Dr Alicja Chmielewska has received a grant to the value of 799,963 PLN awarded as part of the Foundation for Polish Science POWROTY programme. The project "Przeciwwirusowa aktywność błonowych białek indukowanych przez interferon (IFITM) jako nowa strategia terapeutyczna w kontroli infekcji wirusowych – badania in vitro i in vivo" (Anti-viral activity of interferon-induced transmembrane proteins (IFITM) as a new therapeutic strategy in monitoring viral infections – in vitro and in vivo studies) will be implemented at the Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology UG and MUG.

The Foundation for Polish Science has announced the results of its third competitions in the HOMING and POWROTY programmes. Grants to a total value of nearly 11.7 million PLN have been awarded to fifteen researchers for their implementation of innovative R&D projects in Poland.

As part of the HOMING programme, aimed at academics from abroad who wish to implement a research project in Poland, ten young PhDs will have the chance to develop their careers in our country. They will receive a total of 7.7 million PLN from the Foundation for Polish Science to implement their postdoctoral internship projects. The third competition in the POWROTY/REINTEGRATION programme will make it easier for five female researchers to return to scientific work after a break connected with a maternity leave or work outside the area of science. Winners of this programme will receive nearly 4 million PLN for research. The grants in both programmes will be financed from the Smart Growth Operational Programme.

Thirty-four projects were entered for the HOMING and twenty-five for the POWROTY programme. Grant holders of both programmes will be involved in cooperation with twenty-three international research partners, ten Polish research partners and one Polish economic partner. The funding obtained from the Foundation for Polish Science will finance at least twenty-three workplaces for researchers employed in projects and twenty-one scholarships for students and doctoral students involved in the implementation of research.

The projects will receive funding for a period of two years. Grant winners were selected by a process of three-level assessment by foreign reviewers and experts in two panels − scientific and economic, and interdisciplinary.

The fourth, and at the same time penultimate, competition in both programmes began on 1 August 2017, with the deadline for submissions being 2 October 2017. The final competition in the HOMING and POWROTY programmes will be announced at the beginning of January 2018.