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According to information from 24.hu, the Ministry of Innovation and Technology (ITM) changed the list of support of the Programs of the National Fund for Scientific Research (OTKA) for 2020 because two researchers openly supported and participated in the policy efforts scientist of the Orbán government. in the organisms that were created after the “einstanding” of the research network of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
The president of one of OTKA’s faculties announced in a circular over the weekend that the proposal of the professional jury of the medical and biology faculty on research proposals worthy of support had been rewritten at the government level without any prior consultation. László Acsády The academic reported that he did not consider the unprecedented intervention compatible with the principles of scientific evaluation it represented, so he resigned at the age of seven.
The list of winners of the OTKA tenders was made public over the weekend. OTKA, which operates with public funds, is the most important source of funding for basic research in Hungary. In the system, which has been in operation since the 1980s, a jury of 10 to 15 members per field, mostly with foreign authorities, develops a “ranking of excellence” in a long selection process. This list determines which applications are considered eligible and which are not. Almost HUF 11 billion in funding has been distributed to some 320 researchers and research groups in basic research tenders announced by the National Office for Research, Development and Innovation (NKFIH).
Following Acsády’s announcement, the newly appointed chairman of NKFIH, Zoltán Birkner He affirmed that in the evaluation a system called scientific metrics had been introduced, so that in several cases the order approved by the jury had actually been modified. According to our information, one of these changes has been supported Péter Závodszky He is also a retired university professor, although his current application was ranked last by the jury compared to other applications in the contest.
Závodszky was introduced in February Viktor Orban members of the recently established National Council for Scientific Policy. Last year, an academic with serious scientific work in the field of biophysics publicly opposed the leadership of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, which, among other things, told Hír Tv, that it tried to prevent the takeover of the academic research network. Závodszky explained at the time that the Hungarian Academy of Sciences was making a big mistake, because with cooperation it could be much more involved in shaping the future than with confrontation. The biophysicist can now sit together on the National Council for Scientific Policy László Palkovics with the Minister of Innovation and Zoltán Birnker, who, as president of NKFIH, explained the changes made to the support list on Monday.
Through the change, he received 48 million in support. Miklós Kellermayer, is also the director of the SOTE Institute of Biophysics and Radiobiology. At the request of Kellermayer Palkovics, he became a member of the board of directors of the Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELKH). As you know, last fall this Miklós Maróth The research institutes were taken from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences by the institution headed by
He protested against government intervention by the Stage 28 Circle established by MTA scientists. According to a letter posted on Facebook, members of the circle consider intervention from above unacceptable because
Such a rearrangement of research grants, which are very low internationally, undermines trust in the scholarship system, humiliates jurors and judges who perform sacrificial professional work, and renders professional judgment useless for winners. .
24.hu contacted ITM to see if political decisions influenced the modification of the list. The Ministry did not deny that it had changed its previous classification in relation to the two applications. ITM stated that the jury’s ranking proposals are not public, jurors are also subject to confidentiality, and information on the evaluation of specific applications cannot be provided. At the same time, the Ministry indicates that sponsorship decisions were made solely on the basis of scientific criteria, on the basis of rankings drawn up by professional bodies and taking into account the performance of applicants to date and the importance of proposals for Projects.
Featured Image: MTI / Prime Minister’s Press Office / Benkő Vivien Cher
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