You are here: For the applicantsFunding schemesCalls to foster RDIArchived calls“Frontline” – Research Excellence Programme (KKP_19)
“Frontline” – Research Excellence Programme (KKP_19)
Date of announcement: 11 april 2018
Modified:
Next deadline for submission:
Deadline for E-submission: 04 june 2018 16:00
04 june 2018
Deadline for application via post office: 11 June 2018 18:00
Submitter of proposal
Budgetary institution, Non-profit organisation
Beneficiary groups
Institution of higher education, Institution of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS/MTA), Other budgetary research institution, Non-profit research organisation
Budget
HUF 3 000 000 000
Number of applications
10-15
Funds available per project
HUF 300 Mn
Project duration
5 years
Field of research activity
Fundamental research
Evaluator of proposals
NRDI Office
The “Frontline” – Research Excellence Programme (KKP_19) provides targeted funding to world-class researchers – i.e. the best performers (belonging to the top 10%) in their respective fields of science according to the call – in their most dynamic and creative career phases enabling them to help bridging the gap between Hungary and the developed countries by implementing promising research projects as pioneering leaders in the forefront of international research.

The KKP_19 call is only open to discovery research projects without thematic restrictions provided that the applicant’s scientific resume and research plan meet the requirements set out in the call. Applicants have the highest chance if they have achieved internationally outstanding scientific results in the past five years and can be reasonably expected to continue this world-class performance on the basis of their research plan.

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

Submission of project proposals

Project proposals can be submitted electronically through the Online Application Portal of the NRDI Office by 4 June 2018 at 16:00 (CET), in line with the Guidelines for Applicants. All proposals must be submitted in English irrespective of the field of science.

Complying with its legal obligation, the NRDI Office enables applicants to submit their applications exclusively electronically. In this case, the documents required to be submitted by regular mail / with electronic signature must be signed electronically as specified and must be attached to the application on the Online Application Portal by the deadline for electronic submission, that is, by 4 June 2018 at 16:00 (CET).

An electronic submission is considered successful if the proposal was finalised electronically by the applicant and approved by the head of the host institution, and all the documents required to be submitted by regular mail / with electronic signature were signed electronically as specified and were attached to the application on the Online Application Portal by the deadline for electronic submission, that is, by 4 June 2018 at 16:00 (CET).

In the case of regular mail, submission is considered successful if the proposal was finalised electronically by the applicant and approved by the head of the host institution by 4 June 2018, and all the documents required to be submitted by regular mail / with electronic signature were sent to the Customer Service of the NRDI Office postmarked no later than 11 June 2018. Proposals may not be submitted only electronically or in person.

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.

Eligible applicants

Researchers (leading researchers) with Hungarian or foreign nationality may apply jointly with the host institution which must be

  • a higher education institution, research centre, research institution, budgetary organ or an institution thereof having legal personality if it qualifies as a research facility under the RDI Act
  • a non-profit organisation if it qualifies as a research facility under the RDI Act
domiciled in Hungary and having legal personality.

At the time of application and throughout the entire implementation period the leading researcher must 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.

Requirements for leading researchers
  • Leading researchers must hold a PhD/DLA degree and must be affiliated with a Hungarian host institution.
  • Leaders of projects selected for funding in this call may not apply for funding from the Call for researcher-initiated research proposals in the first 36 months of the funding period.
  • Leading researchers’ performance history must fall within the top 10% of their respective fields of science (for the detailed criteria of research, publication or application performance and international embeddedness see the call for proposals).

Eligible objectives and actions

Actions aimed to achieve the key objectives developed on the basis of the research and work plan specified in the “Frontline” – Research Excellence Programme call and set out in the research project plan submitted to the NRDI Office, are eligible for funding.

Available budget

The total budget earmarked from the NRDI Fund for the implementation of the programme between 2019 and 2023 is HUF 3 billion (EUR 9.8 million), including HUF 600 million (EUR 1.9 million) to be disbursed in 2019.

Maximum grant per project

The maximum amount of grant for the maximum duration of 60 months is HUF 300 million (nearly EUR 1 million) per project (an annual average of HUF 60 million i.e. EUR 0.2 million) as non-refundable funding. Funding intensity is 100%.

Duration of the project

The project must start no earlier than 1 January 2019 and must be implemented within 60 months from the start date. Eligible project costs can be declared from the start date specified in the grant agreement.

Customer service contacts:
email: nkfialap@nkfih.gov.hu 
phone: +36 (1) 795 9500

Personal appointments (pree-booked only): H-1077 Budapest, Kéthly Anna sq. 1. (2nd floor)

Customer Service hours of operation: Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m to 4 p.m., Friday from 9 a.m. to 12.00 a.m.

“Frontline” – Research Excellence Programme (KKP_19), funded projects
In the “Frontline” Research Excellence Programme announced by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, 12 research group leaders have won grants of HUF 200 million to 300 million each, of a total budget of HUF 3.24 billion, to be spent in the coming five years on creating or expanding their research group and implementing a promising discovery research project in Hungary.

31 project proposals were submitted, with funding requests of over HUF 8 billion in total. 70% of the applications (both in terms of quantity and the requested funding) were submitted from the fields of physical sciences, medical and biological sciences. Remaining applications are equally split between humanities/social sciences and complex environmental sciences. The originally announced budget of HUF 3 billion was increased as Zoltán Nusser, one of the last year's “Frontline” grantees, won an ERC Advanced Grant in the meantime, therefore his grant under the “Frontline” programme could be returned.

Funding decisions were made in a multi-stage assessment process based on anonymous peer reviews and panel evaluation, supplemented with presentations by the applicants. Firstly, each project proposal was evaluated by two to four anonymous experts, amongst them at least one foreigner, invited by the NRDI Office upon the proposal of the disciplinary panels. Based on the peer reviews, an expert group proposed by the disciplinary panels evaluated the project proposals one by one against the selection criteria set out in the call for proposals, and invited twenty shortlisted applicants to present their project proposals in person. After the project presentations the expert group made a proposal for the decision. 

Accordingly, the President of the NRDI Office resolved to fund 12 outstanding research applications with over HUF 3.2 billion in total.


FUNDED PROJECTS

Funding organisation: NRDI Office
Source: NRDI Fund
Date of decision: 18 December 2018

Project code
Principal investigator/Project title/Research organisation
Project period
(month)
Amount of awarded funds
(in HUF thousands)
129751
Miklós Gyuranecz: Novel strategies for Mycoplasma control (Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences)
60
285 500
129797
Gábor Juhász: Regulation of lysosome function (Biological Research Center of HAS)
60
300 000
129814
Balázs Papp: Patterns and principles of metabolome diversity in yeasts (Biological Research Center of HAS)
60
250 365
129848
Eörs Szathmáry: Evolution and learning (Centre for Ecological Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences)
60
283 002
129866
Ádám Gali: Quantum-coherent materials (Wigner Research Centre for Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences)
60
296 594
129877
Gergely Röst: Nonlinear dynamical systems in the mathematical models of cell biology processes (University of Szeged)
60
240 356
129909
László Nagy: Harnessing the healing power of macrophages (University of Debrecen)
60
224 580
129921
Katalin É. Kiss: Implications of endangered Uralic languages for syntactic theory and the history of Hungarian (Research Institute for Linguistics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences)
60
208 296
129924
Éva Kondorosi: Peptide effectors in plant-bacterium communication (Biological Research Center of HAS)
60
300 000
129936
Róbert Horváth: Expanding the frontiers of  label-free single cell biosensing and manipulation in biomedical engineering (MTA Centre for Energy Research)
60
249 543
129954
Attila Mócsai: Genetic analysis of neutrophil function (Semmelweis University)
60
300 000
129961
István Katona: Nanoscale molecular diversity and neuropsychiatric significance of canonical and non-canonical forms of cannabinoid signaling (Institute of Experimental Medicine Hungarian Academy of Sciences)
60
299 149
Updated: 19 December 2018
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To ensure value-based professional evaluation of proposals arriving in large quantities from the fields of discovery and applied research and innovation, to assess professional reports of funded projects and to prepare policy opinions, the NRDI Office intends to expand its expert pool in all fields of expertise.

Professionals who have registered in the database of the NRDI Office can become responsible contributors, as independent peer-reviewers, to the evaluation process in which the professional quality, novelty content and commercialisation perspectives of the proposals as compared to the requested funding should be assessed as core considerations.

The registration process can be initiated through the registration form of the NRDI Office’s website. Registration is continuously open.

Requested data within the expert registration form include:

  • personal data, contact details (necessary for contracting review assignments);
  • classification of professional skills and competencies and research areas (to get review invitations fine-tuned to your field of expertise);
  • topics of the previously reviewed proposals;
  • present and past jobs, interest networks (in order to pre-screening of conflicts of interest in a given rview assignment), education, scientific titles, most important publications and intellectual works demonstrating your professional experience;
  • language skills.

Professionals once registered in the database of experts may be invited by the NRDI Office to review submitted proposals, to assess professional reports of funded projects and to contribute to policy opinions.

Each proposal is reviewed by several independent experts at the same time. Experts selected from the database to review proposals, to assess professional reports and facilitate expert opinions will be contracted by the NRDI Office on a case-by-case basis. When concluding such a contract experts must declare that the review assignment is not obstructed by any conflict of interest whatsoever. Depending on the competition type, written expert reviews must be prepared in 15-28 work days and submitted electronically via the online review portal of the NRDI Office.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further information contact at phone +36 1 795 9500 or email at szakerto_regisztracio@nkfih.gov.hu

The NRDI Fund’s Programme Strategy 2024 supports the implementation of the John von Neumann Programme, which focuses on connecting universities, research institutions and the economy. The priority objective of the Programme Strategy 2024 is to contribute to improving the Hungarian performance in the areas of human resources (number of researchers, number of PhD students, number of STEM students in higher education), number and share of innovator enterprises (number and share of SMEs implementing product and/or process innovation) and intellectual property (IP) (patents, trademarks, designs).

The table below shows the calls planned and launched under the NRDI Fund for the period 2021-2024 and their amounts, broken down by year.

  2021 2022 2023 2024
NRDI budget
(Bn HUF)
189,844 89,838 63,779 176,263*
  Name of the scheme/
Call for proposal
(2021)
Budget
(Bn HUF)
Name of the scheme/
Call for proposal
(2022)
Budget
(Bn HUF)
Name of the scheme/
Call for proposal
(2023)
Budget
(Bn HUF)
Name of the scheme/
Call for proposal
(2024)
Budget
(Bn HUF)
Innovation
Sub-fund

2021-2024
Support for market-driven RDI projects
Support for market-driven RDI projects
2020-1.1.2-PIACI KFI
59,06     Support for Innovation Projects in Focus Areas
Support for Innovation Projects in Focus Areas
2023-1.1.1-PIACI_FÓKUSZ
30,149 SME Focal Area Innovation Programme
SME Focal Area Innovation Programme
2024-1.1.1-KKV_FÓKUSZ
50,00
Fast track programme
Fast track
2020-1.1.5-GYORSÍTÓSÁV
3,00 Fast track programme
Fast track
2021-1.1.4-GYORSÍTÓSÁV
12,85 Fast track programme
Fast Track
2023-1.1.2-GYORSÍTÓSÁV
2,00 Spin-off Programme: bringing research results to market
Fast track
2023-1.1.2-GYORSÍTÓSÁV
7,00
Intellectual property
Support of activities fostering the domestic and international protection of intellectual property with the aim of facilitating the utilisation of such intellectual property
2020-1.1.3-IPARJOG,
2021-1.1.1-IPARJOG
0,40 Intellectual property
Support of activities fostering the domestic and international protection of intellectual property with the aim of facilitating the utilisation of such intellectual property
2020-1.1.3-IPARJOG,
2021-1.1.1-IPARJOG
0,40 Intellectual property
Support of activities fostering the domestic and international protection of intellectual property with the aim of facilitating the utilisation of such intellectual property
2020-1.1.3-IPARJOG,
2021-1.1.1-IPARJOG
0,50 Industrial property tender
Support of activities fostering the domestic and international protection of intellectual property with the aim of facilitating the utilisation of such intellectual property
2020-1.1.3-IPARJOG,
2021-1.1.1-IPARJOG
0,50
International programmes
Support for participation in the ECSEL joint EU initiative
2019-2.1.3-NEMZ_ECSEL;
Support for participation in joint EU initiatives
2019-2.1.2-NEMZ;
Funding for Hungarian Summer Internship programmes for hungarian university students studying in the UK, Germany or Austria
2020-1.2.1-GYAK;
Support for Hungarian participation in EIT KIC
2021-1.2.1-EIT-KIC;
Support to bilateral science and technology (S&T) cooperations
2021-1.2.4-TÉT;
Support for Hungarian participation in the applied research and development programme in Hungarian–Russian cooperation
2021-1.2.5-TÉT-IPARI-RU;
Call for proposals: Support of Hungarian organisations successfully participating in joint international ERA-NET COFUND and EJP COFUND programmes
2019-2.1.7-ERA-NET;
Support for Hungarian participation in the EUREKA programme
2020-1.2.3-EUREKA;
Horizon Europe Accelerator booster call
2021-1.2.2-EU_KKV;
Call for proposals to foster Hungarian participation in the Horizon Europe programme and other joint programmes of the European Union
2021-1.2.3-EU_KP;
Support for the use of international and national research infrastructures
2021-4.1.2-NEMZ_KI;
Support for Hungarian participation in the applied research and development programme in Hungarian–Moroccan cooperation
2021-1.2.6-TÉT-IPARI-MA
3,50 International programmes
Call for proposals: Support of Hungarian organisations successfully participating in joint international ERA-NET COFUND and EJP COFUND programmes
2019-2.1.7-ERA-NET;
Support for Hungarian participation in the EUREKA programme
2022-1.2.4-EUREKA;
Horizon Europe Accelerator booster call
2021-1.2.2-EU_KKV;
Call for proposals to foster Hungarian participation in the Horizon Europe programme and other joint programmes of the European Union
2021-1.2.3-EU_KP;
Support for the use of international and national research infrastructures
2021-4.1.2-NEMZ_KI;
Support for Hungarian participation in the applied research and development programme in Hungarian-Turkish cooperation
2022-1.2.6-TÉT-IPARI-TR;
Support for summer internships for Hungarian students studying abroad
2022-1.2.3-GYAK;
Support for Hungarian participation in the applied research and development programme in Hungarian–Uzbek cooperation
2022-1.2.2-TÉT-IPARI-UZ;
Support for Hungarian participation in the applied research and development programme in Hungarian–Korean cooperation
2022-1.2.5-TÉT-IPARI-KR
6,00 International programmes
Call for proposals to foster Hungarian participation in the Horizon Europe programme and other joint programmes of the European Union
2021-1.2.3-EU_KP;
Support for the use of international and national research infrastructures
2021-4.1.2-NEMZ_KI;
Support to bilateral science and technology (S&T) cooperations;
Support for Hungarian participation in the EUREKA programme
2022-1.2.4-EUREKA;
Support for participation in the Horizon Europe Key Digital Technologies (KDT) partnership
2022-1.2.8-KDT;
EUROSTARS: Support for Hungarian participation in the European Partnership on Innovative SMEs
2022-1.2.7-EUROSTARS;
Call for proposals to support Hungarian organisations successfully participating in joint international calls for proposals of ERA-NET COFUND, EJPCOFUND and other multilateral programmes
2023-1.2.1-ERA-NET;
Call for proposals to support Hungarian organisations successfully participating in the joint international calls for proposals of European Partnerships in Horizon Europe
2023-1.2.2-HE_PARTNERSÉG;
Call for project proposals implemented in bilateral science and technology (S&T) cooperation
2023-1.2.4-TÉT
6,10 International programmes
HU-rizon Programme
2024-1.2.3-HU-RIZONT;
Call for project proposals implemented in bilateral science and technology (S&T) cooperation
2024-1.2.5-TÉT;
Call for proposals to support Hungarian organisations successfully participating in joint international calls for proposals of ERA-NET COFUND, EJP COFUND and other multilateral programmes
2024-1.2.2-ERA_NET;
Call for proposals to support Hungarian organisations successfully participating in the joint international calls for proposals of European Partnerships in Horizon Europe
2024-1.2.1-HE_PARTNERSÉG;
Support for Hungarian participation in the EUREKA programme
2024-1.2.6-EUREKA;
Support for participation in the Horizon Europe Key Digital Technologies (KDT) partnership
2024-1.2.4-KDT;
EUROSTARS: Support for Hungarian participation in the European Partnership on Innovative SMEs;
Call for proposals to foster Hungarian participation in the Horizon Europe programme and other joint programmes of the European Union
2021-1.2.3-EU_KP;
Horizon Europe Accelerator booster call (EU_KKV);
Support for active participation in international professional organisations for researchers and research managers (Networking+);
Booster call for the Teaming of Excellence 2025 call;
International cooperation in preparation.
17,155
Announced under international programmes.
(Support for the use of international and national research infrastructures 2021-4.1.2-NEMZ_KI)
  Announced under international programmes.   Announced under international programmes.   Support for the use of international and national research infrastructures
Support for the use of international and national research infrastructures
2021-4.1.2-NEMZ_KI;
0,10
            Large Company Focus Area Innovation Programme
(Call for proposal will be announced later)
15,00
            Innovation Venture Capital Programme
(Call for proposal will be announced later)
9,50
            Development of applied research and innovation services
(Call for proposal will be announced later)
2,50
Investment in the future Fund
Investment in the future
2020-1.1.6-JÖVŐ
7,00            
Development of an applied research network
Participation in the National Network of Applied Research Institutes
2021-1.1.2-AKH
1,63            
University Innovation Ecosystema
University Innovation Ecosystema
2019-1.2.1-EGYETEMI ÖKO
2,46            
KKV Start programme
KKV Start Innovation
2020-1.1.1-KKV START
12,00            
    Centres of excellence
Establishing and developing centres of excellence
2022-1.1.1-KK
20,60        
    Startup Programme
Startup Programme
2022-1.1.2-STARTUP
4,06        
        Incubator Support Scheme
STARTUP FACTORY 2023
2023-1.1.3-STARTUP
5,75    
Research
Sub-fund

2021-2024
Postdoctoral and Young researchers’ excellence programme and Call for thematic research projects ("OTKA")
Postdoctoral and Young researchers’ excellence programme and Call for thematic research projects ("OTKA")
PD_21, FK_21, K_21, ANN_21, SNN_21
12,90 Postdoctoral and Young researchers’ excellence programme and Call for thematic research projects ("OTKA")
Postdoctoral and Young researchers’ excellence programme and Call for thematic research projects ("OTKA")
PD_22, FK_22, K_22, ANN_22, SNN_22
13,50 Postdoctoral and Young researchers’ excellence programme and Call for thematic research projects ("OTKA")
Postdoctoral and Young researchers’ excellence programme and Call for thematic research projects ("OTKA")
PD_23, FK_23, K_23, SNN_23
13,50 Excellence-based research funding
Call for EXCELLENCE research proposals
EXCELLENCE_24
Call for ADVANCED research proposals
ADVANCED_24
Call for STARTING research proposals
STARTING_24
Call for proposals for research projects based on Hungarian-Austrian and Hungarian-Slovenian cooperation
ANN_24, SNN_24
19,00
Forefront – Research Excellence Programme
Forefront – Research Excellence Programme
KKP_21
3,00 Forefront – Research Excellence Programme
Forefront – Research Excellence Programme
KKP_22
3,00    
New National Excellence Programme
ÚNKP-21-1, ÚNKP-21-2, ÚNKP-21-3, ÚNKP-21-4, ÚNKP-21-5, ÚNKP-21-6
4,00 New National Excellence Programme
ÚNKP-22-1, ÚNKP-22-2, ÚNKP-22-3, ÚNKP-22-4, ÚNKP-22-5, ÚNKP-22-6
0,828 New National Excellence Programme
ÚNKP-23-1, ÚNKP-23-2, ÚNKP-23-3, ÚNKP-23-4, ÚNKP-23-5, ÚNKP-23-6
0,710 University Research Scholarship Programme
(scholarships announced by higher education institutions)
10,00
Cooperative Doctoral Programme
Cooperative Doctoral Programme
KDP-2021
4,894     Cooperative Doctoral Programme
Cooperative Doctoral Programme
KDP-2023
5,070
Patronage Programme
Science Patronage Programme
MEC_21
1,00         Science Patronage Programme
Science Patronage Programme
MEC_24
1,00
            Research Grant Hungary
Research Grant Hungary
RGH_S_24, RGH_L_24
6,00
            Pension - matching fund
(Call for proposal will be announced later)
0,244
            Own contribution - matching fund
(Call for proposal will be announced later)
0,264
            Proof of Concept: development potential assessment
(Call for proposal will be announced later)
3,00
Thematic Excellence Programme
(National-Health-Defence)

Thematic Excellence Programme 2021
TKP2021
(The budget includes the HUF 1 billion budget of the National Defence Subprogramme of the Cooperative Doctoral Programme (NDPCP-2021), which is closely linked to the National Defence, National Security Subprogramme of the 2021 Thematic Excellence Programme.)
75,00            
    Building the Selye János Student Lab network
Building the Selye János Student Lab network
2022-3.1.1-DIÁKLABOR
2,00        
National Laboratories Sub-fund
2022
    National Laboratories
Establishment and complex development of the National Laboratories
2022-2.1.1-NL
26,60        

* The total budget of the 2024 Programme Strategy.

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