News
The Hungarian Young Academy (HYA) issues this statement in light of the events surrounding the evaluation of grant applications submitted for the HU-rizont 2025 call for proposals, which have generated significant media attention.
From the perspective of the young research community, we consider it important to once again draw attention to the fundamental principles that we have consistently upheld, and whose observance is essential for retaining young researchers and strengthening the domestic scientific community.
To maintain the fairness of national grant evaluation systems, it is essential to protect the integrity of reviewers and to give due consideration to science ethics. Furthermore, given the current shortage of financial resources, it is particularly important for young researchers that, during the evaluation of grant applications, they are held accountable to the professional standards set forth in the call for proposals, and that their evaluation would not be swayed by criteria not specified in the call. If the evaluation of applications is not primarily based on professional criteria, this may generate serious problems on multiple levels: it distorts the soundness of decisions, undermines the effectiveness of funding, and violates the principles of fairness and equal opportunity. The latter also significantly reduces trust in the grant system.
A fundamental prerequisite for making Hungarian academia more competitive is the primacy of professional criteria in the awarding of grants, as well as the clarity of calls for proposals, the transparency of the evaluation system, and the fairness of the review process. Only a process that meets these criteria can ensure that it is the most outstanding projects that receive financial support during the evaluation. If the requirements of competitiveness are not upheld, this may result in the misallocation of resources. On the other hand, this carries the potential for economic and social harm and may also adversely affect the nation’s scientific intellectual capital, as it is precisely those research projects that would generate the most added value and would most effectively boost the international competitiveness of the nation’s scientific community that may be left unaccomplished.
HYA also emphasizes in its mission statement that the sustainable functioning of the scientific community requires the consistent application of several interrelated principles. With all this in mind, HYA underlines that strengthening and consistently enforcing the competitiveness of Hungarian scientific life and the integrity of grant evaluation systems is in the common interest not only of young researchers, but also of the entire scientific community and Hungarian society.
Budapest, 30 April 2026