HUN-REN's New Operations Planning Continues at the last Research Institute Leaders' Meeting of 2024

The meeting of the leaders of HUN-REN’s research facilities, held on December 16, began with a review of proposed amendments to the new HUN-REN Bill, having been discussed by the Parliamentary Committee on Legislative Affairs. Directors-general as well as directors of stand-alone institutes, exchanged views on the speeches and positions expressed at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences' Extraordinary General Assembly.

Among the proposed amendments to the T/10010 Bill leaders of research facilities paid detailed attention to the public duties defined in the document. These include the following: Hungarian Research Network conducts scientific research through its research institutions, maintains, operates, and continuously develops infrastructure necessary for this; takes measures to exploit the results of scientific research; establishes agreements and maintains relationships with domestic, foreign, and international scientific institutions and organizations, as well as with scientific organizations of the European Union; maintains scientific research groups in cooperation with higher education institutions and public collections based on agreements; contributing to education and doctoral (PhD) training in higher education institutions. Furthermore, public duties of HUN-REN include ensuring the functioning of the researcher recruitment system and, among other things, conducting research and taking positions on scientific issues and expressing opinions on conceptual issues related to domestic science policies and societal affairs. It also provides public services related to its research activities and operates the Budapest Research Reactor as well as performing all public duties assigned to it by law within its scope of responsibilities and authority.

At the final meeting, participants welcomed the proposed procedure for nominating the President and members of the Steering Committee. According to this procedure, when HUN-REN is established, the President and members of the Steering Committee are appointed by the Prime Minister based on a consensual proposal by the Minister responsible for science and the President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Participants also approved of the fact that the work of the Steering Committee was supported by the Institution Directors' College, consisting of heads of research institutions having consultative rights.

HUN-REN is the legal successor to all rights and obligations of Hungarian Research Network Headquaters. The research institutes will cease to exist as budgetary bodies and continue their activities as general legal successors, organizational units with derived legal personalities. Regarding the leadership of these institutions, the president exercises employer rights for their directors, while the head of the organizational unit exercises employer rights for other employees.

The Transformation Program Office is 90% complete, according to the meeting. In the eight subprogrammes, both HUN-REN HQ and expert representatives from the network's research facilities are involved. The subprogramme leaders have defined the goals and tasks of the transformation topics to put focuses on, and they have prepared detailed timetables for the first – stabilization – phase, which runs until April 1, 2025.

The President and CEO of HUN-REN continue to provide regular and detailed updates to the research community on the transformation process.