call for proposals – text
3. Flat-rate funds to cover the cost of travel of a candidate for a foreign fellowship under the SONATINA 3 call for proposals – text
4. Data required in the proposal for funding of a doctoral fellowship under the SONATINA 3 call for proposals – text
5. Regulations of awarding funding for the implementation of research tasks funded by the National Science Centre – text
6. Principles of evaluating proposals submitted under the SONATINA 3 call for proposals (excerpt from Annex No 1/III to the Regulations) – text
7. Costs in research projects funded by the National Science Centre (excerpt from Annex No 2 to the Regulations) – text
8. NCN Panels – text
9. Code of the National Science Centre on Research Integrity and Applying for Research Funding – text
10. Recommendations of the NCN Council with regard to research involving human subjects – text
11. Rules for granting state aid – text

Instructions for submitting proposals under the SONATINA 3 call

Contact:

informacja@ncn.gov.pl

Tel: 0048 12 341 9000