The Research Excellence Council is established

The establishment of the Research Excellence Council means that the governance system of Hungary’s science policy is now complete. Gábor Stépán, BME’s professor, is also a member of the Council.

The government aims to elevate Hungary into the top twenty-five innovator countries in the world and the top ten in Europe by 2030, and to increase the number of researchers from the current 6,000 per million Hungarian inhabitants to 9,000 by the end of the decade.

In order to achieve these goals, a new 12-member National Science Policy Council was established in May 2023 to act as a strategic advisory body to the Government on science policy and innovation. Subsequently, the new nine-member governing body of the Hungarian Research Network (HUN-REN) was set up, whose primary task is to raise the profile of the research institute network and place it in the international arena. To complete the process, a seven-member Research Excellence Council was established on 13 October to ensure the efficient allocation of research resources. The Council will also be responsible for developing a system of excellence-based research funding to create an attractive and predictable research career path in Hungary that focuses on international excellence.

Members of the Council include social scientist Petra Aczél, Research & Development Director of Gedeon Richter Plc. István Greiner, plant biologist Éva Kondorosi, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ferenc Krausz, who is a BME graduate, biochemist András Perczel, mathematician Gergely Röst, and Gábor Stépán, a scientist from the field of engineering, BME’s first Bolyai Prize winner.

The members of both the HUN-REN governing body and the Research Excellence Council were invited and appointed by Minister János Csák following a consultation and in agreement with the President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Tamás Freund.

Rector’s Cabinet Communications Directorate