Successful talks aimed at deepening Hungarian–Swiss research cooperation

On 1–2 December 2025, President Balázs Gulyás and CEO Roland Jakab visited Switzerland to present the renewed HUN-REN, build new partnerships, and learn more about the Swiss research and innovation network, which ranks among the world’s best. In Zurich, they met with ETH Domain President Michael Hengartner and agreed to launch negotiations on an inter-institutional framework agreement. Building on existing professional links, the aim is to take cooperation to a higher level by providing mutual start-up funding (“seed money”) for researchers applying from both sides.

At the university, in the presence of students and faculty, Professor Alexander Zehnder - former president of ETH and outgoing chair of HUN-REN’s Advisory Board - gave a talk about his distinguished career and his close ties to Hungary and to HUN-REN.

Before Zehnder’s lecture, the audience was welcomed by József Czukor, Hungary’s ambassador in Bern, after which President Balázs Gulyás introduced HUN-REN and paid tribute to Professor Zehnder. At a closed event following the lecture, Professor Zehnder received his Hungarian state decoration. In recognition of his support for Hungarian science and his role in the renewal of HUN-REN, President of the Republic Tamás Sulyok awarded the former chair of HUN-REN’s Advisory Board the Officer’s Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit.

Representatives of the Swiss federal government’s State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation, Maria Peyro Voeffray and Jasmina Opardija-Susnjar, presented Switzerland’s decentralized research and innovation system. It consists, on the one hand, of the cantonal universities and, on the other, of the so-called ETH Domain, which includes two universities (among them ETH Zurich, ranked among the world’s best) and four independent research institutes.

Balázs Gulyás welcomed the fact that Switzerland has recently rejoined Horizon Europe, the EU’s research framework program, as a full member. This, he noted, provides an excellent basis for cooperation between Swiss and Hungarian researchers.

In his presentation of HUN-REN, the president stressed that the organization’s renewal is built on three pillars: internationalisation, innovation and impact. The Swiss counterparts also pointed out that part of Switzerland’s financial contribution supporting EU programs from outside is specifically earmarked for scientific cooperation with Hungary and this is an opportunity that could be highly relevant for HUN-REN researchers.

The professional program concluded with a visit to the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). Employing around 2,300 researchers and operating with an annual budget of 450 million Swiss francs, PSI is Switzerland’s largest technical and natural sciences research institute and a member of the ETH Domain.

HUN-REN’s leaders were received by Deputy Director Thierry Strässle and his colleagues, who presented the institute through talks and lab tours, including one of the world’s largest particle-accelerator synchrotron facilities. At the meeting, representatives of HUN-REN and PSI agreed to begin working out the framework for institutional cooperation.

The professional visit to Switzerland took place with the participation of Ambassador József Czukor and the support of the Hungarian Embassy in Bern.