The management of ELRN's visit to our institute

Friday, 29 April, 2022
Tags: News

For the third year in a row, our institute has been part of the Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELRN), established on 1 August 2019. The first carefully organized visit of the ELRN management took place on 19 April 2022.

For the third year in a row, our institute has been part of the Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELRN), established on 1 August 2019. The first carefully organized visit of the ELRN management took place on 19 April 2022.

The Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELRN) was established by the Parliament on 1 August 2019 as an independent budgetary institution "to manage and operate a centrally funded, independent research network that is the cornerstone of Hungarian scientific life".
The eleven research centers and seven research institutes belonging to the new institution, as well as the more than 100 funded research groups operating at universities and other public institutions, have a huge task to identify and prioritize basic and applied research in the most diverse fields of mathematics, natural sciences, life sciences, humanities, and social sciences, and to allocate central funding in a proportionate and reasonable manner.
Of course, there are all kinds of scientific metrics - some of which are not applicable in other research areas - but even after the most careful organization and the most thorough consideration, it is possible that research directions are given priority and priority support that no one had thought of before. (Everyone will learn a hard lesson in 2020.)

But one thing is certain. Personal contact and experience can help in many decisions. This is why, on the afternoon of 19 April 2022, almost the entire ELRN management visited us.

Miklós Maróth President, Eszter Viktória Zalányi Secretary General, Katalin Hegedüsné Deputy Secretary General, Csaba Horváth, Head of Network Development, Beáta Nyitrai-Povolnik, Head of Legal and Administrative Department, Gyula Sümeghy, Head of International Cabinet, Judit Czapkó, Head of Secretariat, and Kitti Auth, Secretariat Officer.
The reception of the distinguished guests was of course attended by the entire management of our Institute (Zoltán Nusser Director, Beáta Sperlágh and László Acsády Deputy Directors, and Zsuzsanna Györfiné Vörös, Head of Finance)
The importance of the visit to the Institute is also shown by the fact that our director Zoltán Nusser answered the questions in this very short interview.

- Why did we have to wait so long for this visit?

- "COVID!" is the answer most often given to similar questions these days, and this is largely true here again. But a more precise answer is that the visit was planned for last autumn, and the reason why we could only have been visited last autumn is probably that a ranking had to be drawn up among the almost 20 institutions.

- Has the ELRN let us know what they want to see and hear?

- Their aim was to get to know the institute as much as possible for a visit of three hours. They listened to five scientific lectures based on the Institute's research, visited some laboratories, and also visited the Light Microscopy Unit. It was a "summary", a snapshot of life at the Institute.

- A researcher working here had a pretty good chance of guessing what topics the institute would present to demonstrate its versatility, the importance of the research topic as well as that we are at the international forefront of the "hot topics" of greatest interest at the moment. But on what basis and by whom were the laboratories selected to be visited?

- The management. The most important criterion for us was to present experiments using modern methods and equipment as spectacular as possible. That's why we presented a mouse navigating in virtual reality and not a PCR device.

- Can you tell us what the general impression of our visitors was?

- Based on the final discussion, I thought it was good, as we felt it was!

- What can a visit like this, a well-attended visit, mean for the Institute?

- Nobody knows exactly what it could mean. It is unlikely that the financial support for the Institute will depend on it, nor it will influence major decisions, but it is important that a supporter has a vision for the Institute. We have tried to do our utmost to ensure that this image is favorable to us.

<< Back