Significantly younger researchers at the Academy – Secretary General, Ádám Török’s report

No considerable changes have occurred in 2015 in the personal and financial conditions of the research network of the Academy. While indicators of scientific achievement such as the number of publications and impact factors show a slight decrease, several institutions have excelled in winning international grants. The following, is Secretary General, Ádám Török’s report regarding the 2015 scientific activities of the Academy Research Network.

2016. május 20.

“Members of the Academy Research Network were outstandingly successful in winning grants in the EU and other countries, even though the financial conditions for achieving this did not improve”, said Ádám Török, Secretary General of the Academy. Compared to the previous year, no considerable changes have occurred in the personal and financial conditions of the Academy Research Network. “However, indicators of scientific achievement such as the number of publications and obtained patents, as well as impact factors do show a slight decrease”, revealed the Secretary General.

In 2015, the scientific network of the Academy, which includes research centres and their institutes, independent institutes and research groups, worked basically in the same structure as in the previous years, with only slight variations: the Institute of Technical Physics and Material Science has been reassigned to the Centre for Energy Research instead of the Research Centre for Natural Sciences. As for research groups, only the number of Lendület (Momentum) research groups has changed. 13 new groups were established in 2015: six at Academy institutes and seven at universities.

The President of the Academy announced an open tender for the eight Director General positions of the new research centres established in 2012. Following the application procedure, half of the centres saw a change in leadership.

The full 2015 budget of the Academy’s research network, originating from several chapters of the state budget, reached 21.46 billion HUF, more than 40 percent of which was won through tenders by the research institutes. On average, 4086 people worked in the research centres, which equals a less than 0,1 percent decrease compared to the previous year.

Younger researchers

Following years of stagnation, the average number of researchers had grown by 2.2 percent and had reached 2476 by 2015. Meanwhile, the number of other non-research related employees had decreased, which is in line with the aims of the reforms in the research network. 45 percent of researchers work in the field of mathematics and natural sciences, 35 percent in life sciences and 20 percent in humanities and social sciences. The increase was primarily due to the new members of the newly established Lendület (Momentum) groups and the postdoctoral fellows joining their projects.

In the past years, a considerable number of young researchers have joined the Research Network of the Academy. This is mainly due to the grants specifically targeting the younger generation, such as the Lendület (Momentum) Program and the postdoctoral program. 13 percent of researchers are younger than 30, and a further 35 percent are aged between 30 and 40. The number of researchers in the age groups 51–60 shows a slight but firm decrease, amounting to 16 percent in 2015. While 11 percent of our researchers are older than 61 and younger than 70, no public employee of the research network was above 70.

Fewer publications, stable conditions

6151 scientific, educational and popular science articles were published in 2015, which is 5 percent less than in the previous year. The number of scholarly articles amounts to more than 90% of all publications. Concerning the different fields of science, the most significant decrease occurred in the field of mathematics and natural sciences (12.8 percent). While the number of articles published in life sciences reduced by 8 percent, researchers in humanities and social sciences published 2 percent more than in the previous year. In summary, the overall achievement of the research network – with no considerable changes in the personal and financial background – has shown a slight decrease concerning such crucial indicators as publication index, impact factor and patent data, which has been the tendency since 2012.

Our participation in higher education was on par with previous years, whereas we strengthened our positions in lower education and showed a slight decrease regarding our graduate school reach. Hopefully, the cooperation between universities and the Academy will further be strengthened by the planned cooperation between the Ministry of Human Resources and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The contract was prepared by both entities in the autumn of 2015. The representatives are scheduled to sign the document during the first half of 2016. Although the major indicators do not paint a clear picture, with slight oscillations they still fit in well with the tendencies in the region and the position of the Academy is still very favourable.

Scholarly achievements of half a decade

By the request of the Academy Research Network Council (AKT), the scholarly achievement of the research network between 2010 and 2015 is analysed by an ad hoc committee. The aims of the committee are twofold. Firstly, they have to judge the standard of research on the international stage compared to the international standards of the given field or discipline. Secondly, the committee studies how successful the reorganization in 2011 has proven to be and suggests modifications if necessary. This process was begun in May, 2016 and the President of AKT will report the results at our 2017 General Assembly.

In his 2015 report, Secretary General, Ádám Török acknowledged that grave warnings have been received by the leadership of the Academy from the Research Centre for Natural Sciences (TTK), concerning financial and organizational problems. By the second half of 2015, liquidation problems were accompanied by lack of funds, hindering the completion of certain research projects. The consolidation plan for the TTK for the 2016–2018 period was ready by January 2016, based on professional examinations and audits, prepared with the help of external experts.

Following the Secretary General’s annual report, the 187th General Assembly passed resolutions. The report on the scholarly achievement of the academic research centres in 2015 and the annual report on the supervising body of the research network, namely the Council of Academic Research Centres (AKT) were both accepted.