Practices of national and institutional support: Hungary a success story Gergely Böhm, ERC NCP Head of Department of International Relations, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
LT LV SK BG LU MT RO HR SI EE CY TR CZ PL EL HU O NO PT IE FI DK AT BE SE IL ES IT CH NL FR DE UK 5 5 7 5 8 8 5 58 65 68 7 77 7 9 6 56 95 6 9 95 68 97 9 7 HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Among EU countries Hungarian researchers are successful in ERC 58 6% of all grants retained by EU countries were retained by Hungarian HIs. 5 8 8 5 5 5 7 LT LV SK BG LU MT RO HR SI EE CY TR CZ PL EL HU Number of ERC grants by country of Host Institution 7-5 (bottom-end)
CY RO BG LV SK MT EL PL TR HR LT HU IT ES PT IE CZ EE LU NO UK NL SI BE FR AT DE DK CH SE FI IL,%,6%,55%,6%,6%,66%,66%,7%,78%,8%,85%,%,9%,6%,9%,6%,9%,5%,5%,6%,68%,8%,99%,8%,5%,66%,67%,8%,85%,%,6%,5% HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES What would macro indicators suggest? - GERD average 5- and,5%,%,5%,% GERD strongly correlates with the number of ERC grants the distance above the trendline is second highest in case of Hungary,5%,%,5%,%,5%,%
RO BG TR LV LT PL HR SK EL HU ES MT PT IT CY CZ NO EE SI AT FR BE IE UK LU NL DE FI DK SE CH,,88,568,7,86,7,,6,66,69,85,966,,89,8,7,79,89,59,585,596,69,68,665,68,67,676,676,76,7,899 HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES The innovation index? even less Researcher citation index? maybe, but not really Hungary is in one group with CZ and SI regarding citation impact, but EE is far ahead in terms of innovation capacity SI, EE and CZ are all more advanced
TR RO PL BG SK LT HR LV CZ HU MT PT IT ES EE FR SI DE EL CY UK LU IL IE AT NO FI BE SE DK NL CH OTHER HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Macro indicators give fairly good explanation to average FP7 and H performance, but in case of Hungary do not explain ERC results 6,% 5,% Share of funding retained in FP7 and H per million people,%,%,%,%,% FP H
There are other reasons for the good performance in ERC grants Culture of Science rich tradition in science fairly good science education, a few outstanding secondary schools culture of individual excellence vs. teamwork or strong institutional background Outstanding science schools in certain areas in an often mediocre environment there are centres of excellence with top results and top international ranking (ie.: mathematics, neuroscience, cognitive science, biology, physics) mainly: part of the research network of MTA and the Central European University Institutional / Policy Support Lendület (Momentum) grant scheme of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences support mechanisms (grants) funded by the National Office of Research Development and Innovation NCP services organised by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The role of centres of excellence: critical mass of outstanding researchers Host Institution No. of ERC grants MTA Institutes Central European University Eötvös Loránd University 7 University of Szeged 5 University of Technology and Economics Semmelweis University Drugmotif Kft. Mediamass Kft. Óbuda University University of Pécs Σ 57 9 8 7 6 5 Number of ERC grants won by PIs in the MTA research network and CEU and others (7-6) 7 8 9 5 6 MTA Institutes MTA University Groups CEU other 5 out of 57 PIs affiliated to MTA and CEU!
ERC grant distribution in MTA Research Institutes: excellence attracts excellence Multidisciplinary research centres NATURAL SCIENCES SOCIAL SCIENCES HUMANITIES AND ARTS ECOLOGY Tihany ASTRONOMY AND EARTH SCIENCE, Sopron AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES WIGNER PHYSICS ECONOMY AND REGIONAL STUDIES ENERGY SCIENCE Independent research institutes NEUROSCIENCE 5 NUCLEAR RESEARCH BIOLOGY Debrecen Szeged LINGUISTICS MATHEMATICS 6 INFORMATICS
Momentum grants - stepping stone to ERC grant scheme launched by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 9 to reverse brain drain very similar to ERC (5 year grant for young PIs to establish their own research groups, based on excellence, very competitive) 9-5 quickly growing budget, now ~ million euros, over Pis very competitive, based on excellence, success rate: ~%,, 8, 6,,,,,,9, 8,,,,8 9 5 MTA Universities 9 5 9 6 9 57 7 5 7 9 5
ERC grants won by Momentum grantees (7-6) 9 8 7 6 5 6 7 8 9 5 6
National ERC funding schemes (National Research Development and Innovation Office) 8+ months financing for excellent but not funded ERC applicants (ERC_HU) since 5, continuous for applicants with step evaluation of A and B 5 million HUF ~ 5. for 8 months can be extended once with months with another step evaluation record no peer-review with A evaluation, ranking with those with B evaluation provided on the condition that the grantee will submit an ERC proposal during the funding period. ERC Visiting Fellowship mobility grants (ERC_MOBIL) since 6, continuous - months fellowship for scientists with great potential to win an ERC grant to visit an ERC lab national funding in co-operation with ERC Expected results: experience in preparing the grant application, improvement in professional and leadership skills, improvement in the CV (joint work, publications, etc.) yearly budget for max. grantees 5-6 results: 8 grants, 5. each
ERC National Contact Point: support services for applicants and grantees ERC NCP services are provided by the Secretariat of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences strong team within the Department of International Relations dedicated website for ERC applicants: /mta_erc (useful informations, news, FAQ, etc.) functional email address only for ERC applicants: erc@titkarsag. info-days, trainings, workshops, also in-house events for research institutes personal support for applicants and host institutions (eligibility, proposal, grant agreement, reporting) funding for participation at trainings
Thank you for your attention Gergely Böhm bohm.gergely@titkarsag. /mta_erc