Preparation of Founding Documents, Researcher Career Model, and Planned Salary Increase Discussed at the Research Institution Leaders' Meeting

In relation to the first agenda item, the President updated the research institution leaders, explaining that the ministry is actively working on the draft of the HUN-REN founding document. During the establishment of the new HUN-REN organisation, the minister responsible for coordinating science policy will represent the state. Ahead of the meeting on February 3 with the directors-general and the directors of stand-alone institutes, all research institutions provided the missing data for their founding documents. This information was incorporated into the drafts, which were then sent to the Ministry for Culture and Innovation for further consultation by the HUN-REN Headquarters.

Under the legal status law approved at the end of December 2024, the research centres and stand-alone institutes will become organisational units of HUN-REN, which is a legal entity with a special legal status. As research institutions, they will be recognised as research and knowledge transfer organizations in accordance with Section 3 (16a) of the 2014 Act LXXVI on scientific research, development, and innovation. As individual derivative legal entities, the research institutions will have separate organisational structures and assets from HUN-REN, and after registration, they will have their own bank accounts and tax identification numbers. Their activities will be monitored by HUN-REN's Supervisory Board. The research institutions will also be able to enter into contracts in their own name and will manage the revenue generated from these contracts, within the framework of HUN-REN's internal regulations.

The research institution leaders have begun reviewing the proposed funding system and the intended purposes for public funding across the three main scientific fields (LIFE, STEM, SHAPE). This includes the establishment of the principles for the HUF 18 billion performance-based funding, i.e. the 2025 additional funding, which falls within HUN-REN's remit. According to the ministry's proposal, the planned salary increase should be implemented as part of a coherent concept. A key element of this is a transparent and predictable researcher career model, offering an appealing career path for both young and experienced researchers, helping to retain and attract top talent, while also recognising and rewarding performance.

The participants in the meeting discussed the transition to the Ecostat integrated financial, accounting, asset, and inventory management system, as well as the restructuring of internal auditing, which will be professionally coordinated by the HUN-REN HQ’s Audit Department. It was also mentioned that the research institution leaders will soon receive detailed information regarding these matters and related tasks in a letter from the President.

Finally, there was a brief report on the data requests from the research network. As part of the Transformation Programme, the HUN-REN HQ has requested data from the research institutions – including information on human resources, movable and immovable assets, operations, innovation, and, to relieve the research institutions, directly from the National Research, Development and Innovation Office regarding applications. Further data requests are being prepared in areas such as communications, IT, and scientific performance evaluation, as well as for additional applications.

The HUN-REN leadership remains committed to providing accurate information about the renewal process affecting the research network.