You are here: For the applicantsFunding schemesCalls to foster RDIArchived calls“OTKA” postdoctoral excellence programme (PD_23)
Call for “OTKA” postdoctoral excellence programme
Date of announcement: 28 march 2023
Modified:
Next deadline for submission:
Deadline for E-submission: 03 may 2023 16:00
03 may 2023
Deadline for application via post office: 10 may 2023
Submitter of proposal
Budgetary institution, Enterprise, Non-profit organisation
Beneficiary groups
Institution of higher education, Other budgetary research institution, Enterprise-based research organisation, Non-profit research organisation, Institution of the Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELKH)
Budget
HUF 13 500 000 000
Number of applications
330-350
Funds available per project
HUF 30 Mn
Field of research activity
Fundamental research
Evaluator of proposals
NRDI Office
Financed from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund, the call contributes to the strengthening of centres of excellence in Hungary by funding young researchers having a recent doctoral degree. With the funding, young researchers with a PhD/DLA degree (postdoctors) have greater chance to become the outstanding representatives of Hungarian scientific life in the future.

Available budget

In the period 2024-2027, the Ministry of Culture and Innovation allocates a combined budget of HUF 13.5 billion from the NRDI Fund for the programme of the thematic research projects (K_23), the young researchers’ and postdoctoral excellence programmes (FK_23, PD_23) and the programme of thematic research projects based on Hungarian–Slovenian bilateral cooperation (SNN_23).

Duration of the projects

Projects shall commence on 1 January 2024, and the maximum project duration is 36 months.

Amount of funding

According to the call, HUF 30 million for maximum 36 months can be requested for each project. If the duration of the project is shorter, requested funding should be decreased on a pro rata temporis basis. Apart from remuneration and related taxes payable by the employer, certain tangible costs are also eligible, as well as overhead costs and costs of acquisition of scientific information and Open Access publication, both 10% of the direct project costs. The eligible amount of full-time researcher’s salary is HUF 530,000 gross per month. The implementation of PD type projects cannot involve participating researchers, however technical staff and students are allowed. The earliest date for reporting costs is the project start date specified in the funding agreement.

Submission of applications

The NRDI Office enables applicants to submit their applications exclusively electronically. In this case, the documents required in Chapter “K” of the call to be submitted by regular mail / with electronic signature must be signed electronically as specified in Chapter “K” of the call and attached to the application on the Online Application Portal by the deadline for electronic submission, that is, by 3 May 2023 at 16:00 (CET).

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

In the case of submission by 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 the deadline for E-submission, and the documents required in Chapter “K” of the call were submitted by regular mail to the Customer Service of the NRDI Office by the deadline.

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 the deadline for E-submission, and the electronically signed versions of the documents required in Chapter “K” of the call to be submitted by regular mail / with electronic signature have been submitted through the Online Application Portal.

All applications must be submitted in English irrespective of the field of science. Applications in Hungarian are only allowed on the basis of prior approval (so-called Hungaricum permission, to be requested not later than 14 April 2023). In the case of PD type proposals submitted in humanities and social sciences, bilingual research plans may be submitted, regardless of a Hungaricum permission.

Eligible applicants

Principal investigators can apply jointly with the host institution which has to be a Hungarian based

  • higher education institution, research centre, research institution, budgetary institution or an institution thereof having legal personality that qualifies as a research and knowledge-dissemination organisation under Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014;
  • business company which has at least two completed business years, maintains double-entry accounting that qualifies as a research and knowledge-dissemination organisation under Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014;
  • non-profit organisation that qualifies as a research and knowledge-dissemination organisation under Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014.

Throughout the entire implementation period the principal investigator shall be employed by the host institution under an employment contract, civil service contract or other contract aimed at performing work. Awarded postdoctors must undertake to work at least 50% of their time (0,5 FTE) on the tasks defined in the project proposal.

Further eligibility terms for principal investigators

Only those postdoctors are eligible for the funding whose doctoral degree (PhD/DLA) was issued not earlier than 1 January 2018. Researchers with child(ren) born after the date of degree can apply for preferential terms in this respect. Further relief from the rule may be granted in special circumstances, upon individual considerations.

No more than one proposal may be submitted to this call as principal investigator, and FD_23, K_23 or SNN_23 proposals are not allowed in parallel. Grantees of K_22, FK_22, PD_22, ANN_22, SNN_22 projects, grantees of Forefront (KKP) projects and Momentum (Lendület) projects of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences are not eligible either. Further “OTKA” type grants may be awarded in the future, however, submission of such proposals is not allowed in the first 12 months of the PD_23 implementation period.

Eligible objectives and actions

Project proposals can cover discovery research in any fields of science, regardless of thematic priority, if otherwise the application meets the conditions laid down in the call. Those actions are eligible which aim to achieve the key objectives developed on the basis of the research and work plan specified in the proposal, in any field of science and set out in the research project plan submitted to the NRDI Office.

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.

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 timing and the budget of the RDI funding schemes of the EU-financed operational programme (Economic Development and Innovation Operational Programme Plus - EDIOP Plus) has been approved by the Government within the Annual Development Plan (ADP), upon the proposal of the NRDI Office.

The 2022 calls for domestic RDI proposals financed from the NRDI Fund are set out in the annual Programme Strategy adopted by the Government.
(Government Decree 1414/2022. (VIII. 18.)

The table below shows the calls announced for the period 2021-2027 and their amounts, broken down by year.

Source
Specificity
Budget
2021
(Bn HUF)

Budget
2022
(Bn HUF)

NRF RF NRF RF
GINOP Plusz (EDIOP)
Economic Development and Innovation Operational Programme Plusz
136,670 - 5 -
NRDI Fund
National Research, Development and Innovation Fund
189,384 - 143,8293
-
ITM (2021) Ministry for Innovation and Technology (2021) 11 - - -
RRF Recovery and Resilience Facility 153,141 - 39,750 -
SUM
 
490,195 - 188,5793 -

NRF= non-refundable
RF= refundable

Source
Calls for proposals
Budget
2021
(Bn HUF)

Budget
2022
(Bn HUF)
NRF RF NRF RF

GINOP Plusz
2021-2022

ITM
2021

Support of business RDI activities
Stimulating business research, development and innovation
GINOP Plusz-2.1.2-21
136,67 - - -
Targeted R&D services Targeted R&D services to businesses, research sites, and research and knowledge-dissemination organisations
GINOP Plusz-2.2.1-22
- - 5 -
Energetics Calls The implementation of developments for the recovery, storage or market-based use of waste heat through innovative storage or conversion technologies
2021-2.1.2-HŐ
5 - - -
The implementation of developments promoting innovative electrochemical storage of surplus carbon-free electricity
2021-2.1.1-EK
6 - - -
RRF
2021-2022
Practice-oriented higher education Infrastructure and skills development for practice-oriented higher education
RRF-2.1.2-21
81,476 - - -
National Laboratories Establishment and complex development of the National Laboratory
RRF-2.3.1-21
71,765 - - -
Higher education courses and services adapted to the core activities of adult education institution Institutional innovation of higher education courses and services adapted to the core activities of adult education institutions and strengthening of adult learning activities in higher education
RRF-2.1.3- 22
- - 39,750 -
Innovation Sub-fund
2021-2022
Support for market-driven RDI projects Support for market-driven RDI projects
2020-1.1.2-PIACI KFI; 2021-1.1.3-PIACI KFI
59,06 - 40,4673 -
KKV Start programme KKV Start Innovation
2020-1.1.1-KKV START
12 - - -
Fast track programme Fast track
2020-1.1.5-GYORSÍTÓSÁV; 2021-1.1.4-GYORSÍTÓSÁV
3 - 12,85 -
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
0,4 - 0,3 -
University Innovation Ecosystema
University Innovation Ecosystem
2019-1.2.1-EGYETEMI ÖKO
2 - - -
International programmes 2019-2.1.3-NEMZ_ECSEL (2021); 2019-2.1.2-NEMZ (2021); 2020-1.2.1-GYAK (2021); 2021-1.2.1-EIT-KIC (2021); 2021-1.2.4-TÉT (2021); 2021-1.2.5-TÉT-IPARI-RU (2021) 2019-2.1.7-ERA-NET (2021. 2022); 2020-1.2.3-EUREKA (2021, 2022); 2021-1.2.2-EU_KKV (2021. 2022); 2021-1.2.3-EU_KP (2021, 2022); 2021-4.1.2-NEMZ_KI (2021, 2022); 2021-1.2.6-TÉT-IPARI-MA (2021), 2022-1.2.4-EUREKA (2022); 2022-1.2.6-TÉT-IPARI-TR (2022); 2022-1.2.3-GYAK (2022); 2022-1.2.2-TÉT-IPARI-UZ (2022), 2022-1.2.5-TÉT-IPARI-KR (2022) 3,5 - 6 -
Centres of excellence
Establishing and developing centres of excellence2022-1.1.1-KK - - 20,7 -
Startup Programme Startup Programme - - 8,5 -
Investment in the future Fund Investment in the future
2020-1.1.6-JÖVŐ
7 - - -
Development of an applied research network Participation in the National Network of Applied Research Institutes
2021-1.1.2-AKH
1,63 - - -
Research Sub-fund
2021
-2022
Thematic Excellence Programme 2021 Thematic Excellence Programme
TKP2021
75 - - -
New National Excellence Programme New National Excellence Programme – Call for Research Scholarship Applications for Undergraduate Students
ÚNKP-21-1; ÚNKP-22-1
0,60 - 0,828 -
New National Excellence Programme – Call for Research Scholarship Applications for Graduate Students
ÚNKP-21-2; ÚNKP-22-2
New National Excellence Programme – Call for Research Scholarship Applications for PhD Students
ÚNKP-21-3; ÚNKP-22-3
1 - 1,2 -
New National Excellence Programme – “Power Up Science!” Call for Research Scholarship Applications for Doctoral Candidate sand Postdoctors
ÚNKP-21-4; ÚNKP-22-4
0,832 - 1,052 -
New National Excellence Programme – Call for Scholarship Applications for Bolyai+ Higher Education Teachers and Researchers
ÚNKP-21-5; ÚNKP-22-5
1,40 - 0,70 -
New National Excellence Programme – “Power up your Talent!” Call for Research Scholarship Applications for New Higher Education Students
ÚNKP-21-6; ÚNKP-22-6
0,168 - 0,22 -
Postdoctoral and Young researchers’ excellence programme and Call for thematic research projects Postdoctoral and Young researchers’ excellence programme and Call for thematic research projects (OTKA)
PD_21, FK_21, K_21, ANN_21, SNN_21
PD_22, FK_22, K_22, ANN_22, SNN_22
12,9 - 13,5 -
Patronage Programme Science Patronage Programme
MEC_21
1 - - -
Forefront – Research Excellence Programme Forefront – Research Excellence Programme
KKP_21, KKP_22
3 - 3 -
Cooperative Doctoral Programme Cooperative Doctoral Programme
KDP-2021
4,894 - 2,832 -
Strategic R&D centres Strategic R&D centres
SKFM-2022
- - 3 -
Development of the Selye János Student Lab Network Development of the Selye János Student Lab Network - - 2 -
National Laboratories Sub-fund
2022
National Laboratories Establishment and complex development of the National Laboratories
2022-2.1.1-NL
- - 26,6 -
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