Breakthrough in researchers’ career path: the first step of a historic pay rise has been implemented at HUN-REN

For 2025, the government provided HUN-REN with an additional 18 billion forints for salary development. This was paid out to researchers and staff in September, retroactively back to January 1, 2025, and from October onward everyone receives the higher monthly salary as standard.

To support the next steps of the pay rise, the government is also guaranteeing extra funding for HUN-REN for the following two years: another 18 billion forints in 2026, and a further 12.5 billion forints in 2027. As a result, compared with the 2024 baseline, direct budgetary support for the research network will more than double by 2027.

By 2027, a performance-based pay system will be in place that truly reflects Hungarian researchers’ achievements and is comparable to practices at Western European research institutes. The salary reform program offers researchers a predictable and competitive career path and strengthens the future of Hungarian research.

In 2026 and 2027, the wage adjustment will put a stronger emphasis on recognizing research performance. Evaluation will take into account not only the quantity and quality of internationally ranked scientific publications, but also registered patents, the real-world use of innovation results, the scale of industry collaborations and contracts, and success rates in international grant applications. A key priority is the training of future researchers, attracting and retaining talent, and making a scientific career more appealing.

The substantial extra budget funding the government has provided to the HUN-REN Hungarian Research Network for its public research mission is meant not only to support the pay reform, but also to finance infrastructure upgrades and capacity expansion. The aim is to also strengthen the network’s ability to attract external capital, which would further deepen cooperation with industry and the wider economy.

Additional opportunities for research- and innovation-related infrastructure development will open up next year through the GINOP Plus grant program. With a total framework of 26 billion forints, HUN-REN is set to launch a development scheme on a scale the network has never seen before. Over the next three years, state-of-the-art technological infrastructure will be built in areas including artificial intelligence, nuclear medicine, materials science, and biotechnology.

HUN-REN’s salary reform, capacity expansion, and infrastructure development are investments for the future. They help build a research environment where new scientific results feed into value chains and have an immediate impact on the Hungarian economy and society as a whole. In the work of the network’s researchers, a key role will be played by the priority areas set out in the János Neumann Program: healthy living, the green transition and sustainability, digitalization, energy security, and cyber defense.