The grant enables the beneficiaries to conduct research projects promising world-class results in Hungary over the next five years, contributing to the successful participation in European Research Council (ERC) funding programmes.

Unlike previous years, this year’s call set successful participation in an international competition as a requirement for lead researchers. Nine valid proposals were submitted to the call with a total funding request of over HUF 2.5 billion. 56% of the proposals (both in terms of number and funding request) came from the area of natural sciences dealing with inanimate matter, 33% from medical and biological sciences, and 11% from the field of complex environmental sciences.

The funding decision was based on the evaluation of the expert panel invited by the NRDI Office and on the applicants’ personal project presentations. The panel evaluated the proposals against the selection criteria and found all nine of them suitable for being invited to present their projects in person. Following the presentations, the panel ranked the projects and proposed to the minister for science policy coordination to fund each of them.

The minister then decided to select the following nine outstanding project proposals for funding with a total grant amount of HUF 2.56 billion.

FUNDED PROJECTS

Funding organisation: NRDI Office
Source: NRDI Fund
Date of decision: 10 March 2020