Budapest, 05 July 2024 – Despite the numerous unfounded and untrue allegations that have surfaced in recent weeks about the National Research Excellence Programme (NREP), renewed by the Research Council of Hungary (RCH), figures show that the malicious criticism has not shaken the confidence of Hungarian researchers: nearly 1,400 proposals have been submitted, with an unprecedented HUF 126 billion in funding requests.

The Ministry for Culture and Innovation and the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (“NRDI Office”) aim to ensure that all high-quality proposals are awarded funding.

The Research Council of Hungary, composed of scientists delegated with a consensus proposal by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), the Hungarian Research Network (HUN-REN) and the Ministry for Culture and Innovation (the Ministry), renewed the former OTKA programme on the basis of the world’s most highly-regarded research programme (the ERC). Not only is the two-tier assessment system the same as that used in the ERC, but so are the criteria used to evaluate proposals. The new programme was launched with a significantly (40%) higher budget of HUF 19 billion, and the amount that can be awarded per project has also been significantly increased (from HUF 48 million to HUF 100-200 million).

The primary aim of the new programme is to provide internationally competitive conditions for the most talented and excellent researchers, so that they have a real alternative to doing research in Hungary, even against the attractiveness of the world’s leading research ecosystems. And if Hungarian talent does choose to work abroad, they should be able to return without giving up their aspirations for cutting-edge research.

In accordance with the ERC-style evaluation process, the proposals received will be evaluated by at least 2 members of the evaluation panels, composed of prominent international and national scientists, proposed by the members of the RCH Panel, the HAS and HUN-REN. The resulting evaluations will be used to select the proposals that will be sent to international scientific evaluators. The scientific evaluators assess and score the proposals according to a set of evaluation criteria that measure researcher excellence and the excellence of the research topic, in line with international practice. The panels prioritise the evaluations received and make a recommendation to the RCH on the projects to be funded. The process is the same as for ERC panels. In line with this logic, the HRC’s primary task is to determine how many of the projects prioritised by the evaluation panels will be feasible, based on the funding available.

The strategic goal of the Ministry and the NRDI Office remains unchanged: to develop a research funding scheme that provides an attractive environment for Hungarian talent. The renewed NREP programme, the University Research Scholarship Programme, also renewed and having an increased budget, as well as the Research Grant Hungary programme, launched to attract top scientists to Hungary, also serve this purpose.