Based on Article 19 item 1 of the Act on the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange of 7 July 2017, the Director of the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange announces the call for applications for participation in the NAWA Urgency Grants Programme (hereinafter "the Programme").

The objective of the Programme is to support international cooperation of research teams or international mobility of scientists undertaken in response to sudden, important, unforeseen social, civilizational and natural phenomena with globally or regionally significant consequences. The implementation of projects under the Programme will enable scientists to collect data, acquire new knowledge and investigate the effects and significance of an extreme phenomenon or development as soon as possible after its occurrence.

Applications submitted under the Programme have to cover research activities, the implementation of which, due to the need for rapid response, is not possible by applying for other existing financing mechanisms. Receiving funds (a grant) will be possible only when applying for standard sources of financing could lead to a loss of a unique opportunity to solve an important problem.

Participation in the Programme will enable scientists to undertake interventional research in international cooperation and to develop solutions essential for responding to breakthrough phenomena.

Deadline for submitting the application

The call for applications shall be conducted in two rounds:

1) from 28 March to 30 June 2022 15:00:00 local time (Warsaw),

2) from 1 September to 15 November 2022 15:00:00 local time (Warsaw)

or until the allocation is exhausted. When the allocation is exhausted, the call for applications shall be closed in the Agency's ICT system and relevant announcement shall be published on the Agency's website. On the opening day of the second application round, the Agency shall inform via its website about the amount of funds remaining in the Programme.

Method of submitting the application

Only in electronic form, in the Agency’s ICT system

Language of the application

The application have to be drafted in English. The exception to this rule shall be the powers of attorney of the Applicant constituting attachments to the Application, the Applicant's registration documents and declarations, which may be drafted in Polish.

Maximum number of applications which may be submitted by the Applicant

Maximum 3 applications. The Applicant whose application did not receive funding, but who received at least 70 points, may correct the application and re-submit it during the same call. The Applicant may do this once. The re-submitted application does not count into the limit of 3 applications per Applicant in the call.

1.       The project shall cover international cooperation of research teams or mobility of scientists, while the activities performed should be significant for the development of science and favour the internationalization of the Applicant's scientific activity;

2.       The project has to concern current phenomena and processes which are unique, unpredictable, unusual and important on a global scale or for a given region;

3.       The project has to contain an element of novelty and a clearly defined research problem;

4.       The Project's justification has to clearly indicate that failure to undertake it will result in losing the opportunity to solve the problem at the most appropriate time and that it is not possible to finance it by applying for other existing financing mechanisms;

5.       The key element of the Project is the international cooperation of the Project Group or the international mobility of scientists focused on achieving the scientific objectives of the Project. In the case of research projects where scientific expeditions and fieldwork are planned in the area of ​​unique phenomena and processes requiring urgent intervention, it is possible to include only international mobility activities in the Application;

6.       The foreign partner may be an academic or research centre located outside the Republic of Poland with which the Applicant plans to implement the Project. In the case of projects relating to the cooperation of an international project group, the Applicant shall submit a letter/s of intent from the foreign partner/s. In the case of projects involving only the mobility of researchers, a letter of intent from the Foreign Partner shall not be required;

7.        The Project Group shall consist of:

1)      persons employed by the Applicant on the basis of an employment contract or a civil law contract,

2)      the head of the Project Group with a minimum doctoral degree.

8.       The Applicant undertakes to ensure open access to scientific articles created under the Project by publishing them in an open journal or making their final version available in an open publication repository (the so-called Author's Accepted Manuscript) or the published version of the publisher (the so-called Version of Record). Open access to the publication has to be ensured at the latest at the time of its publication (no time embargo). Preference should be given to the method of ensuring open access to the publication resulting in its availability under the Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY) or Creative Commons Attribution – Share Alike license (CC BY-SA). The Applicant undertakes to provide open access to research data generated under the Project by publishing them in an open repository of research data, with a preference for making them available under the terms specified for the Creative Commons Zero (CC0).

Entities conducting scientific research and development works, referred to in Art. 7 section 1 of the HES (Higher Education and Science Law), may apply for financing under the Programme; whereby other entities conducting mainly scientific activity independently and continuously, referred to in art. 7 section 1 point 8 of HES, may apply for financing provided that they have a scientific category.

Project start date and duration

The project may last from 3 to 12 months.

In justified cases, the Project may be extended for a maximum of 6 months (without increasing the financing), after presenting the substantiation as well as presenting the results of the Project implementation to date.

General assumptions

Applications shall be subject to formal and substantive assessment.

Formal assessment

The purpose of the formal assessment is to verify the applications in terms of meeting the formal criteria specified in this Announcement

and in the Regulations of NAWA Programmes for Institutions.

The Application may not be submitted if the Applicant has already submitted an Application covering a given Project - if more than one application covering a given Project is submitted, only the first Application submitted shall be subject to assessment, according to the time of submission in the Agency's ICT system.

Formal assessment shall be carried out immediately, not later than within 30 days from the date of submission in the ICT system.

Substantive assessment

The purpose of the substantive assessment is to verify the applications in terms of meeting the quality criteria indicated in this Announcement.

Projects which receive a YES grade in criterion 1 shall be assessed in criteria 2 to 5, with the indication of the number of points and providing justification for the awarded score. The application may be awarded a maximum of 100 points. Awarding a NO grade in criterion 1 shall mean that the Application is not recommended for financing. In such a case, the Evaluation Team shall not assess the remaining criteria and the Application shall receive 0 (zero) points. During the assessment, the Evaluation Team may use an auxiliary opinion of an external expert from outside the Evaluation Team. Due to the intervention nature of the Programme, the budget - including the amount of remuneration, in particular for employees of the applying institution - shall be assessed in terms of its adequacy and necessity to achieve the Programme objectives. In justified cases, the Evaluation Team may recommend reducing the requested amount of financing, indicating the necessary scope of modification of the cost estimate. If it is detected at any stage of the assessment that the Applicant has violated the ethical principles or that the Applicant was dishonest in the preparation of the Application, the Evaluation Team may give the Application a 0 score (zero), justifying such decision in the dedicated field of the application assessment sheet. The lower point threshold for applications recommended for funding shall be 80 points. The decision on granting or refusing to grant financing under the Programme shall be sent to the Applicant in the Agency's ICT system within 31 days from the completion of its formal assessment. In justified cases, in particular when an auxiliary opinion of an external expert from outside the Evaluation Team is necessary, this time limit may be extended to 60 days.

The substantive assessment of applications under the Programme shall be performed by External Experts based on the following criteria:

Description of the criterion

Assessment by the Evaluation Team

1.

Compliance of the Project assumptions with the Programme objectives, in particular, whether the Project concerns a sudden, important, unforeseen and unusual social, civilizational or natural phenomenon with significant global or regional consequences, and whether it allows for the collection of relevant data or significant new knowledge?

Receiving a grant shall be possible only when applying for standard sources of financing could lead to the loss of a unique opportunity to solve an important problem

YES/NO

2.

Assessment of the analysis of social, civilizational or environmental needs / problems / challenges, to which the Project aims to constitute a response

0-25

3.

The scope and manner of implementation of the planned activities, in particular research activities, taking into account the potential of the Project Group and the potential of the foreign partner/s (if applicable).

The assessment shall cover, among others, scientific value, significance and innovation of the planned activities, adequacy of the planned activities to the Project implementation period, project feasibility, potential of the Project Group and foreign partner/s.

0-30

4.

Relevance of the Project for responding to a breakthrough phenomenon, obtaining important data or relevant knowledge and solving problems arising from it.

0-25

5.

Reasonableness of costs related to the implementation of planned activities.

The Project budget shall be assessed in terms of its compliance with the catalogue of eligible costs and adequacy as well as necessity of the indicated cost items for the planned activities.

0-20

Total:

0-100

 Maximum score:

100 pts.

The amount of co-financing allocated to the Project by the Agency may not exceed PLN 300,000 (three hundred thousand).

The total cost of the Project shall consist only of direct eligible costs indicated by the Applicant in the detailed budget proposal. The expenses incurred have to be directly related to the implementation of the Project. Costs directly related to the implementation of the Project are those which relate to substantive tasks (i.e. eligible costs of individual tasks carried out by the Beneficiary under the Project, which are directly related to these tasks), are necessary to achieve the Project objectives and are incurred in connection with the implementation of the Project . The Project shall not finance the so-called indirect costs, i.e. administrative costs not directly related to the main subject of the Agreement (e.g. costs of the coordinator, Project management, evaluation, etc.).

Eligible costs

1)             Costs of remuneration of persons directly involved in the implementation of activities under the Project:

a)              costs of employment contracts, task-related bonuses or other remuneration components;

b)             costs of civil law contracts;

The costs of remuneration may not exceed 50% of the Project’s value. 

2)             Travel and subsistence costs - incurred in connection with the Project implementation:

a)              costs of foreign travel, visa fees and fees related to the legalization of stay in the maximum amount depending on the distance, in accordance with Annex 5, Maximum rates applicable in the Programme;

b)             subsistence costs in the maximum amount (including travel days), in accordance with Annex 5, Maximum rates applicable in the Programme.

3)             Costs of obtaining expert opinions, studies, commissioning tasks of a research, analytical and statistical character (e.g. in the field of bio banking, computer simulations, modelling, laboratory analyses, obtaining data and materials, aerial and satellite photos), etc.

4)             Costs of purchasing other services necessary for the implementation of the Project:

a)              costs related to making publications or research data available in open access;

b)             costs of access to specialist research equipment (making specialist research equipment available to the Beneficiary for a specified period of time by an external entity);

c)              costs of purchasing consumables for research implementation (necessary reagents, small research materials, etc.) up to the limit of 20% of the Project value;

d)             costs related to travel safety (e.g. insurance, preventive vaccination, COVID-19 tests).

Guidelines for Project reporting and settlement can be found in the Regulations of the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange Programmes – Institutional Programmes. In order to settle the flat-rate travel and subsistence costs, the Beneficiary will be additionally required to poses:

1)      costs calculation;

2)      synthetic travel report, including a description of the performed activities and  achieved results.

The total allocation for the call for applications shall be PLN 5 million, and the Agency reserves the right to increase the allocation of funds. The Agency also reserves the right not to spend all funds allocated in the call.

Payment scheme - A, in accordance with the Regulations of NAWA Programmes for Institutions.

Reporting scheme -A, in accordance with the Regulations of NAWA Programmes for Institutions.

The results of the Call for applications shall be announced by 31 January 2023.