The European Green Deal and Social Sciences and Humanities

The opening of the call for proposals in the special Horizon 2020 call dedicated to the European Green Deal is expected in the second half of September 2020. As it was written on PolSCA website – on the occasion of the announcement of the call in June (link) – its purpose is primarily to support fair and sustainable social transformation through research. In addition to technological development and demonstration projects the EU Green Deal call (GDC) is aimed at development of new ways to engage civil society and empowerment of citizens in the ‘green’ transition, and should therefore be of interest to social sciences and humanities researchers. In the light of this, we encourage you to read the short description of selected Green Deal Call topics and the expected results to be achieved by the projects financed under H2020. We also inform about events related to the GDC, including dedicated brokerage meetings organized by Net4Society or The Enterprise Europe Network, as well as about special sessions during EU Research and Innovation Days, which will take place online on 22-24 September 2020.

Renewed team of the PolSCA Office!

We are pleased to announce that on 1st October 2020, Ms Joanna Komperda was entrusted with tasks as an expert of the PolSCA Office. Such strengthening the PolSCA Team is a positive result of the recruitment process completed in summer this year. Thanks to this, the PolSCA Office will be able to carry out its tasks more efficiently – especially towards the scientific community of the Polish Academy of Sciences – at the arrival of the new Horizon Europe framework program.

NAWA launches the Seal of Excellence call under the MSCA IF!

The Ulam Programme – Seal of Excellence is the first nationwide instrument in Poland that supports research projects with the Seal of Excellence certificate obtained under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships program. The objective is to help incoming researchers to develop their careers by intensifying international mobility and to allow them to establish scientific cooperation with excellent host institutions in Poland. Only applications under the MSCA-IF 2019 edition which received the Seal of Excellence certificate will be considered. The call for applications is open until October 15, 2020. 

Hire an outstanding social scientist or humanist! NAWA Chair

More than a month ago, the National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) launched a call for applications for the NAWA Chair program, under which it is possible to hire an outstanding representative of social sciences or humanities from abroad and create his/ her own research team. The primary objective of the program is to improve the quality of research and teaching activities carried out in Polish institutions by including excellent scientists with international achievements in these activities. It is a great opportunity for academic and research institutions in Poland, including PAS Institutes, to strengthen their personnel. It is worth adding that the first edition of the program is addressed only to representatives of the humanities, social and theological sciences, and the call for applications is open until the end of July.

Researchers in Poland are fighting the COVID-19 pandemic

There is no need to convince anyone about the importance of the voice and work of scientists in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. An evidence-based discussion and an intensified activity in the field of research and innovation are essential at such a specific time. Therefore, we would like to introduce some of the activities undertaken, mainly by the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS), for the fight against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Below you could find information about the interdisciplinary COVID-19 Advisory Team, established by President of PAS, as well as a short description of selected – international or national – research projects carried out by the PAS Institutes and the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw.

European Science, Research and Innovation – Reports (May / June 2020)

The period of the coronavirus lockdown was not particularly easy for scientists and the entire academic community, especially in terms of the implementation of research grants or research mobility. However, it is worth noting that at that time a number of interesting reports devoted to the European science, research and innovation were published like: 1) SRIP 2020 report, 2) Open Science Policy Platform report, 3) ERA-LEARN reports on partnerships, 4) European Innovation Scoreboard 2020, 5) Nature Index ranking. In the light of this, we are pleased to provide you with a short description and a link to each report below.

European Research Area – current and future shape

European Research Area (ERA) is the main area of conducting research policy in the European Union. Its overall goal is to create a unified area of research, open to the whole world and enables free circulation of researchers, scientific knowledge and technology. In order to reduce fragmentation of scientific activities as well as increase the EU’s international competitiveness, it is important to further strengthen the ERA by gradually harmonizing the policies of individual European countries in the field of research and innovation.

PolSCA team in a slightly changed version!

We are pleased to inform that from 1st June 2020 the structure of the PolSCA Office is changed! According to the decision of the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences prof. Jerzy Duszyński, dr. Tomasz Poprawka began a 4-year term as a new Director of the Polish Science Contact Agency in Brussels. In the light of this, Dr. Justyna Kramarczyk officially took a position as an expert. What is more, recruitment for the position of another expert has been already launched!

EU Green Deal – announcement of the Horizon 2020 competition

Climate change and environmental degradation are an existential threat to Europe and the world. To overcome these challenges, Europe needs a new growth strategy that transforms the Union into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy where there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050, economic growth is decoupled from resource use and no person and no place is left behind.

Maria Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships: institutional perspective

The main goal of MSCA-IF grants is to develop the careers of experienced scientists through the implementation of an individual research project in a selected institution in Europe or abroad, as well as through participation in a number of training sessions and conferences. Although it is the interested scientist who proposes the topic of an individually run project (bottom-up approach), the role played by the host university or research institute in the whole process is equally important.