This year’s Schay and Friedrich Prizes presented

Since 2015, the research centre has honoured researchers with outstanding scientific achievements of national and international significance.

Each year, the Péter Friedrich Prize is awarded to deserving HUN-REN RCNS researchers in the life sciences, while the Géza Schay Prize recognises excellence in the chemical sciences. The centre’s members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences put forward nominations to the Director General, who makes the final decision.

The chemistry prize is named after Géza Schay, the founding director of the Central Research Institute for Chemistry. The life sciences prize is named after Péter Friedrich, former director of the Institute of Enzymology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

In 2025, the Géza Schay Prize went to János Móczó, research group leader at the Institute of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, while the Péter Friedrich Prize was awarded to József Topál, scientific adviser at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, the centre reported on its website.