The programme follows a funding model that supports forefront discovery research while offering grant opportunities to internationally top-performing researchers for implementing their projects at a Hungarian host institution in connection with European Research Council (ERC) calls. This way, the Forefront programme enhances Hungary’s efforts to become a regional hub for research, development and innovation.

This call for proposals aims to help internationally acclaimed researchers to prepare for and succeed in ECR calls.

The KKP_21 call is only open to researchers for discovery research projects without any thematic restriction, provided that the applicant’s scientific track record 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 ten years and can be reasonably expected to continue this level of performance on the basis of their research plan.

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

Eligible applicants

Applications are eligible if submitted by any of the following types of organisations having a legal personality and a registered seat in Hungary:

• higher education institution, research centre, research institution, budgetary organ or a budgetary organ institution with legal personality if it qualifies as a research facility under the RDI Act;
• non-profit organisations qualifying as research and development organisation according to its core activity

(hereinafter: host institution) jointly with a Hungarian or foreign citizen researcher with a PhD/DLA degree (hereinafter: principal investigator), provided that he or she meets with one of the following conditions:

• has led an ERC-funded Starting Grant, Consolidator Grant, Advanced Grant, or Synergy Grant project which was successfully closed after 1 January 2017, or is currently leading one such project and it is scheduled to be closed before 1 October 2021;
• applied for an ERC Starting Grant, Consolidator Grant, Advanced Grant, or Synergy Grant after 1 January 2017, and the application made it to the second round of evaluation but was not selected for funding;

• was involved as a principal investigator in an individual basic research project with a budget of at least HUF 100 million, financed from a major international research fund (e.g. Wellcome Trust, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, National Institutes of Health – NIH, Australian Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council – BBSRC, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft - DFG), and the project was successfully closed after 1 January 2017.

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

Eligible objectives and actions

Those actions are eligible which aim to achieve the key objectives developed on the basis of the research and work plan specified in the “Forefront – Research Excellence Programme” call and set out in the research project plan submitted to the NRDI Office.

Duration of the project

The project must start between 1 June 2021 and 1 October 2021, and must be implemented within 60 months from the start date. Eligible project costs can be declared from the start date of the project specified in the grant agreement.

Total available budget and maximum funding per project

The total budget earmarked from the NRDI Fund for the implementation of the programme between 2021 and 2026 is HUF 3 billion, including HUF 600 million to be disbursed in 2021. The maximum amount of grant for the maximum duration of 60 months is HUF 300 million per project (i.e. an annual average of HUF 60 million) as non-refundable funding. Funding intensity is 100%.

Submission of project proposals

All applications must be submitted in English irrespective of the field of science. Project proposals must be prepared and submitted electronically through the Online Application Portal of the NRDI Office by 16:00 CET on March 1, 2021 in line with the Guidelines for Applicants.

The call notice lists the documents required to be submitted to the NRDI Office by regular mail or electronically provided with electronic signatures. Applications may not be submitted in person.

The documents to be submitted by regular mail must be sent in one copy, provided with original signatures and seal, to the Customer Service of the NRDI Office postmarked no later than March 4, 2021. In this case, the submission is successful if the application was finalised electronically by the applicant and approved by the head of the host institution by March 1, 2021, and if the documents required by the call to be submitted by regular mail/with electronic signatures were sent to the Customer Service of the NRDI Office postmarked no later than March 4, 2021.

Complying with its legal obligation, the NRDI Office enables applicants to submit their applications exclusively electronically. In this case, the documents required by the call to be submitted by regular mail/with electronic signature must be signed electronically, as specified in the call, and must be attached to the application on the Online Application Portal by the deadline for electronic submission, that is, by March 1, 2021 at 16:00 CET. In this case, the submission is successful if the proposal was finalised electronically by the applicant and approved by the head of the host institution by March 1, 2021, and if the electronically signed versions of the documents required to be submitted by regular mail/with electronic signature were submitted through the Online Application Portal.

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.