Funds in this year\'s edition of NPRH will be used to issue three volumes of the second series of the Polish Biographical Dictionary; create interdisciplinary database documenting silk fabrics in Krakow churches from 15th to late 17th century; catalogue the 16th century prints from the historical collection of Ossolineum; prepare scientific report on the oldest Polish coins.

As announced on the Ministry of Science and Higher Education website, the Ministry received a total of 945 applications for funding of research projects in the competition, and ultimately selected 152 applications.

National Programme for the Development of Humanities was established in November 2010. Under the programme, scientists - humanists have already been awarded almost PLN 200 million for research. It covers areas such as history and archaeology, linguistics and literature, philosophy and religious studies, art history, bibliology, archival science, ethnology, cultural anthropology, musicology, and those areas which include humanities content and use the humanities research methods.

In the completed NPRH edition, funding was awarded to scholars taking up the documentary, editorial and research work of key importance to the national heritage and culture. This program module received the most applications - a total of 544, 93 of which were awarded funding. Funding awarded to Polish-foreign teams performing research projects in inter-community and interdisciplinary collaboration.

A separate module benefited young scientists - humanists. It provided support to collaborative research conducted by graduate students in the framework of interinstitutional, interdisciplinary and international cooperation.

Funding was also awarded to projects disseminating the results of Polish humanities research in the world, such as translations and publications of electronic editions of Polish works of the highest scientific level in other languages. The competition also aimed to introduce electronic releases of the most important journals of the Polish humanities to the international circulation.

This year\'s competition was held according to similar rules as the earlier editions. The next edition will be prepared by the new NPRH Council, which will be established by the end of April. The new rules of the competition will take into account the proposals of the community. "National Programme for the Development of Humanities is the only such programme in Europe, which supports the humanities on such a large scale" - emphasized the Ministry of Science in a release sent to PAP.

The Ministry of Science reminded that NPRH is not the only support for researchers in the field of humanities. Studies conducted by humanists and post-doctoral internships are subsidized by the National Science Centre. Equal access to grants under the National Programme for the Development of Humanities and those awarded by the National Science Centre is guaranteed for scientists from public and private universities. (PAP)

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