Two editions of the OPUS call, along with MAESTRO, PRELUDIUM, SONATA, SONATA BIS, SONATINA, and MINIATURA – this is next year’s offering from the National Science Centre (NCN). Applications for previously announced international calls will also continue.
As is tradition, the National Science Centre presented its planned schedule for next year’s calls in mid-December. The first to launch, at the beginning of February, will be MINIATURA. This will be the ninth edition of the call. In the seven previous editions, more than 5,100 applications for preliminary and pilot research, surveys, internships, or consultation and research trips were funded. As in previous years, submissions will be accepted continuously until the end of July.
It is worth noting that next year’s edition will introduce a mentoring program, offering substantive support to MINIATURA laureates in preparing grant proposals. Researchers with experience in leading research projects who wish to share their knowledge with early-career scientists can join the database of mentors. So far, over 500 scientists have signed up.
In mid-March, the OPUS (for researchers at all stages of their scientific careers) and PRELUDIUM (for those without a doctoral degree) calls will be announced. OPUS will also have a second edition in the fall (September), as per tradition.
Just before the summer holidays, NCN will announce two more calls: SONATA BIS (for researchers who obtained their doctoral degree 5 to 12 years before submitting their proposal) and MAESTRO (for experienced researchers). For MAESTRO, this will be the final round of the annual cycle, as the next edition is planned for 2027.
In September, applications will open for SONATA (for researchers who obtained their doctoral degree 2 to 7 years before submission). Finally, SONATINA (for early-career researchers) will launch in mid-December.
In addition to the aforementioned calls, continuous submissions will continue for the Weave-UNISONO program and the IMPRESS-U initiative, launched last year. The schedule does not include multilateral calls announced by international networks of research funding agencies in which NCN is a member. Detailed information about the conditions, procedures, and start dates of individual calls will be published on the NCN website following approval by relevant NCN Council resolutions.
