HUN-REN’s Response to Statements by Certain Directors General Concerning HUN-REN

The mission and objectives of the HUN-REN Hungarian Research Network (HUN-REN) are clear: a commitment to excellence and tangible results, ensuring that research and innovation deliver the greatest possible benefit to the people of Hungary and that Hungary remains competitive in the international research and innovation landscape. HUN-REN supports decision-makers, present and future alike, by placing its full research and innovation expertise at their disposal in the pursuit of science policy objectives. This is not only in HUN-REN’s interest; it is also a statutory obligation. The priorities outlined by the incoming government are consistent with HUN-REN’s existing strategic directions. We therefore look forward with confidence to establishing cooperation with the new government and to working together to further strengthen science and research, enhance innovation performance, and contribute to Hungary’s development.

In recent days, a wide range of views have been expressed concerning HUN-REN. The most surprising of these has undoubtedly been the joint statement issued by the Directors General of HUN-REN research institutions, with two exceptions. Despite their responsibility for helping to build HUN-REN and ensuring its success, they have now called for its dissolution and for the adoption of an alternative operating model. Notably, they informed their own organisations of this statement only one hour before its publication.

HUN-REN operates under an Act adopted by the Hungarian Parliament in 2024 as an independent and autonomous organisation registered by the courts and functioning as a network of excellent research institutions. Within HUN-REN, the individual research institutions also operate as separate legal entities, have full scientific and research autonomy, their own organisational structures, independent budgets, revenues and financial management, as well as access to national and EU funding opportunities. Each institute is led by a Director General.

HUN-REN’s Governing Board includes highly respected scientists and leading figures from the field of innovation, jointly nominated by Tamás Freund, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the minister responsible for innovation. They play a crucial role in the network’s strategic governance without intervening in the day-to-day operations of the research institutions. The President and a majority of the members of the Governing Board are members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The President returned from Singapore at the joint invitation of the Minister for Innovation and the President of the Academy in order to lead HUN-REN.

For the sake of clarity, it should be noted that the Directors General lead HUN-REN research institutions employing several hundred staff and managing budgets of several billion forints, with full professional, operational and financial autonomy—something they themselves acknowledge in their statement. At the same time, they are seeking to abandon the natural cooperation, efficiency, shared objectives and network-based dynamism inherent in HUN-REN’s model, as well as any form of oversight. They propose reintegrating the research institutes into the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, thereby effectively reverting to the pre-2019 model. That model neither required performance-based operation nor placed emphasis on societal impact, and today it is more characteristic of certain former socialist and Central Asian countries than of contemporary European and international practice. The Directors General issued their statement at a time when, following multiple extensions of their mandates, international open calls had been launched for these positions, creating opportunities for the most outstanding candidates from Hungary and abroad.

In its current organisational form, HUN-REN is aligned with the most successful European research network models, including the Max Planck Society in Germany, the CNRS in France and comparable Scandinavian models, and it operates on the basis of a modern system founded on performance, stability and institutional autonomy. HUN-REN comprises 15 research institutions across Hungary, employing approximately 3,400 researchers and around 5,000 staff in total. As a central pillar in Hungary’s research and innovation ecosystem, HUN-REN is rightly expected by taxpayers to deliver outstanding research and innovation outcomes.

As a result of HUN-REN’s negotiations, state funding for the research network is provided from this year onwards through a public task financing agreement that is also performance-based. In 2026, this amounts to HUF 76.8 billion—nearly double the 2024 level and more than four times the funding allocated at the time of separation from the Academy. Approximately three quarters of this funding is allocated directly within the network, while the remainder is distributed indirectly or on a performance basis. At the same time, HUN-REN remains open to reviewing the public task financing agreement with the new government. The prospect of further increases in public funding for research is also encouraging.

Contrary to the claims made in the Directors General’s statement, HUN-REN does not operate a centralised administrative governing centre. In an organisation of more than 5,000 employees, approximately 140 staff members perform functions that support the network as a whole. Their role is to facilitate the operation and development of the organisation, monitor international trends and challenges, and provide support in areas such as grant management, innovation, market uptake, talent recruitment, the application of artificial intelligence, public task financing, science communication, international relations, cooperation with higher education and industry, and operational optimisation.

HUN-REN operates in accordance with the applicable legislation and regulations and is responsible for safeguarding the stability of the network. It participates openly and constructively in all professional consultations that serve the interests and effectiveness of Hungarian research and innovation. Hungary’s progress depends on a modern, efficient, competitive, forward-looking, independent and autonomous research network—one that meets European and international standards and is driven by excellence in research and innovation.