On 14 February 2024, Minister of Science and Higher Education Dariusz Wieczorek increased the budget of the National Science Centre (NCN) by an additional PLN 200 million. Thus, PLN 1.6 billion will be allocated to basic research this year.
“This is a good day for NCN. We will support Polish science so that Polish scientists can develop in Poland”, said Minister Dariusz Wieczorek. This is the highest increase in expenditure on this purpose in 12 years.
The head of the Ministry of Science stressed the need to present the broad spectrum covered by Polish science. “We want our units to inform journalists and the public about what they do. This is important because we often fail to boast about our achievements. We must change this”, declared the minister.
Deputy Minister of Science Maciej Gdula emphasised that the last years were not good for the National Science Centre. “Our predecessors strangled the NCN and starved scientists”, he said.
“This sum of 200 million is the largest increase in funding for the National Science Centre in over a decade. We are increasing the investment in NCN, but we are also increasing salaries in science. This is historic change, and it opens a new stage in the treatment of science”, stressed Deputy Minister of Science Maciej Gdula.
The National Science Centre supports basic research by funding research projects and scientific activities. NCN offers competitions addressed to scientists at every stage of their career, regardless of age and seniority.
NCN’s mission is to enhance the importance of Polish science on the international arena and to increase the quality and efficiency of research through a competitive grant-awarding system. The Centre regularly announces competitions for research projects, doctoral scholarships, and postdoctoral traineeships.
In the years 2011-2023, the National Centre of Science financed over 29.5 thousand projects for a total amount of nearly PLN 15.7 billion. There are 21 thousand scientists among the winners of NCN competitions.
Adrian Andrzejewski