A breakthrough in the half-billion-zloty deal. The government releases the money after eight months of discussions.

• The Ministry of Finance has issued an interpretation allowing the National Science Centre to cash in bonds without the need to amend the Act on the National Science Centre.
• Previously, discussions between officials had been ongoing for eight months about whether the agency could use the funds.
• The National Science Centre is struggling with insufficient funding despite budget increases in recent years.

"The road to releasing bond funds is now open," Marcin Kulasek , head of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, announced Wednesday evening. This amounts to half a billion złoty for the National Science Centre. The government granted the institution this amount in December as a financial boost.

Formal obstacles to accessing funds

The problem is that the money that was supposed to be spent on grants for researchers in competitions announced in 2025 was frozen for eight months. According to the Ministry of Science, an amendment to the National Science Centre Act was necessary to use it.

"The obstacles are formal in nature (other budget-related laws). If they are quickly resolved, the funds will be available for use from 2026, in accordance with the NCN's original plan," Anna Korzekwa-Józefowicz , spokeswoman for the agency, confirmed on X. The Ministry of Science and Higher Education assured us in response to questions that these were changes being prepared to the NCN Act (which lists the agency's funding sources; one point regarding bonds should have been added).

A critical look at progress

Researchers believed the government's promises of increased funding. According to CIS information, they submitted 700 more applications than the previous year. Had the bond funds not been released, only about 10% of applicants would have received grants. This is a failure, as there are usually three times as many highly rated projects that experts believe deserve investment.

Why did findings that could have been resolved with a single interpretation by the Ministry of Finance take eight months to resolve? We asked the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, and the Ministry of Finance about this. None of these institutions responded as of the time of this article's publication.

Breakthrough on bonds

Two days after the CIS publicized the NCN case, the Minister of Science announced on social media that the ministries had reached an agreement. The Ministry of Finance issued an interpretation stating that the NCN could cash in the bonds and use them for grants.

The agency itself is more cautious. Its spokeswoman confirms that the letter from the Ministry of Finance has been received and will now be analyzed.

The Future of Grant Financing

The discussion about the National Science Centre's bonds comes amid initial preparations for shaping the budget. The fate of stable support for the grant agency also hangs in the balance. In previous years, the budget was increased by PLN 200 million and PLN 100 million, respectively, following protests from scientists. According to researchers, this was still PLN 200 million too little to annually fund highly regarded projects.

"We, our experts, and the community continue to believe that the funds allocated to competitions are too small. Many competitions feature excellent, very valuable projects that we cannot finance. We are constantly working to solve this problem in the future," Krzysztof Jóźwiak , director of the National Science Centre, told PAP in April.

Previously, Minister of Education and Science Przemysław Czarnek (PiS) criticized the National Science Center for its grant-awarding practices, including the requirement to submit applications in English, even in the humanities, and for projects to be evaluated by international reviewers. He also announced a thorough overhaul of the agency. At the same time, he blocked any real increase in its budget – between 2018 and 2023, it increased by only about 13%, which did not compensate for inflation.

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