An ethical investigation could not be initiated in a case carried out in one of the institutes of the Eötvös Loránd Research Network, because there is no such regulation.

The election of the director of one of the institutes of the Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELKH) raised serious concerns, as one of the candidates was prepared over the phone during recess by the Acting Director General of the Research Center on what to say to the audience. 24.hu. But the acting CEO forgot to turn on his microphone so that participants could also hear advice.

The case took place at the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Center for Research in Natural Sciences, where a new application was announced due to an expired mandate. These two started, the previous director, Tibor Soós and Miklós György Keserű, was a drug researcher and chemist. According to 24.hu, the acting director general of the research center, László Buday, called Keserű during the pause between the two hearings.

The newspaper learned about the story through a letter from the conference participants to Miklós Maróth, president of ELKH. An internal investigation into the case was launched, led by Maróth. THE 24.hu contacted the central secretariat of the ELKH, where it was acknowledged at his request that the investigation had confirmed:

There was a private telephone conversation between the Acting CEO and one of the applicants, which could have created an uneven playing field between applicants.

However, the study found that the Natural Sciences Research Center did not have its own code of ethics on the basis of which an ethical procedure could be initiated. The ELKH was thus able to do so by instructing the TTK management to draw up its own code of ethics and recommending that the director’s candidacy be repeated. In connection with the case, ELKH initiates an extraordinary review and renewal of institutional ethics regulations at all research sites.

According to the website of the Institute of Organic Chemistry, Tibor Soós was still the director. We contacted Miklós Keserű, who did not want to comment on what happened.

Until the reorganization of the academic research network, the Natural Sciences Research Center was the flagship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. With five separate institutes and hundreds of researchers, it remains one of the largest institutions in the recently established Eötvös Loránd Research Network.


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