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The president of one of OTKA’s universities announced his resignation over the weekend after it emerged that the Ministry of Innovation and Technology had rewritten the professional jury’s proposal for research applications worthy of support. There has been no example of such an intervention in the 35-year history of OTKA.
Since I do not consider that any change in the order of the jury approved by the College without justification and consultation is compatible with the method of scientific evaluation that I represent, I will resign as President of the College as of September 1, 2020, after seven years.
Is László Acsády The academic, president of the OTKA Faculty of Medical and Biological Sciences, wrote to his colleagues in a circular. Acsády faced during the weekend that the Ministry of Innovation and Technology changed the list of scholarships for the 2020 application cycle, which was compiled and approved by the school’s jury.
OTKA is the main, almost the only, source of funding for Hungarian basic research projects, which is funded by the National Office for Research, Development and Innovation and the László Palkovics operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Innovation. According to official information, the ministry published the results in three categories of researchers, so that more than 320 researchers and research groups received almost 11 billion HUF in support for basic research applications.
The arbitrary changes in the list of decisions have shocked the Faculty of Medical and Biological Sciences, especially because of the significant differences with the order accepted by the profession. With the ministry’s decision, the winners also included an “underlined candidate” who finished last in the given jury ranking.
ITM has crossed a hitherto unbreakable scientific ethical boundary, violating the principle that research grants can only be awarded on a strictly professional basis and in fair competition.
He said 24.hu-son András Váradi, Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, member of the jury for molecular and structural biology and biochemistry. According to András Váradi, during the more than 35 years of OTKA’s history, it has not happened that professional decisions have been systematically modified.
As jurors, we all did very serious work that took many, many hours. That is why we received an honor from the office. I don’t want to be rewarded for an activity that ends in an unethical solution.
Declared the member of the jury with the modified application list. Váradi said he would transfer his fees to NGOs in protest if the ministry did not clarify what happened. The jury also issued an open letter stating that it expected ITM to launch an internal investigation into the case and “repair what it had screwed up”, and on the other hand, asked the recipient applicants “undeservedly” not to sign a grant agreement with the Office because they also have an interest in keeping the system clean.
A 24.hu He also contacted ITM about it, but we have not yet received a response from the Ministry. We will update our article as soon as it arrives.
Featured image: György Varga / MTI
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