The calls aim to further improve Hungarian scientific excellence by promoting talented researchers and their research projects. As a priority objective, the calls are foreseen to promote cooperation between domestic research groups and their foreign partners, strengthen the international embeddedness of Hungarian science, and increase the international recognition of domestic researchers and research institutions. The call is financed from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund.

The call for researcher-initiated thematic applications is open for discovery research projects in any field of science without any thematic priority in the framework of the following actions:

• Research projects based on international cooperation (NN_18)
  
• Research projects based on Hungarian–Austrian cooperation (ANN_18)
  
• Research projects based on Hungarian–Slovenian cooperation (SNN_18)
  

Available budget

The combined budget of NN_18, ANN_18 and SNN_18 calls is HUF 1 billion.

Available funds

The average monthly amount of funding that can be requested is HUF 1 million per project, which means HUF 48 million for the maximum 48 months in the case of the NN_18 and ANN_18 calls and HUF 36 million for the maximum 36 months in the case of the SNN_18 call.

Applicants are requested to draft their estimated budget in view of the research costs generally applicable to the given field of science. The evaluation panel will also examine whether the estimated budget is realistic: both an underestimated and an overestimated budget can lead to negative assessment.

Duration of the project

The maximum project duration is 48 months for the NN_18 and ANN_18 calls, and 36 months for the SNN_18 call. Projects shall commence between 1 September 2018 and 1 December 2018. In the case of the NN_18 call projects may start later if the date of the award decision of the foreign partner’s application makes it necessary. The foreign partner must prove the availability of funds within 12 months from the submission of the NN_18 application. The earliest date for reporting costs is the project start date specified in the funding agreement.

Submission of applications

Complying with its legal obligation, the NRDI Office enables applicants to submit their applications exclusively electronically. In this case, the documents required in Point “H” of the call to be submitted by regular mail / with electronic signature must be signed electronically as specified in Point “H” of the call and attached to the application on the Online Application Portal by the deadline for electronic submission, that is, by 15 February 2018 at 16:00 (CET).

Please note that all documents required to be submitted by regular mail/with electronic signature must be submitted in the same way, that is, all documents must be submitted to the NRDI Office either by regular mail or electronically provided with electronic signature.

In the case of regular mail, the submission is successful if the proposal was finalised electronically by the applicant and approved by the head of the host institution by 15 February 2018, and if the documents required in Point “H” of the call to be submitted by regular mail were sent to the Customer Service of the NRDI Office postmarked no later than 22 February 2018. In the case of electronic submission, the submission is successful if the proposal was finalised electronically by the applicant and approved by the head of the host institution by 15 February 2018, and if the electronically signed versions of the documents required in Point “H” of the call to be submitted by regular mail / with electronic signature were submitted through the Online Application Portal.

Applications may not be submitted in person. All applications must be submitted in English irrespective of the field of science.

Eligible applicants

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 which has at least two completed business years, maintains double-entry accounting and is not subject to the simplified entrepreneurial tax (EVA), provided that it should pursue RDI activities (it can only apply for funding for non-economic activities); or
  
• a non-profit organisation pursuing research and development as core activity.
  

Throughout the entire implementation period the principal investigator shall be a full-time worker of the host institution under an employment contract, civil service contract, works contract or other contract aimed at performing work.

Projects can also be implemented by consortia.

Further requirements for principal investigators

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 applicant may only submit one international cooperation application as principal investigator and may only assume principal investigator position in maximum two projects funded by the NRDI Office under the PD, FK, K, NK, NF or NN schemes, and one project funded under the Funding for research teams with significant achievements of internationally outstanding impact (KH) scheme at a time.

Conditions for foreign cooperation partners

• Action NN_18: Hungarian applicants have to submit their application to the NRDI Office, while the foreign cooperation partners have to submit their parallel application to the competent research funding organisation in their country. The whole project is only eligible for funding if the domestic application is selected for funding by the NRDI Office and the foreign application by the foreign funding organisation. From the perspective of the foreign cooperation partner, funding organisation shall mean any public or private institution entitled to provide funding for the given research project.
  
• Action ANN_18: The applications submitted to the NRDI Office shall specify the division of labour between the Hungarian and the Austrian partners in the work plan, the description of the added value resulting from the cooperation also in the work plan, and the Austrian partner’s estimated budget with explanation as a separate attachment.
  The parallel call published on the foreign funding organisation’s website: Austrian Science Fund (FWF).
  
• Action SNN_18: The applications submitted to the NRDI Office shall specify the division of labour between the Hungarian and the Slovenian partners in the work plan, the description of the added value resulting from the cooperation also in the work plan, and the Slovenian partner’s estimated budget with explanation as a separate attachment.
  The parallel call published on the foreign funding organisation’s website: Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS).
  

Eligible objectives and actions

All activities are eligible that are performed by the participating domestic researcher(s) or research group(s) in order to attain the primary goals set out in the discovery research plan submitted to the NRDI Office and elaborated on the basis of the research and work plan outlined in the call for thematic research projects based on international cooperation.