Applications for ministerial scholarships for outstanding young scientists

From December 1 to December 31, 2020 applications may be submitted for a scholarship for outstanding young scientists demonstrating significant scientific achievements.

1. Legal basis

The issues of awarding minister’s scholarships to outstanding young scientists are regulated by the following provisions:

• art. 360, art. 361 and art. 363 point 1 of the Act of July 20, 2018. – Law on higher education and science (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 85, as amended) and
• Regulation of the Minister of Science and Higher Education of April 1, 2019 on scholarships by the minister responsible for higher education and science for students and outstanding young scientists (Journal of Laws, item 658 and 2297).

2. Definition of a young scientist

A scholarship may be awarded to a person who on the day of granting the scholarship has the status of a young scientist.

A young scientist is a person who conducts scientific activity who:

• is a PhD student or academic teacher – and does not hold a PhD degree

or

• has a doctoral degree, which has not been obtained for 7 years, and is employed in an entity referred to in art. 7 sec. 1 above act, i.e. universities, federation of entities of the higher education and science system, Polish Academy of Sciences, scientific institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences operating under the Act of 30 April 2010 about the Polish Academy of Sciences , a research institute operating under the Act of 30 April 2010. about research institutes , an international research institute established on the basis of separate acts operating on the territory of the Republic of Poland, the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or another entity that conducts mainly independent and continuous scientific activity.

The period of the above-mentioned 7 years does not include the periods of maternity leave, leave on the terms of maternity leave, paternity leave, parental leave or parental leave, granted on the principles set out in the Labor Code, or periods of maternity allowance or parental benefit, or periods of receiving a sickness allowance or a rehabilitation benefit in connection with incapacity for work, including due to an illness requiring medical rehabilitation.

The status of a young scientist will be verified on the day the Minister makes the decision to grant the scholarship.

The 7-year period is counted from the date – not the year – of obtaining the doctoral degree. Thus, a person who obtained a doctoral degree, e.g. on November 15, 2013. and did not have the above-mentioned interruptions in scientific activities, she lost the status of a young scientist on November 15, 2020.

3. Conditions for receiving the scholarship

A minister’s scholarship for outstanding young scientists may be awarded to a young scientist showing significant achievements in scientific activity.

3. 1. Types of significant achievements in scientific activity

The following are considered significant achievements in the scientific activity of a young scientist:

1. authorship or co-authorship of a scientific monograph or a chapter in a scientific monograph published by a publishing house that in the year of publication of the monograph in its final form was included in the list of publishers prepared in accordance with the regulations issued on the basis of Art. Whereas Article 267 (2) of the Treaty provides that the Community may adopt measures 2 point 2 of the Act (the list of September 29, 2020 will apply);
2. authorship or co-authorship of a scientific article published in a scientific journal or in reviewed materials from international conferences, which in the year of publication of the article in their final form were included in the list of these journals and materials prepared in accordance with the regulations issued on the basis of art. Whereas Article 267 (2) of the Treaty provides that the Community may adopt measures 2 point 2 of the Act *;
3. managing a research project with a high level of innovation, funded under a national or international competition;
4. practical application of the results of scientific research or development work, including a granted national or foreign patent or implementation of the results of scientific activity in a different form;
5. completing a foreign internship or study visit, and in the case of people who have completed doctoral studies abroad – an internship or study visit to Poland;
6. received foreign scholarship;
7. permanent cooperation with a prestigious foreign university or research institution, in a form other than that listed in points 5 and 6;
8. a creative activity in art as a result of which a material or immaterial artistic work was created, including its artistic performance, contributing to the development of culture;
9. obtaining an individual award or a significant share in the achievement of a team award in a competition, at a music, theater, film, art or architectural festival of high prestige and international scope, excluding prizes obtained in competitions organized as part of international scientific conferences and prizes in the form of domestic or foreign scholarships.

* As a significant achievement in the scientific activity of a young scientist conducted before 2019. the authorship or co-authorship of a scientific article published in its final form in a scientific journal included in the list of scientific journals established in accordance with the regulations issued pursuant to Art. Whereas Article 44 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2 2 of the Act of 30 April 2010. on the principles of financing science and the announcement of the Minister of Science and Higher Education of January 25, 2017. in the Public Information Bulletin on the minister’s website (i.e. the current list of scientific journals – part A, B and C).

3. 2. A way to document significant achievements in scientific activity

The above-mentioned achievements are documented in writing, in the form of:

1. pages of a scientific monograph or a scientific journal, containing the first and last name of the author or the first and last names of authors, the title of a scientific monograph or a scientific article, name of the publisher, place of publication, month and year of publication, ISBN, eISBN, ISSN, eISSN, ISMN or DOI;
2. statements by a young scientist on the percentage of authors ‘contribution to a scientific monograph, chapter in a scientific monograph or a scientific article, along with a description of this contribution – in the case of co-authorship (no co-authors’ statements need to be attached);
3. confirmation of granting a national or foreign patent or implementation of the results of scientific activity in a different form;
4. statements by the young scientist on his research project management, along with information on the number, source of funding, duration, purpose and results of the project;
5. confirmations:
   • undergo a foreign internship or study visit,
   • receiving a foreign scholarship,
   • permanent cooperation with a prestigious foreign university or scientific institution;
6. a diploma or other document confirming the award in the competition, and in the case of a team award – also a statement by the team leader or statements of team members on the percentage share of a young scientist in the achievement of the achievement.

4. The procedure for submitting an application for a scholarship

4. 1. Scholarship applicant

Persons entitled to submit applications for a scholarship are – pursuant to Art. 360 sec. 4 acts:

• rector, director of an institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, director of a research institute or director of an international institute in which a doctoral school is run, in which the young scientist is a doctoral student;
• the person managing the entity referred to in art. 7 sec. 1 of the Act, employing a young scientist.

4. 2. Application deadline

The application for a scholarship is submitted to the minister according to the template constituting Annex 2 to the regulation from the date of December 1, 2020 by 31 December 2020 .

Note! The above period is the term of substantive law, and therefore submitting an application after its expiry has no legal effects. Applications sent with failure to meet the deadline are not considered. Above the deadline is also not reinstated under Art. 58 Kpa.

4. 3. Procedure for submitting the application

The application for a scholarship should be filled in the Integrated System of Services for Science. Support of Financing Streams (ZSUN / OSF system https://osf.opi.org.pl/ ). Before sending the application to the ministry, the PDF file generated from the ZSUN / OSF system (“application with the signature ZSUN / OSF”) must be signed with a trusted signature or a qualified electronic signature (electronic document) by the head of the entity submitting the application or a person authorized by him. The signed application for scholarship is sent electronically in the ZSUN / OSF system.

When attaching the file, the OSF system verifies the technical correctness of the signature and presents the data of the persons who signed the application. The person who submits the qualified electronic signature is liable in accordance with the provisions of the Act of 5 September 2016. on trust services and electronic identification (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 162, as amended)

If a file is attached whose signature is incorrect or the signed file is not the one that was last generated from the system (verification ambiguous), then it will not be possible to send the application to the Ministry.

A request is considered sent when its status in the ZSUN / OSF system is “sent”.

Note! The application may be signed only by the person indicated in Art. 360 sec. 4 of the Act or a person authorized by it.

If the application has been signed by an authorized person, a scan of the document (power of attorney) is attached to the application, which explicitly indicates that the person is authorized to sign (submit) applications for a minister’s scholarship for outstanding young scientists.

4. 4. Attachments to the application

Together with the application for a scholarship, the applicant submits documents confirming the achievement of significant achievements in scientific activity in the OSF system (point 3. 2. information) and documents confirming interruptions in scientific activity for the reasons specified in art. 360 sec. 3 of the Act (if any).

The application is also accompanied by a declaration of the young scientist confirming that the information contained in part C of the application is factually correct, a declaration of consent to the processing of his personal data and not being granted a scholarship by the minister responsible for higher education and science for outstanding scientists in previous years. young scientists.

Note! In the event of deficiencies in the attachments, the authority will apply for their supplementation pursuant to art. 64 § 2 of the Code of Administrative Procedure, i.e. by summoning the applicant to remedy the deficiencies within the prescribed period, not shorter than fourteen days, with an instruction that failure to remove these deficiencies will result in the application not being examined.

4. 5. Period from which achievements may be stated in the application

The application should indicate the achievements achieved by 30 November 2020.

A young scientist can indicate his best achievements from the entire period of scientific work, which were completed by November 30, 2020.

5. The procedure for granting a scholarship

5. 1. Assessment of applications

Applications for granting scholarships that meet the formal requirements are subject to merit evaluation using the scoring method. The evaluation is carried out by experts from individual fields of science, taking into account the Guidelines adopted by the Advisory Team for the evaluation of applications for granting scholarships by the minister responsible for higher education and science for students and outstanding young scientists.

Based on the evaluation results, a ranking list of applications for scholarships is drawn up according to the number of points awarded.

5. 2. Award criteria

5. 2. 1. Time criterion:

When assessing applications for scholarships for young researchers, the achievements achieved by 30 November of the year in which the application is submitted are taken into account.

5. 2. 2. Formal criterion:

You can only receive the scholarship once. A young scientist scholarship may not be awarded to a young scientist who in previous years has been awarded a scholarship for young scientists or a research scholarship for outstanding young scientists, under Art. 28a paragraph. 1 of the Act of April 30, 2010. on the principles of financing science (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 87).

5. 2. 3. Criteria for substantive evaluation:

The following criteria are taken into account when assessing the merits of applications for granting scholarships for young scientists:

1. in the case of achievements in scientific activity including research and development work:
   1. the importance of scientific achievements for the development of scientific disciplines related to the conducted scientific activity, assessed on the basis of the quality and number:
      • scientific monographs or chapters in scientific monographs or scientific articles referred to in § 5 points 1 and 2, authored by a young scientist or co-authored by a young scientist, taking into account their type and form, percentage of author’s contribution, number of points in the list of publications or in the list of scientific journals and reviewed materials from international conferences, prepared in accordance with the regulations issued on the basis of art. Whereas Article 267 (2) of the Treaty provides that the Community may adopt measures 2 point 2 of the Act, research projects with a high level of innovation led by a young scientist, taking into account the period of their implementation and the prestige of the competition under which the project is financed,
      • practical applications of the results of scientific research or development works, including granted national or foreign patents or implementation of the results of scientific activity in a different form,
   2. the level of involvement in international cooperation, assessed on the basis of:
      • the number and duration of foreign internships or study visits, and the prestige of foreign universities or foreign scientific institutions in which he participated in these internships or visits,
      • the number and duration of internships or study visits as well as the prestige of universities or research institutions in which he did internships or study visits in Poland – in the case of completing doctoral studies abroad,
      • the number and prestige of foreign scholarships received,
      • the number and prestige of foreign universities or foreign scientific institutions with which the young scientist cooperates or collaborated, and the duration of this cooperation,
   3. the number and prestige of the awards obtained;
2. in the case of achievements in scientific activity including artistic creation:
   1. artistic level of the conducted creative activity,
   2. the importance of artistic achievements and their impact on the development of culture and art,
   3. prestige of obtained domestic or foreign awards and distinctions.

The substantive evaluation covers applications which show at least 3 scientific monographs, chapters in a scientific monograph or scientific articles in which the candidate is the author or the lead co-author.

The leading co-authorship is in particular:

1. the largest percentage of the author’s contribution to a monograph, chapter in a monograph or article;
2. percentage of the author’s contribution to a monograph, chapter in a monograph, or an article equal to the percentage of each of the other co-authors, if they play a key role in the creation of these scientific publications.

The above condition of showing 3 publications, where the candidate is the author or the lead co-author, does not apply to an application submitted by a young scientist conducting scientific activity in the field of artistic creation.

There is a limit to the number of achievements that a young scientist can demonstrate in particular categories, i.e .:

• no more than a total of 5 selected achievements from among: authorship or co-authorship of scientific monographs, chapters in a scientific monograph or scientific articles;
• 3 selected achievements in each of the other categories (the restriction does not apply to the category of “creative activity in art, as a result of which a material or immaterial artistic work was created, including its artistic performance, contributing to the development of culture”).

The above restrictions have been implemented in the OSF system. When submitting applications, the OSF system will verify that 3 publications in which the candidate is the author or the lead co-author are indicated. Moreover, the system will not make it possible to demonstrate a greater number of achievements than resulting from the provisions of the regulation.

5. 3. The deadline for considering the application and the decision on the scholarship

Applications are considered by 30 June 2021.

The basis for awarding the scholarship is a ranking list of applications sorted by the number of points awarded.

The Minister may award a maximum of 230 scholarships to young researchers, of which at least 50 to young researchers who are PhD students. The scholarship will be awarded to people with the highest placement in the above-mentioned ranking list.

After examining the applications by the Minister, administrative decisions on granting or refusing to grant a scholarship will be sent to applicants and young scientists.

6. The maximum period of receiving and the amount of the scholarship

The scholarship is awarded for a period not longer than 3 years (36 months). This period does not include a break in research activities related to maternity leave, leave on the terms of maternity leave, paternity leave, parental leave or parental leave of the scholarship holder, granted in accordance with the principles set out in the Labor Code, or receiving a sickness benefit or rehabilitation benefit due to incapacity to work, including those caused by an illness that requires medical rehabilitation. During this period, the payment of the scholarship is suspended.

The maximum amount of the scholarship may not exceed PLN 5,390 per month.

The amount of the scholarship and the period of receiving it will be determined in the decision on granting the scholarship – depending on the amount of funds allocated for this purpose in the Minister’s budget.

7. Method of paying the scholarship

The entity running the doctoral school or the employing entity pays the young scientist funds under the scholarship on the basis of an agreement.

The scholarship is paid to a young scientist by the 10th day of the month to the bank account indicated by him or to an account in a cooperative savings and credit union or in cash.

In the event of a change by a young scientist who has been awarded a scholarship for young scientists, a place of employment or a doctoral school during the period of receiving this scholarship, the young scientist shall immediately inform the minister about the entity in which he or she took up employment or education at the doctoral school, and about the date of such change.

In the years 2019-2027, people who started doctoral studies before the 2019/2020 academic year and who were awarded a minister’s scholarship for outstanding young scientists or a research scholarship for outstanding young scientists, in the event of a change in the place of doctoral studies or employment during the period of receiving this scholarship, they immediately inform the Minister about the entity in which they continue their doctoral studies or take up employment, and about the date of such change.

Note! On September 29, 2020 a new list of publishers publishing peer-reviewed scientific monographs was announced. In connection with the above, the achievements shown under category 1, i.e.. authorship or co-authorship of a scientific monograph or a chapter in a scientific monograph published by a publishing house that in the year of publication of the monograph in its final form was included in the list of publishers prepared in accordance with the regulations issued on the basis of Art. Whereas Article 267 (2) of the Treaty provides that the Community may adopt measures 2 point 2 of the Act, will be assessed taking into account the list of publishers announced with the announcement of September 29, 2020. (and not on December 17, 2019 as indicated in the Guidelines).

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