Publications

In 2022, citing the erosion of transparency and academic freedom in Hungary, the Council of the European Union suspended research related EU funding and exchange programmes to Hungarian universities run by newly established public interest trusts. There has been unceasing debate between the EU and Hungary since then, while the recent initial hearings of the universities’ appeals in the Court of Justice of the European Union suggest that lasting suspension will be the outcome. Here we summarize a comprehensive survey that reveals a troubling landscape for the Hungarian academic and research communities as a consequence of the ban. Particularly alarming is the pronounced impact on early career researchers, not just from institutions directly affected by the suspension but, strikingly, from those still eligible for funding. The findings of the survey underscore a pervasive uncertainty among non-Hungarian EU consortia leaders about whether to engage with Hungarian universities and research institutes at all. This climate of doubt may well result in detrimental effects on the international stature of Hungarian research, hinting at long-lasting impediments to the country's scientific competitiveness on the European stage.