NCN

SONATA 22

Deadline: 15 December 202643 days left · at 14:00
Winning projects received: median 1,124,400 PLN

What it funds

Supports basic research lasting 12, 24 or 36 months through eligible Polish NCN applicants.

Basic research · Research equipment · Research team funding

Who can apply

For people 2–7 years after the doctorate, counted to the year of the application. You can lead a SONATA project only once.

Institution: The university that hosts the project applies. At Wrocław University of Science and Technology it goes through the Projects Office (Dział Projektów).

Your career stage

Before the doctorateAfter the doctorateAfter habilitation

Give your stage and we tell you whether this call is for you.

Rules of this edition

In Polish, as the source we read gives them.

Wyłącznie badania podstawowe, bez podwójnego finansowania.
Projekt trwa 12, 24 albo 36 miesięcy.
Doktorat kierownika z lat 2019–2024; dopuszczalne wydłużenie okresu za przerwy w karierze.
Kierownikiem projektu SONATA można być tylko raz.

NCN limits

In one edition of the competitions you can be the project lead in one application only. In this edition you choose one: OPUS, OPUS LAP or SONATA. With two applications NCN takes the one sent first.
In calls that close after 1 January 2027 you can be the project lead in one application a calendar year. A second one is possible when one of them is OPUS LAP or a competition with foreign agencies, and the two are in different editions.
NCN projects you lead, plus your applications in evaluation or qualified for funding, can total two at most. Leading lasts until the final report is filed. PRELUDIUM BIS and DIOSCURI do not count.
The limit rises to three only if you lead an OPUS LAP project or one from a competition run with foreign agencies, or have such an application in evaluation.

Read on 2 November 2026: NCN Regulations, Rada NCN resolutions 18/2026 and 73/2026, §7–§10 (our reader could not open the NCN page, so this is a copy and a web search)

Rules read on 30 October 2026 from: ncn.gov.pl Confirm them in the announcement.

Deadline and amount as of 24 October 2026.

Who won before

Wrocław University of Science and Technology · 65 projects since 2017

Isotope labeling: the next frontier in deciphering phase transitions and molecular dynamics in hybrid perovskitesAndrzej Kamil Nowok · Faculty of Fundamental Problems of Technology · 1,115,568 PLN · 2026
Pioneer basilica or monumental portico? The use of HBIM in researching transregional influences on the architecture of Nea Paphos, Cyprus, during the Roman period.Anna Maria Kubicka-Sowińska · Faculty of Architecture · 674,644 PLN · 2026
INtegrated forecaSting of electrIcity price, load and renewable Generation for enHanced informed markeT decisions (INSIGHT)Bartosz Uniejewski · Faculty of Pure and Applied Mathematics · 527,040 PLN · 2026
Sensitivity to perturbations and dynamics in nearly integrable and Hilbert space fragmented quantum systemsPatrycja Katarzyna Łydżba · Faculty of Fundamental Problems of Technology · 327,523 PLN · 2026
INFLOXAR - Investigation of causes of atrioventricular conduction disorders with comparison of muscle and physiological cardiac stimulation through multiparametric assessment of oxidative stress, immune response and common mechanisms.Jakub Szyller · Faculty of Medicine · 1,797,170 PLN · whole project 2,404,437 PLN · 2025

Other Polish institutions · 1,920 projects

Plejotropic effects of a targeted system based on biodegradable miRNA-delivering nanocapsules in the adjunctive therapy of multiple myeloma – translational implicationsKarolina Łuczkowska · Pomorski Uniwersytet Medyczny w Szczecinie · 3,405,120 PLN · 2026
Mechanizmy neurozapalne w ostrej fazie niedokrwiennego udaru mózgu – klinicznie istotna platforma translacyjnaDominika Gołubczyk · Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie · 2,972,969 PLN · 2026
Will freshwater bivalves survive in an anthropogenically changing world?Dariusz Halabowski · Uniwersytet Łódzki · 2,880,970 PLN · 2026
Impact of lactate and protein lactylation on mitochondrial transport and function in iPSC-derived motor neurons from ALS and control subjects, with validation in a mouse modelKatarzyna Dzik · Uniwersytet Gdański · 2,748,155 PLN · 2026
Epidemiology and mechanisms of colonization and persistence of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in livestock in Poland and globallyRafał Kolenda · Uniwersytet Przyrodniczy we Wrocławiu · 2,579,439 PLN · 2026

Sources: RAD-on (OPI-PIB), CORDIS, Baza of Wrocław University of Science and Technology. For the university's projects we give its part of the sum and the award year.

Next steps at Wrocław University of Science and Technology

FirstBefore you start work on the application, tell the head of your unit and set out the project's risks. You need written consent to prepare and run the project. The head of the unit also names the project lead on the notice form.
Tell the Projects Office staff who run NCN calls that you plan to apply.
By 1 December 2026Hand in the original project notice at the Projects Office secretariat, signed by the project lead and the dean (in another unit: its head), at least 10 working days before the application goes out. Hand in the signed risk analysis with it. When the project spans several units, their heads consent to their own tasks.Documents: annex 1 to ZW 2/2023 (individual project: annex 1a) and annex 1b
In a partner project, the notice starts the check of the cooperation agreement.
Before the application goes out (the rules give no number of days)Hand the original annex on the project's scope to the Bursar's Office (Kwestura) for a VAT opinion, and request the VAT eligibility statement in the form the funder requires. When the statement exists only in the funder's system, attach a printout from it. Send a scan of the opinion to the Projects Office. A copy of the statement later goes with the request to open the project.Documents: annex 2 to ZW 2/2023 (investment project: annex 2a for equipment, annex 2b for construction)
In OSF, add the Projects Office as an assistant editor (login DZP), so it can check the application before it goes out.
By 4 December 2026Hand in the application documents for the Projects Office to check at least 7 working days before the application goes out, also when PWr is a partner or a consortium member.Documents: application documents
Hand in the consent to take part in the project, signed by the head of the unit and the project lead.Documents: consent to take part (template on the Projects Office's NCN page)
15 December 2026, at 14:00, Polish timeThe last moment to file the application with the funder.Source of the hour: Biuro Obsługi Badań UW

The dates count statutory holidays, not days off set by the Rector.

The rules on the Projects Office site

Contact

Dział ProjektówMain Building, A-1, room 150AWyb. Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław+48 71 320 45 71 dp@pwr.edu.pl