

Eric Hanushek: The quality of the teacher is the most important element of schools
Eric Hanushek, professor at Stanford University, is one of the best-known and most influential scholars in the field of economics of education, having worked on a wide range of topics such as teacher quality, the effects of class size reduction, school accountability, and more recently, the relationship between economic growth and the skill levels in countries. Professor Hanushek gave a lecture at Hungarian Academy of Sciences about education in a changing world. On this occasion we asked him about the good teachers, optimal class sizes, talented and average students, the basic skills and the artificial intelligence.


Biosphere reserves under UNESCO patronage – An international programme co-initiated by Hungarians aiming to preserve biodiversity was in the limelight at a side event of the World Science Forum
Biosphere reserves are the outcome of a unique endeavour to integrate research, nature conservation and sustainable development. Their past, present and future were explored at a World Science Forum side event co-organized by UNESCO and MTA under the title “Biosphere Reserves: Shining Gems of Natural Ecosystems”.


“We cannot afford to waste talented minds anywhere in the world” – welcome address by Tamás Freund at the Opening Ceremony of the World Science Forum
To honour this year’s WSF motto of “Science for Social Justice”, all the speakers of the opening event urged the global scientific community with one voice to put science at the service of society, drawing on all the tools and means at hand, and to make a strong commitment to fighting against social inequalities and all the evils they bring. The World Science Forum in Cape Town officially began on 6 December with the Opening Ceremony, where the co-organising states were represented by their respective Heads of State and Ministers, with the international partner organisations represented by their top executives.


Global challenges call for globally accessible research facilities – How to leverage large research infrastructure for the conduct of basic science for sustainable development?
A side event co-organised by the Alliance of International Science Organizations (ANSO), the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Department of Science and Innovation of South Africa, looked into the current availability of and future potential for large research facilities at the service of basic science working towards the fulfilment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.


World Science Forum – Science for Climate Justice
The Wednesday afternoon plenary session “Science for climate justice – How can science, working with civil society, lead the way in correcting the failure of climate policy?” was one of the most interesting sections of the whole World Science Forum thus far. Africa is the most authentic location for the discussion of this topic because, unfortunately, the low-income states of the continent will be harshly affected by climate change. Therefore, climate justice will be one of the most important scientific and political problems of the coming decades.


The 10th World Science Forum to Kick Off on Monday in South Africa
The most prestigious global forum for science diplomacy is reaching a new milestone in its history this year: it is visiting the African continent for the first time. The 10th World Science Forum will be taking place in Cape Town, South Africa, from 6 to 9 December 2022. Convened under the main theme “Science for Social Justice”, this year’s forum calls on decision-makers to recognise the vital role that science must play in solving the world’s worsening societal, economic and environmental crises.


Strategies to boost the performance of V4 countries in the grant schemes of the European Research Council
The delegations of the V4 Academies started their two-day forum with a workshop dedicated to the performance of V4 countries in the grant schemes of the European Research Council. Below is a summary of the main messages of the workshop.


The 150 of Us – An Interview with Robin Dunbar, Honorary Member of MTA, about the Social Network Size Number of Humans
Few are those among contemporary researchers who will have a number named after them. Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at Oxford University and Honorary Member of MTA, Robin Dunbar is actually one of them. The number he introduced has come to feature in each and every book on human evolution. One of the best-known anthropologists of our time, Professor Dunbar. We spoke to him on this occasion, asking him, of course, about the origin and scope of Dunbar’s number.


Founding member MTA re-joins Science Europe in new capacity
After three years, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences has returned to the influential scientific advocacy organisation as a research funding institution.


Sympathy and solidarity – Presidents of Visegrad Academies issue joint declaration at Budapest meeting in support of Ukrainian people, scientists and science, condemning Russia’s military aggression
The Visegrad Group Academies Forum held its annual meeting at the Headquarters of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences on 26-27 May 2022. The focus of the two-day meeting was on the success of European Research Council (ERC) grants, the V4 academies’ uniformly outstanding epidemiological research and communication activities, help for Ukraine, young researcher initiatives, and cooperation in the use of European-level research infrastructures and in the application of advanced therapy medicinal products. At the forum, the academy presidents issued a joint statement on the aggression against Ukraine and support for Ukrainian scientists.


Cancer screening programmes need new foundations – Video of international conference held at MTA HQ
The application of the latest scientific advances and testing techniques, and greater participation by people, could significantly reduce cancer mortality in the European Union, according to a report presented in Hungary at the Headquarters of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Watch a video of the conference and read the full report.


Call for research proposals for the Research Programme for Public Education Development – 2022
The Hungarian Academy of Scinces announces an open call for research proposals to finance research projects for 4 years (between 1 September 2022 – 31 August 2026), which aim to lay the foundations for the development of education and training by providing new scientific findings and to carry out research on how to renew the pedagogical perspectives and methods for knowledge transfer and the transmission of values.
MTA Centre of Excellence – Video of the certificate award ceremony
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), on the basis of the recommendation of the Qualification Council for Research Centres (KMT), has given the MTA Centre of Excellence Award to 95 Hungarian scientific workshops and institutions in recognition of their outstanding scientific work. The representatives of the research centres that have won the prestigious award received the certificates at a ceremony at the Széchenyi tér headquarters of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.


MTA External Members’ Forum features war-related topical issue
In addition to the award ceremonies and toasts, this year’s recipient of the Young Researcher Award has posted a video message from the front in Eastern Ukraine. MTA Vice President György Kosztolányi, meetings chairman of the External Members’ Forum and representative of Hungarian Academy members living abroad, called the viewing of Viktor Traski’s video a historic moment that will be written into the golden book of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.


A renewing, proactive Academy, an increasingly active public body – President’s Report by Tamás Freund
“The changes in the external environment and, thus, in the situation of the Academy have forced it to revitalise itself, but MTA has consistently been able to act as a proactive partner and is now more of a master of its own fate than it was two years ago”, said Tamás Freund in his President’s Report at the 195th General Assembly of the Academy. The President of the Academy also announced the launch of several research programmes linked to social and national strategy priorities.


Avram Hershko’s presentation at the Academy – video
Avram Hershko, a Hungarian-born Israeli scientist, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004, gave a presentation at the 195th General Assembly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.


The intensively raised goat and the organic cabbage – can we have our cake and eat it? New report on regenerative agriculture presented at MTA by the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Academies
According to the latest report of the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Academies (EASAC) on regenerative agriculture, not only is ecologically sensitive agriculture not an enemy of food production but, due to climate change and environmental degradation, it will, in a few short decades, represent our only chance of being able to feed humanity. To explore the background of the report presented at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences on Wednesday 6th of April, we interviewed two Hungarian members of the scientific community who were behind it – Orsolya Valkó and András Báldi.


Renewed Bilateral Agreement: The President of the Estonian Academy of Sciences visited MTA
Prof. Tamás Freund, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, received Prof. Tarmo Soomere, President of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, who arrived in Budapest for a meeting of the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC).


Gaining Momentum: Kata Horváti
The coronavirus pandemic demonstrated that vaccines based on radically new techniques could be more effective than previous ones. They can be developed faster and protect against those infectious diseases where previously there were no vaccines. However, it is not only mRNA that could be the basis of a new type of vaccine: peptides can also be used for this purpose. Kata Horváti, from the HAS-ELTE Research Group of Peptide Chemistry, Department of Organic Chemistry, Eötvös Loránd University, received the Lendület (Momentum) grant to develop peptide-based vaccine strategies. An overview of her research is the next step in the introduction of the researchers who are the latest recipients of the HAS’s programme of excellence.


Farewell lecture by Professor Sierd Cloetingh, outgoing president of Academia Europaea, at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest
An eminent European Earth scientist’s talk on Europe as a “Natural Laboratory for Frontier Research in Earth Sciences”


Curiosity indeed remains the main driving force behind scientists’ achievements – a thematic session co-organized by MTA and ANSO as part of the World Science Forum 2022 was looking into the future of basic research
Do scientists still cherish that curiosity behind revolutionary ideas in science which has always spurred them on in their quest for the unknown? With today’s growing expectations over the accountability and the directly noticeable societal benefits of science funding, how can we reconcile these with the academic freedom that has always been so dear to the most outstanding figures of basic research?


World Science Forum – Social Justice and Dignity for Africa through Science
On Friday, the World Science Forum (WSF) in South Africa ended with the closing ceremony, where, according to tradition, the Declaration of the Forum was adopted. The speakers of the event highlighted in their speeches that science provides Africa and the whole world the opportunity to successfully tackle the existing and emerging issues originating from climate change, social injustices and inequalities.


Information on the Academy’s measures designed to help scientists fleeing Ukraine
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences (“MTA”) condemns all forms of war of aggression and follows with profound sympathy the wholly unwarranted suffering and destruction caused by the Russian attack on Ukraine. The MTA has launched a programme to help members of the public body of the Academy, scientists as well as staff members of Transcarpathian scientific, higher education, cultural and artistic institutions and organisations who flee from Ukraine to Hungary as a result of the war. In this document we describe in detail the options available for providing or receiving help.


MTA’s fundraising campaign for scientists and scholars fleeing the war in Ukraine
The objective of this humanitarian fundraising initiative is to provide financial support for the scientific community of Ukraine, in particular researchers and MTA’s public association members belonging to the Hungarian community of Kárpátalja (Carpathian Ruthenia), along with their families, as well as to help safeguard our scientific and cultural heritage.


László Lovász joins the ERC Scientific Council
The European Commission has appointed three eminent scientists as new members of the governing body of the European Research Council (ERC), the Scientific Council. They are appointed for an initial period of four years. The three new members are Professor Chryssa Kouveliotou, professor at the George Washington University, Washington D.C., United States, Professor László Lovász, professor emeritus at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary, and President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2014-2020), and Professor Giovanni Sartor, professor at the University of Bologna and at the European University Institute, Florence, Italy.


Gaining Momentum: Enikő Kubinyi
Fifteen new research group leaders will be able to continue their research in the coming years with the support of the Lendület (“Momentum”) excellence programme of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA). We present them in our new series. First, Enikő Kubinyi, Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Ethology, Institute of Biology, ELTE Faculty of Sciences, describes her winning grant application to study the evolutionary drivers and consequences of companion animal ownership. Little is known about the impact that an animal treated as a family member has on the social behaviour of humans and how this situation changes the animals themselves. This is an important issue also because these changes are not always positive.


Women in Science – a joint statement was published as a result of the online workshop organized by the Alliance of International Science Organizations (ANSO)
The focus of the event on 18-19 November 2021 was the involvement of female researchers in science, especially in leadership positions. You can read the statement, watch the video recording of the workshop and download the talk of Enikő Bollobás, Chair of the Presidential Committee on Women in Science at MTA and the greeting speech of Ferenc Hudecz, ANSO Board member and Vice President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.


Portrait of a Hungarian Islamic researcher – Festive commemoration and memorial conference on Ignác Goldziher
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Israeli Academy of Sciences and the Avicenna Institute for Middle Eastern Studies organised a series of programmes on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of the Orientalist.


Health experts call for a pan-European approach to shortages of medicines
To address the current situation regarding shortages of medicines, a pan-European approach is needed to harmonise data collection across Europe and encourage multidisciplinary discussions to find broad solutions, health experts say.
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