The call aims to help domestic research groups with excellent, internationally acclaimed scientific achievements to produce further results which significantly contribute to the development of their scientific field and lay the groundwork for further research by implementing their project in a Hungarian host institution and by presenting such results in scientific fora ensuring the greatest possible visibility.

The call is open to researchers and research groups with a research facility in Hungary whose scientific achievements have significant international impact, i.e. who have at least one excellent publication published after 1 January 2014 achieving an international citation index accounting for the top 5 percent in the given field of science within two years from the date of publication.

In order to strengthen the international visibility and reputation of Hungarian science, the NRDI Office announced this call to encourage individual researchers and research groups to strive for scientific results which are outstanding even by international standards, highly acclaimed by the scientific community and can be used by others as starting points for further research projects. The call intends to offer an opportunity for researchers who have no publications in the top impact factor journals but demonstrate a citation index that implies excellent publication performance with internationally outstanding impact.

The call is financed from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund.

Submission of project proposals

Applications can be submitted electronically through the Online Application Portal of the NRDI Office by 31 August 2017. In the first stage only those proposals will be accepted that are submitted electronically by 9 March 2017 17:00 CET (postmarking deadline for submissions via regular mail: 16 March 2017). In the second stage only those proposals will be accepted that are submitted electronically by 31 August 2017 17:00 CET (postmarking deadline for submissions via regular mail: 7 September 2017). Proposals may not be submitted only electronically or in person. Proposals have to be submitted in Hungarian irrespective of the given field of science (however, certain parts of the proposal, namely the summary and the work plan, shall also be drawn up in English).

Who can apply

Researchers (principal investigators) with Hungarian or foreign nationality have to apply jointly with the host institution which has to be

• a higher education institution, research centre, research institution, budgetary organ, or an institution thereof having legal personality if it qualifies as a research organisation;
  
• a business company having at least one full financial year closed, applying double-entry bookkeeping, not belonging to the scope of simplified entrepreneurial tax (EVA) (only non-profit activities are eligible for funding);
  
• a non-profit organisation pursuing research and development as core activity.
  

Throughout the entire implementation period, the principal investigator shall be employed full-time by the host institution under an employment contract, civil service contract or other work-related legal relationship.

Further requirements for principal investigators

The researcher who submits the project proposal has to be the first, last or corresponding author of the excellent publication on which the proposal is based. The members of a research group may only submit one project proposal.

At the time of application the principal investigator shall hold a doctoral (PhD/DLA) degree or a certificate issued by the university doctoral council, and has to be affiliated to a Hungarian host institution.

One researcher may only participate in one KH project proposal as principal investigator and may only assume principal investigator position in maximum two projects funded by the NRDI Office under any other of the research funding schemes (FK, K, NK, NF or NN types) at a time. The principal investigator and the research group of a project funded under the KH_17 scheme may not receive further funding under the KH scheme for 24 months following the start of the funded project.

Eligible objectives and activities

The discovery research activities indicated in the research and work plan, and the actions required to implement the project plan submitted to the NRDI Office are eligible and not bound by any thematic priority or restricted to any field of science, if otherwise the application meets the conditions laid down in the call.

Available budget

In order to achieve the objectives of the call the NRDI Office has earmarked a total budget of HUF 1 billion from the NRDI Fund for the 2017–2020 period in line with the Act on the Central Budget and with regard to the programme strategy of the NRDI Fund. From this amount HUF 0.5 billion can be disbursed in 2017 depending on the programme strategy for 2017.

Available funds

Up to HUF 20 million in non-refundable funding per project. Maximum funding intensity is 100%.

Duration of the project

The mandatory duration of projects is 24 months. Projects shall start between 1 July 2017 and 1 December 2017 (projects awarded in the second stage may not start earlier than 1 November 2017).