Based on art. 19 paragraph 1 of the Act of July 7^th, 2017 on the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange, the Director of Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) announces the call for applications in the Ulam NAWA Programme („Programme”).

The aim of the Ulam Programme is to increase the internationalisation of Polish institutions of science and higher education. The Programme will allow both recognised and promising scientists who hold at least a doctoral degree, to visit Poland for 6 to 24 months in order to strengthen the scientific potential of Polish entities and to participate in their scientific activities, primarily research projects and didactics. The Programme will allow to invite scientists regardless of their age, from all around the world and representing all fields of science, including Polish citizens working permanently abroad (they may constitute a maximum of 10% of Fellows in the call). HEIs, scientific and research institutes will have the opportunity to invite specialists from their priority areas to Poland – they will make a significant contribution to the research conducted by a given institution, strengthen didactics or support the institution in applying for prestigious grants.

The application under the Programme shall be submitted individually by a scientist with at least a doctoral degree or an equivalent degree obtained abroad, who, together with the institution of the Polish higher education and science system, has obtained the Seal of Excellence certificate under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships programme, 2020 edition (hereinafter referred to as "MSCA-IF").  NAWA recognizes the SoE certificate as a binding verification of the quality of the application.

Deadline for submitting the application

The call for applications under the Programme will be conducted from 25 March to 15 June 2021 until 3:00 PM according to the official time in Poland.

Form of submitting the application

Application can be submitted only within the NAWA ICT system. In order to submit the application form, please register an account in the NAWA ICT system. Once you are logged in choose the option:

·       All Applicants // SUBMIT AN APPLICATION//

·       Applicants with certificate Seal of Excellence // SUBMIT AN APPLICATION//

Language of the application

The application and its attachments shall be drawn up in English. Submitting a copy of the doctoral diploma in Polish or Latin shall be acceptable.

Maximum number of applications that may be submitted by the Applicant

The Applicant may submit only one application for financing in a given call under the Programme, covering a visit to one Host institution.

1.           As part of the Programme, possible visits are those whose objective include:

1)           completing the first or a subsequent post-doctoral fellowship;

2)           conducting scientific research;

3)           obtaining materials for research or a scientific publication.

In addition to the above activities, the visit may also include conducting didactic classes at the Host institution.

2. The Applicant submits a plan for the scientific stay in Poland covering one or more of the above-mentioned activities that they intend to implement at a Host institution, by indicating its goals, relevance to the development of their academic career and justifying the Host institution’s choice for the planned activities and benefits of the stay for both the scientist and the institution. The Applicant encloses an invitation from the Host institution confirming the willingness to host them for the requested period and indicates the person responsible for coordination of the planned activities and Applicant's visit and for supporting the Fellow in the successive completion of these activities.

Project start date

The visit under the Project cannot take place earlier than on 1 January 2022 or later than on 1 October 2022.

Project duration

The length of stay may be from 6 to 24 months.

Project implementation period

1)     The Project should be implemented on a continuous basis.

2)     It is possible to suspend the Scholarship for a period of not more than 3 months with the consent of the Host institution. No funds are granted during the suspension of the Project implementation. Suspension of the Project implementation do not constitute grounds for increasing financing;

3)     The period of stay outside the Host institution cannot be longer than 10% of the overall duration of stay. The period of stay outside the Host institution cannot be used in full or for the most part at the beginning or end of the Project implementation period (it cannot be used to shorten the Project implementation period).

The Programme can be attended by the natural person who:

1.           jointly meets the following conditions:

1)           is a scientist with at least a doctoral degree;

2)           is employed at a foreign HEI or a foreign scientific/research centre or completed their previous employment contract after 31 August 2020. The employment is not required for persons who obtained their doctoral degree after 31 August 2020;

3)           had not studied or worked in Poland within 3 years before the date of deadline of the call and did not live during this period in Poland continuously for more than three months (work in Poland is understood as employment under an employment contract in an entity based in the territory of the Republic of Poland or managing a research grant with an affiliation to the Polish scientific institution, if in this respect the salary was paid);

4)           if the Applicant has implemented other NAWA projects, it is possible to apply when the scholarship has been settled and the agreement is considered as completed;

5)           has minimum 3 achievements (from not earlier than 2016) out of the following:

a)           a publication published in English, as the main author (especially first or correspondence), in journals included in one of the following international databases: Scopus, Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index; or

b)           a reviewed research monograph published in English (please note that, a chapter in an edited multi-author monograph is not treated as an achievement that meets this requirement); or

c)           a publication in English in reviewed materials from an international conference listed by the Computing Research and Education Association of Australasia (CORE), indexed in the international DBLP Computer Science Bibliography database; or

d)           a publication in English in reviewed materials from an international conference, indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection or Scopus database.

e)           for the representatives of art studies - a proof of having made presentation of work of art in a foreign institution or an academic centre or having received a distinction in an international competition.

The Applicant can demonstrate 3 achievements under the same point (a, b, c, d or e), as well as 3 various achievements from among the indicated ones in point a-e.

6)           has an invitation from the Host institution, which is a national entity having a scientific category.

2.     has at least a doctoral degree or an equivalent degree obtained abroad, and has submitted together with the institution of the Polish higher education and science system, the application under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships programme, 2020 edition which received the Seal of Excellence certificate, and has an invitation from the Host institution, which is a national entity having a scientific category.

2.7. List of information and attachments required in the application

General assumptions

Applications are subject to formal and merit-based evaluation. In case of scientists with Seal of Excellence certificate – only formal evaluation (special application track).

Formal evaluation

Formal evaluation is described in the NAWA Regulations - Programmes for natural persons (chapter IV point 5.1).

The Application may be rejected for formal reasons at a later stage of the assessment, after completing the formal assessment.

Merit-based evaluation

The merit-based evaluation consists of three stages:

1.     Preselection by the Evaluation team, based on the evaluation of the Applicant's achievements and course of their scientific or academic activity. Following preselection, the Evaluation team recommends the proposals for the second stage, choosing applications ranked highest on the ranking list, whose total planned outlays do not exceed twice the amount of funding allocated to a given call. Applicants whose applications are among those not recommended for the next stage of evaluation shall be notified via the ICT system of the Agency.

2.     Evaluation of applications with a positive preselection result, carried out by two Reviewers from NAWA’s Reviewer base, selected for the scientific field relevant to the submitted application.  In case of a discrepancy in the scores of more than 30% of the available points, The Agency reserves the right to appoint additional Reviewers to conduct the evaluation. Reviewers evaluate applications according to all merit-based evaluation criteria, indicating the number of points and giving reasons for their scoring. The Reviewer presents the application’s strengths and weaknesses in the summary section.

3.     The Evaluation team’s final evaluation that takes into account the opinions of two Reviewers and the Team's scoring in the other criteria of evaluation 2-4, which the Team did not evaluate during the preselection. The Evaluation team draws up a ranking list of applications, indicating the ones that are recommended for funding and those that are not.

If it is proved that the applicant violated the ethical principles or was unreliable in the preparation of the application, the evaluation team will assess the application with 0 points. In such case the application cannot be recommended for funding.

PLEASE NOTE THAT:

Scientists with Polish citizenship working permanently abroad cannot constitute more than 10% of Fellows in a call for applications.

Merit-based evaluation is carried out based on the following merit-based evaluation criteria:

The Programme provides financing for a Scholarship that covers the Fellow’s living allowance of PLN 10,000 a month, along with a mobility allowance. The amount of the Scholarship may be increased if the visit includes the Fellow’s spouse or minor children, and in the case of the Fellow with severe or moderate disability – his/her Personal assistant. Additionally, the Scholarship may be increased by PLN 5,000, if the Fellow declares participation in a Polish language course.

1.      The calculation of the Scholarship shall take into account:

1)           living allowance in the amount of PLN 10,000 monthly for each full month of stay of the Fellow at the Host institution. The length of the stay shall be specified in the application, giving the number of full months of the stay, the stay starting from the first day of the month. The amount of the living allowance of the Fellow may be increased if his/her spouse participates in the visit – by PLN 2,000 monthly, unless the spouse undertakes employment in the course of the Scholarship (which means employment both under a contract of employment and under a civil law agreement). This amount may also be increased if the Fellow is accompanied by underage children – by PLN 1,000 monthly for each underage child.

2)           one-off mobility allowance in the amount of:

a)           PLN 7,000 in the case of visits from European countries, if only the Fellow is participating in the visit and an additional PLN 2,000 for each person, if the scientist is accompanied by the spouse or underage children of the Fellow;

b)           PLN 12,000 in the case of visits from non-European countries, if only the Fellow is participating in the visit and an additional PLN 5,000 for each person, if the scientist is accompanied by the spouse or underage children of the Fellow.

3)           financing the costs of training – costs of learning Polish in the case of applicants who are not of Polish origin in the form of a one-off training allowance at maximum PLN 5,000. Polish language learning should take place in the institution with the NAWA Accreditation. The list of accredited entities will be available in April 2021 on the webpage https://nawa.gov.pl/jezyk-polski/akredytacja-nawa (The list of accredited entities). If in the Host institution, where the Fellow holder implements the Project, there is no accredited unit, the Polish language course should be conducted as part of university courses.

2.      Financing of the visit of the family members shall be possible only if their stay lasts at least 3 months.

3.      Insurance costs and cost of a visa, if required, shall be borne by the Fellow.

4.      The Scholarship amount may be increased only if during the stay or before its commencement the Fellow will have a new child which will participate in the visit of the Fellow. Such situations will be considered by the Director individually, depending on the financial resources available.

5.      If the Fellow has a certificate of severe or moderate disability, and is not accompanied by his/her spouse during the visit, but by a Personal assistant, the amounts referred to in 1(1) and (2) may be increased, under such conditions as if the spouse participated in the visit.

6.      Pursuant to Article 21(1)(39a) of the Act of 26 July 1991 on personal income tax (i.e. Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1387, as amended) Scholarships and other funds referred to in Article 18(2)(1) of the Act on NAWA are free from income tax.

Within the framework of financing of Scholarship, payments are made according to the payment schedule described in the Regulations as follows:

- for Scholarships lasting from 6 to 15 months: Payment scheme – C

- for Scholarships lasting over 15 months: Payment scheme – D

Additional information:

1.           The payments shall be made to a bank account opened by the Fellow at a bank having its registered office on the territory of Poland.

2.           Within the framework of financing of Scholarships lasting from 6 to 15 months, payments are made as follows:

1)           payment 1 – 60% of the total amount of financing, transferred to the Fellow’s bank account after signing of the Scholarship agreement and providing the account number;

2)           payment 2 – 30% of the total amount of financing, transferred up to 30 days from the date of submission of the correct confirmation of the Project commencement;

3)           balancing payment – up to 10% of the total amount of financing, transferred up to 30 days from the date of approval of the final report. Report evaluation is carried out within 3 months from the date of submission of the complete report.

The Fellows does not submit a partial report.

3.           Within the framework of financing of Scholarships lasting over 15 months, payments are made as follows:

1)     payment 1 – 20% of the total amount of financing, transferred to the Fellow’s bank account after signing of the Scholarship agreement and providing the account number;

2)     payment 2 – 30% of the total amount of financing, transferred up to 30 days from the date of submission of the correct confirmation of the Project commencement;

3)     payment 3 – 40% of the total amount of financing, transferred up to 30 days from the date of approval of the partial report. Report evaluation is carried out within 45 days from the date of submission of the complete report;

4)     balancing payment – up to 10% of the total amount of financing, transferred up to 30 days from the date of approval of the final report. Report evaluation is carried out within 3 months from the date of submission of the complete report.

1.           The awarded Scholarship, within the scope of the living costs and the mobility allowance in the form of flat-rate amounts, shall be treated as incurred expenditure.  The Fellow shall not be obliged to collect and present accounting evidence to confirm expenses. He/she shall be obliged only to present travel tickets to confirm the arrival of the accompanying persons - if applicable.

2.           The awarded training allowance for learning Polish shall be settled on the basis of the actual costs presented by the Fellow in the final report, confirmed by invoices or bills. The Fellow shall return to NAWA the unused part of the training allowance.

1.           The Fellow shall be obliged to submit reports on the implementation of the Project via the Agency's ICT system in accordance with the provisions of the scholarship agreement and to submit confirmation of starting the activities in the Host Institution:

1)           Confirmation of starting the Project implementation by the Fellow, issued within 2 months from the start of the Project implementation, but not earlier than after one month from the start, signed by the Representative of the Host Institution. Presentation of the confirmation shall be the condition for the transfer of the next payment of the Scholarship.

2)           The partial report shall be submitted only in the case of projects longer than 15 months within 14 days after the end of the first year of the Project implementation according to the report form:

3)           The final report shall be submitted within 30 days from the end of the Project implementation according to the report form.

2.       A complete and formally correct final report shall be submitted for the substantive evaluation by the Evaluation Team.

3.           The Evaluation Team shall assess the report in terms of its reliability and correctness of the implementation of the activities planned in the application as well as spending the funds and the validity of any changes introduced during the Project implementation.

4.           During the substantive evaluation of the final report, the following criteria shall be taken into account:

1)           compliance of the scope of the tasks performed with the scholarship agreement,

2)           the quality of the results achieved.

5.            If necessary, the Evaluation team may consult a Reviewer.

6.           In the final report, the Fellow shall take into account any deviations occurring in the course of the Project implementation, affecting the amount of funding granted, in particular related to the shortening of the Project or resignation from participation in the visit or its part by the spouse, minor children or the Fellow's guardian.

7.           Unused or incorrectly used funds shall be deducted from the balancing payment or returned to the Agency's bank account within 14 days from the date of the request for their return, if their amount exceeds the amount of the balancing payment.

8.                 Partial and final reports shall constitute appendices to the announcement.

1.           To conclude a Scholarship agreement with the Fellow, the Fellow cannot take up employment in Poland from the moment of submitting the proposal until the date of decision issue.

2.           The obligations of the Fellow stemming from the Scholarship agreement:

1)           having at least basic health insurance covering the time of travel and stay in Poland for all participants of the visit, including, in particular, insurance of the costs of treatment and transport to a hospital;

2)           timely submission of the required documents;

3)           informing NAWA about any changes in the activities implementation;

4)           informing NAWA about taking up employment by the Fellow’s spouse, if they are covered by the Scholarship;

5)           informing NAWA about own scientific or teaching successes;

6)           to implement properly the Scholarship agreement, and in particular to settle the funds granted.

3.                When the agreement is signed, the Fellow may have partial employment or employment in relation to the project implementation at the Host institution, and may also apply for financing of research projects, if there is no double financing of the same costs.

Total allocation for the call is PLN 9,000,000, however NAWA reserves the right to increase the allocation.

Annoucement of results by 30 November 2021.

National resources.