News

A new seminar series for young researchers has begun at the HUN-REN Biological Research Centre seeking to offer to the local community a comprehensive overview of the specific features, challenges, and opportunities of a scientific career. As part of the series, participants could attend two exciting lectures on 30 September 2025.

Psychologist Bernadette Kun – habilitated associate professor (Department of Clinical Psychology and Addiction, Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University), co-chair of HYA – gave a presentation entitled “Work Addiction: From Risk Factors to Real-Life Consequences.” In her talk, she emphasized that numerous individual and socio-cultural factors contribute to the development of work addiction, which can reinforce one another and lead to dependency. Although at first glance it may seem to bring certain positive benefits in the working environment, in reality workaholism can have severe consequences not only for the individual but also for their families, friends, and colleagues.

In the second lecture titled “Parenthood as a Researcher: Challenges and Best Practices”, plant biologist Katalin Solymosi – habilitated associate professor (Department of Plant Anatomy, Institute of Biology, Eötvös Loránd University), founding member and former co-chair of HYA, and outgoing president of the Young Academy of Europe – discussed the obstacles faced by researchers raising children. Previous HYA surveys have clearly shown that in terms of incomes, a “motherhood penalty” and a “fatherhood premium” are emerging. At the same time, the time period spent on childcare causes significant and often irrecoverable delays in career progression. One of the possibilities for addressing these disadvantages is the introduction of age-limit extensions that may compensate for career breaks for both women and men. In addition, the lecture highlighted numerous other examples of best practices.

Through the seminar series, the main organizer of the event, Imola Wilhelm – senior research fellow at the Institute of Biophysics, former co-chair of HYA – aims to build a critically minded community at the Biological Research Centre that sees beyond narrow disciplinary boundaries.