Forefront – Research Excellence Programme

Outline

The programme provides substantial grant for up to five years to excellent researchers in their most dynamic and creative career phases, belonging to the top of the international scientific community, for research activity in a Hungarian research centre. The programme follows a funding model that supports forefront discovery research while offering grant opportunities to internationally top-performing researchers for implementing their projects at a Hungarian host institution in connection with European Research Council (ERC) calls. This way, the Forefront programme enhances Hungary’s efforts to become a regional hub for research, development and innovation.

What is funded

The Call is only open to researchers for discovery research projects without any thematic restriction, provided that the applicant’s scientific track record and research plan meet the requirements set out in the call. Applicants have the highest chance if they have achieved internationally outstanding scientific results in the past ten years and can be reasonably expected to continue this level of performance on the basis of their research plan.

Duration

The project must start between 1 June 2021 and 1 October 2021, and must be implemented within 60 months from the start date.

Eligibility

Applications are eligible if submitted by any of the following types of organisations having a legal personality and a registered seat in Hungary:

• higher education institution, research centre, research institution,budgetary organ or a budgetary organ institution with legal personalityif it qualifies as a research facility under the RDI Act;
• non-profit organisations qualifying as research and development organisation according to its core activity

(hereinafter: host institution) jointly with a Hungarian or foreign citizen researcher with a PhD/DLA degree (hereinafter: principal investigator), provided that he or she meets with one of the following conditions:

• has led an ERC-funded Starting Grant, Consolidator Grant, Advanced Grant, or Synergy Grant project which was successfully closed after 1January 2018, or is currently leading one such project and it isscheduled to be closed before 1 October 2021;
• applied for an ERC Starting Grant, Consolidator Grant, AdvancedGrant, or Synergy Grant after 1 January 2018, and the application madeit to the second round of evaluation but was not selected for funding;
• was involved as a principal investigator in an individual basicresearch project with a budget of at least HUF 100 million, financed from a major international research fund (e.g. Wellcome Trust, HowardHughes Medical Institute, National Institutes of Health – NIH,Australian Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological SciencesResearch Council – BBSRC, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft - DFG), andthe project was successfully closed after 1 January 2018.

Throughout the entire project implementation period the principal investigator must be an employee of the host institution under an employment contract, civil service contract or other contract aimed at performing work.

More information: https://nkfih.gov.hu/english/nrdi-fund/forefront-research-excellence-pr…