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Helló Magyarország Welcome to Hungary

Career strategies for young European scientists (XXXII)

Largely unknown is the fact that Mag-yars have contributed significantly to the advancement of science and en-

gineering. The light bulb, noiseless match-es, ballpoint pen and, well, Rubik’s cube all have their origin in Hungary. Prominent scientists include the father of informat-ics John von Neumann, Edward Teller, the main brain behind the hydrogen bomb, and Leó Szilárd, who conceived not only the nu-clear chain reaction but also particle accel-erators and the electron microscope. Nobel Prizes were handed over to Albert Szent-Györgyi for unraveling the role of fumarate in the citric acid cycle and the discovery of vitamin C, which was isolated from papri-ka pepper, Georg von Békésy for elucidat-ing the function of the cochlea and Avram Hershko for describing ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation.

All of the scientists mentioned above have in common the fact that they left Hun-gary to find better living and working con-ditions or were forced to do so by political persecution. Some but not all of the Hun-garian-born scientists “westernised” their name in foreign lands. The exodus of Hun-gary’s best minds is still ongoing. Current Hungarian expats with a high internation-al reputation include András Nagy from the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute in To-

ronto, a pioneer in the field of stem cells and transgenic technologies, and the two neuroscientists Péter Somogyi from Oxford and György Buzsáki from Rudgers Univer-sity in Newark. In contrast, the number of foreign scientists employed at Hungarian institutions is quite low. Here, Lab Times will cover recent developments in Hunga-ry’s research landscape.

BackgroundWith ten million citizens Hungary is a

medium-sized Central European country. Its largest cities are the capital, Budapest, with 1.75 million inhabitants, followed by Debrecen and Miskolc in the Northeast and Szeged in the South, which each account for more than 170,000 people. Budapest is not only the political and cultural, but also the educational and scientific centre of Hungary. Four out of the five best Hungari-an universities and more than 60% of Hun-gary’s research institutions, biotech com-panies and scientific personnel are concen-trated in the greater Budapest region. Fur-thermore, Hungary is also home to eight UNESCO world heritage sites including the banks of the Danube and the Buda Castle quarter in Budapest, the 800 km2 Hortobá-gy Puszta, the largest natural grassland in Europe, and the Tokaj wine region. Other

major tourist attractions are Lake Hévíz, the second largest thermal lake in the world, and Lake Balaton. Tourism in general and health tourism in particular are growth sec-tors. Hungary became a member of the EU in 2004. While the adoption of the euro is in the air, the Hungarian forint remains its currency. Hungary is a parliamentary rep-resentative democratic republic with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as head of the gov-ernment. The conservative Fidesz party overpowered a coalition of Socialist Party and Alliance of Free Democrats in the 2010 election and is addressing Hungary’s large public deficit by quite unpopular austerity measures and reforms.

The history of Hungary dates back to the ninth century or even earlier. The King-dom of Hungary lasted almost a millenni-um and fell repeatedly under the influence of major powers. After defeat in World War I, Hungary was forced to give up a third of its population and three-quarters of its territory including parts of nowaday Slo-vakia, Croatia, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia and Austria. Soviet troops occupied Hun-gary in 1947 and a post-war government dominated by Communists was installed. The formation of the Republic of Hunga-ry in 1989 terminated “Goulash Commu-nism”, which refers to the special mixture

Helló Magyarország Welcome to Hungary

Unlike thousands of international medical students, scientists from abroad tend to avoid Hungary, scared off by the language barrier, low income and poor research infrastructure. Are there changes for the better around the corner?

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of socialism and more liberal Western-style elements in Hungary. The transition from a centrally planned to a free market economy was troublesome. After a period of privat-ization, investments by foreign companies became a major driver of economic growth. Nowadays, Hungary has developed into an attractive place for foreign companies man-ufacturing cars, pharmaceuticals, electron-ics and food. Audi has built the world’s third largest engine manufacturing plant in Györ and many foreign pharmaceutical compa-nies including Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca are operating manufacturing plants or research centres in Hungary. The Hungarian-owned pharmaceutical compa-nies Gedeon Richter and Egis Pharmaceuti-cals are the national leaders when it comes to investments into research and develop-ment activities. Costs benefits and the inter-nationally recognised high quality of med-ical staff have made Hungary a favourite place for clinical trials.

Biotech HungaryDid you know that the term “biotech-

nology” was coined almost 100 years ago by the Hungarian agricultural engineer Ereky Károly? His book Biotechnology of Meat, Fat and Milk Production in an Agricultural Large-Scale Farm was published in German and sold several thousand times. Károly put forward the idea that traditional agricul-tural methods will not be able to erase the word “hunger” from dictionaries but that the combination of research in several dis-ciplines will turn out to be successful. Sev-eral decades elapsed until com-mercial biotech gained ground in Hungary. The biotech sector received priority status and ad-ditional funding by the Govern-mental Development Plan 2005-2010. Five biotech-related univer-sity knowledge centres, three bio incubators and the Hungary Bi-otech Association provide a sol-id basis for new companies. The Pole Programme, a national cluster devel-opment strategy, supports public-private cooperation at the regional level and has already led to several accredited biotech-related clusters, which received substantial support from EU Structural Funds.

Hungary took the lead among 14 new EU member states and candidate countries, which were analysed in the report Biotech in the New Member States 2009. With 80 core biotech companies and 1,000 employ-ees, Hungary emerged as the country with the most developed biotech sector. About a

tenth of biotech companies are focusing on novel therapeutics, whereas the majority is dedicated to diagnosis, services or manu-facturing. Vaccines and new antibiotics but also novel technologies assisting agricul-ture, biomass production and food process-ing are areas of specialisation. The Hungar-ian biotech sector even continued to grow in the face of the economic crisis, when most venture capital went up in smoke and funding by the Research and Technological Fund, another primary source of financing for biotech companies, was cut by a third or €60 million. But the future seems bright, as the Ministry for National Economy installed the New Széchenyi Development Plan, a long-term multi-billion Euro investment programme, last year. Although the scope and financing of the whole programme is not predictable, small and medium enter-prises will be its major beneficiaries.

Room for improvementHow is Hungary’s performance in inter-

national rankings? Hungary was rated only as a moderate innovator by the Innometrics service of PRO INNO Europe. License and patent revenues from abroad, medium- to high-tech manufacturing exports and inter-national publications were above average, whereas the small number of innovative en-terprises, lack of venture capital and the re-stricted openness of the research system to foreigners led to a lower rating. In the lat-est Global Competitiveness Report Hunga-ry took the 48th place among 142 countries with very poor grades for its tax system,

public trust of politicians, burden of govern-mental regulations and brain drain.

Bibliometrics reveals that Hungary’s publication output is quite good in com-parison to other Eastern European coun-tries. Thomson Reuters’ ScienceWatch an-alysed Hungary’s relative world share of publications between 2005 and 2009. Ag-riculture, mathematics and neuroscience are the fields that stick out. With respect to relative impact space sciences, psychia-try, psychology, pharmacology and toxicol-ogy, physics and clinical medicine are Hun-

garian strongholds. In the SCImago Jour-nal & Country Ranking, which covers the last 15 years, Hungary comes in at place 37 worldwide with respect to its number of publications, 35 concerning citations and 25 for citations per paper in countries with more than 50,000 publications. Of interest is Hungary’s regional standing. Since a sep-arate ranking for Central European coun-tries does not exist, we have to stick to the list of 24 Eastern European countries. Hun-gary emerged as fifth with respect to citable documents, as fourth concerning citations and was beaten only by Estonia, when it came to citations per document.

Finally, in the SCImago Institutions Ranking 2011, which takes account of vari-ous output indicators, more than 3,000 in-stitutions in 104 countries have been scruti-nized. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is listed as the fifth best academy in Eastern Europe. Individual Hungarian institutions are not represented in the upper fifth of in-stitutions. The following are listed as Hun-gary’s best universities: Budapest Universi-ty of Technology and Economics, Semmel-weis University of Budapest, University of Szeged, Eötvös Loránd University of Buda-pest and University of Debrecen. No new field-oriented reports have been published, so far, but in the latest exercise Semmel-weis University, the University of Szeged and the University of Debrecen were the three most prominent Hungarian institu-tions in life and health sciences. Notewor-thy is that Semmelweis University was in the vanguard of Eastern European institu-tions in health sciences.

Too many players & seesaw changes?Hungary spent €1.1 billion on research

and development (R&D) last year. This rel-ative expenditure was, at 1.14% of GDP, at the lower end of EU countries. The busi-ness sector and, in particular, a few large foreign-owned companies are the main re-search performers, accounting for almost 60% of all R&D expenses. The Government sector, through the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the higher education sector through universities each spent another fifth of R&D resources. The Hungarian Cen-tral Statistics Office lists about 21,000 sci-entists and engineers: half employed at en-terprises, 28% at universities and the rest at other public R&D institutions. The research and innovation system of Hungary is often criticised not only for the paucity of availa-ble funds but also for its lack of priority set-ting and coordination, intransparent budget allocations and funding decisions as well as

Careers in Hungary

Internet Resources Euraxess Hungary – http://euraxess-hungary.hu Hungarian Academy of Sciences – http://mta.hu Hungarian Scientific Research Fund – www.otka.hu Tempus Public Foundation – http://english.tpf.hu Hungarian Fellowship Office – www.scholarship.hu

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inefficient resource utilisation. Continuity and sustainability are rarely reached, since not only research policy-making bodies but also funding and implementation agencies are subject to frequent changes to their or-ganisational structures and range of re-sponsibilities. The Government’s mid-term science, technology and innovation policy strategy (2007-2013) is in place. Two on-going economic programmes are supposed to have an impact on education and science in Hungary in the upcoming years: the Sci-ence-Innovation Programme of the New Széchenyi Plan, mentioned above, and the National Reform Programme of Hun-gary 2011-2014.

Planning and cooperationA novel coordination and deci-

sion-making body, the National Re-search, Innovation and Science Pol-icy Council (NKITT), was estab-lished less than a year ago. NKITT is the main policy maker with respect to science, technology and innova-tion; it is chaired by one of the depu-ty prime ministers and co-chaired by the president of the Hungarian Acad-emy of Sciences. Additional members are taken from the Ministry for Na-tional Economy, the Ministry of Na-tional Development and the Ministry of National Resources. The Ministry for National Economy oversees the National Innovation Office (NIH), which replaced the former Nation-al Office for Research and Technol-ogy in early 2011. The NIH covers areas of strategic planning, analysis and international cooperation with respect to EU Programmes and inter-governmental, bilateral cooperation agreements. In addition, it promotes business innovation and public-pri-vate cooperation. The Ministry of National Resources oversees educa-tion and research at universities, while the Ministry of National Development oversees the National Development Agency (NDA), which is in charge of measures funded by EU Structural Funds. The Hungarian Econ-omy Development Centre (MAG Zrt) ad-ministers and implements support from the NIH and NDA. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences has a central role in Hungary as a policy advisory body and research perform-er. The Hungarian Rectors’ Conference is the major advisory body on topics related to higher education.

Competitive funding for basic and ap-plied research is provided by two funds: ba-

sic research benefits from the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA), whereas private sector and applied research are tar-geted by the Research and Technological In-novation Fund (KTIA). KTIA is financed by an annual innovation levy charged to Hun-garian companies and a matching contri-bution from the state budget. Regional Uni-versity Knowledge Centres and the Nation-al Research and Development Programme have been within the scope of its responsi-bilities. Almost €150 million, more than a quarter of public R&D funds, were at KTIA’s disposal in 2009. Concerns about the prop-

er distribution of funds were raised last year, major activities were put on hold and funds already granted were partially real-located.

Academy businessThe Hungarian Academy of Sciences,

or Magyar Tudományos Akadémia (MTA), has a pivotal role in the Hungarian research system. The foundation of a learned soci-ety for the promotion of Hungarian lan-guage and literature in 1825 was facilitat-ed by a donation by Count István Széche-nyi. Natural sciences were not a priority un-til MTA merged with the Academy of Nat-

ural Sciences in 1946. Shortly thereafter, MTA was transformed into a Soviet-style academy. Despite its loss of independence, the scientific output and influence of MTA reached an all time high during the follow-ing years. In post-communism Hungary, MTA became an independent public body. Nowadays, MTA has multiple roles as poli-cy advisor, research performer and science communicator. It also represents Hunga-ry in several international organisations in-cluding the European Science Foundation ESF and the European Molecular Biology Conference, EMBC, and is co-organiser of

the World Science Forum, which deals with global science policies and takes place in Budapest for the fifth time this November.

Increased financial autonomyThe General Assembly is MTA’s

supreme body and made up of elected members. It adopts the legal framework and budget and elects MTA’s top officials, including the president. The Council of Doc-tors confers the prestigious title of a Doctor of the Hungarian Acade-my of Sciences. Numerous coun-cils and committees exist. MTA op-erates on an annual budget cycle. The 2009 Law on the Hungarian Academy of Sciences increased its financial autonomy. In 2011, MTA was allocated about €120 million from the national budget, which included a €20 million package earmarked for the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund, OTKA. MTA’s budget is supplemented by its own revenues in the range of €50 million. As a research per-former, MTA operates 38 of its own research institutes and two cen-tres, and employs about 2,300 re-searchers. In addition, it supports

and jointly operates close to 80 research units at universities. MTA’s share of Hun-gary’s scientific output is close to 25% of all international publications. MTA insti-tutes are autonomous and determine their own research strategies. In addition, stra-tegic research is conducted according to a special agreement between MTA and the Prime Minister’s Office. I just want to men-tion three MTA institutions, which received Centre of Excellence status and substantial funding from the European Commission in the past and might be of particular interest to life science researchers: the Biology Re-search Centre (BRC) in Szeged, the Chemi-

Careers in Hungary

In Hungary, there are many ways to 'spice up' your life and may-be even your research results – either a hearty goulash soup...

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cal Research Center and the Institute of Ex-perimental Medicine (KOKI), both located in Budapest.

Stopping the brain-drainMTA supports not only its own scientists

below the age of 35 through its Young Re-searcher’s Fund but manages several pro-grammes not restricted to Academy scien-tists. Momentum (Lendület) has become Hungary’s brain-drain-stopping flagship programme. It was introduced in 2009 and provides long-term support for excel-lent young scientists and research groups. Five-year support is given to young scien-tists between 30 and 40 years old as well as established group leaders aged between 35 and 45 working either at institutions of the Academy or, since this year, at universi-ties. Positive evaluation of the project may lead to a second funding period and per-manent employment of the group leader. The number of new awards has been in-creased from five in 2009 to 16 in 2011. In 2011, Lend-ület’s budget amounted to almost €4 million. The pro-gramme is also receiving in-creasing attention and ad-ditional financial support from Hungarian companies wishing to benefit from lo-cal talent. The János Bolyai Research Scholarship pro-gramme, named after the famous Hungarian geome-ter, is another popular pro-gramme for postdocs be-low the age of 45. On aver-age, every third application is funded and about 190 awards are made each year. The up to three-year fellowship pays €420 a month, which is quite low and needs to be combined with other sources of income. In comparison, an EMBO postdoc-toral fellow in Hungary gets about €3,150 to take home each month. János Bolyai ap-plications require a doctoral title, a letter of acceptance by the Hungarian host institu-tion and the payment of an application fee of about €40. There is one call per year with a deadline in March.

This December, the General Assembly will have to make far-reaching decisions on infrastructure renewal, performance-based budget allocation and the formation of larg-er MTA research units. It is in planning to decrease the overall number of budgetary institutions from 58 to 23 and to establish a new research network encompassing just

six institutes and nine research centres in-stead of the former 40 research institutions. Administrative staff will be reduced and the money, thus made available, invested into modern research infrastructure and high-ly qualified research personnel including young scientists.

Forints for basic researchThe promotion of scientific excellence

and young scientists are primary concerns of the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA). OTKA has provided competitive grants for basic research in Hungary since 1991. Additional efforts are made to inte-grate expats and to stimulate internation-al exchange and cooperation. Special pro-grammes with open calls to attract foreign scientists to Hungary are currently not in place. However, foreign scientists working at Hungarian institutions are eligible to

apply for OTKA funds. Applications can be made by individuals, research teams or re-search institutions. Each year OTKA grants 350 new projects with an overall success rate of about 20%. The annual budget is in the range of €20 million. A step up to €27 million in 2012 needs final governmental approval. Regular research projects with no pre-set topics and a contribution of between €1,700 and €20,000 per project per year ac-count for half of OTKA’s budget. Another third is given to postdocs for research or for starting their first own group. According to El d Nemerkényi from OTKA, 17 such start-ing grants have been awarded this year. Ap-plications in life sciences and some other fields are submitted in English and evalu-ated with the help of international experts.

The oldest Hungarian University is the University of Pécs, which was funded

by Louis the Great in 1367. Nowadays, the higher education sector of Hungary con-sists of 69 institutions, including 18 state-run universities. The Loránd-Eötvös-Uni-versity of Budapest is, with 31,000 stu-dents, the largest university. A new degree structure meeting the objectives of the Bo-logna process was introduced in 2004 and encompasses bachelor (alapfokozat), mas-ter (mesterfokozat) and three-year doc-toral (doktori képzés) study programmes. The number of programmes not taught in Hungarian is limited. A total of 360,000 students are enrolled, of which two thirds are full-time students. More than 7,000 stu-dents pursue a doctoral degree. The per-centage of international students is on the rise. They constitute about 5% of all stu-dents and more than 7% of doctoral stu-dents. Many foreign students belong to the Hungarian minority in neighbouring

countries including Roma-nia, Slovakia, Serbia and Ukraine. Nepalese, Colom-bians and Paraguayans ac-count for more than half of foreign doctoral stu-dents. Medicine and den-tistry are the most attrac-tive study programmes for international students. It is estimated that more than 6,000 foreign stu-dents are enrolled at Hun-garian Medical universities. For example, students from abroad account for a quar-ter of all students at Sem-melweis University, where more than 1,000 prospec-tive medical students apply

for the 180 spots in the German-taught pro-gramme each year. In addition, an outpost in Hamburg, the Asklepios Medical School GmbH, was opened three years ago, where students continue after a two-year course in Hungary and receive the internation-ally recognised Dr. med. (SOTE), accord-ing to the curriculum of Semmelweis Uni-versity. Annual tuition fees for these pro-grammes amount to €11,600 in Budapest and €14,400 in Hamburg.

Small research unitsIn the latest University rankings, Hun-

gary found mixed success. Whereas it is not listed among the 400 leading universities in the present Times Higher Education Rank-ing, four Hungarian Universities made it to the top 700 universities in the QS Ranking as indicated: the Central European Univer-

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Careers in Hungary

sity of Budapest (372), Eötvös Loránd Uni-versity (501-550), the University of Szeged (551-600) and Corvinus University of Bu-dapest (601-700). These four universities, together with Semmelweis University, also received the prestigious title “Research Uni-versity” from the Hungarian government in 2010 to highlight their excellence in re-search. Autonomy when it comes to educa-tion, research, budget allocation and hir-ing is a key feature of Hungarian universi-ties. Institutional block funding for educa-tion, research and maintenance is provided by the national budget and is performance-independent. Research units at universities in general are quite small, which is evident from the fact that the 5,000 scientists and engineers employed in the higher educa-tion sector are distributed over 1,400 re-search units. The Balassi Institute provides

several international fellowships on behalf of the Hungarian government. For exam-ple, it maintains the Hungarian Scholarship Board Office, which is offering a wide vari-ety of university and research scholarships. Foreign postdocs below the age of 45 may get a fellowship for up to ten months and worth €690 a month.

The reform of education in general and higher education in particular has been un-der discussion for a long time. Points raised are the merger and closures of institutions, better support for the best institutions, the overall reduction of study places receiv-ing governmental support, measures to in-crease the number of students in natural sciences and engineering as well as the in-troduction of binding agreements to force

students to stay and work in Hungary for a certain period after obtaining a degree be-fore they are allowed to leave the country. Thousands have already protested against this new educational concept and the 2012 budget draft, which foresees a cut to the higher education budget of roughly €100 million, or more than 10%.

Business and pleasureIf you want to become familiar with

Hungary, visit the web pages of Euraxess Hungary or of the Tempus Public Founda-tion (TPF). Both provide not only an ini-tial overview of education and research but also share many details of everyday life in Hungary. You will learn that gulyásleves, húsleves and halászlé refer to goulash, meat and fish soup, that you can enter Hunga-ry by hydrofoil on the Danube via Vienna

and Bratislava and that you need at least 100,000 forint or €370 a month for a de-cent standard of living with occasional eve-nings out. With respect to fellowship op-portunities, TPF has been charged with responsibility for a couple of internation-al programmes promoting scientific ex-change in the higher education sector and beyond. Examples include the EU mobility programmes Erasmus, Mundus and Tem-pus, the Central European Exchange Pro-gramme for University Studies (CEEPUS) and the European Economic Area (EEA) grant scheme. You will have to find out for yourself whether the combination of your educational/professional status and your nationality qualifies you for financing. There are currently no open calls for inter-

national fellowships in the “Development of Human Resources for Basic Research” pro-gramme or by the Marie-Curie co-funded MOBILITY programme.

If you want to visit an institute of the Hungarian Academy of Science, you must first contact your potential host lab and discuss opportunities given by bilateral ex-change programmes before you apply for support at the International Relations De-partment of MTA. The Balassi Institute op-erates the Campus Hungary programme and the Hungarian Scholarship Board Of-fice, which provides fellowships for for-eign students, professors and researchers in frame of Governmental bilateral agree-ments or via a scholarship pool. Appli-cants from more than 50 countries may ap-ply for up to ten-months stay as PhD stu-dent or postdoc or for full participation in a 36-month PhD programme. Additional op-portunities exist for Austrians via the Stif-tung Aktion Austria-Hungary (www.omaa.hu) or at universities through their own in-ternational partnership programmes.

OutlookHungary has several universities and re-

search institutes, which may be of particu-lar interest to life scientists from abroad. There are just a few funding opportunities for foreign scientists from Hungarian sourc-es, which in general provide only limited funds under the motto “barely enough to keep body and soul together”. So, if you re-ally want to give Hungary a try, bring along your own international fellowship or grant or look out for well-funded Hungarian sci-entists, for example, winners of European Research Council grants or Wellcome Trust fellows. Be aware that learning Magyar is a real challenge. Reforms by the Hungar-ian Academy of Sciences and universities are pending but it is hard to predict wheth-er they will be enforceable and lead to a change for the better in a timely manner. Support for postdocs and young group lead-ers in Hungary has become increasingly im-portant over the years and will be extended in the upcoming years. The number of ex-pats returning home has increased. Hope-fully, Hungary’s large public debt will not turn out to be a major stumbling block for further investment in science in the future.

Ralf Schreck

If you are interested in reading more about scientific careers in Hungary, please visit our accompanying editorial online at www.labtimes.org.

To achieve a harmonious work-life balance, just take a break at the largest lake in Central Eu-rope, Lake Balaton.

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Scientific Careers in Hungary

(November 28th, 2011) Hungary has its scientificstrongholds and a few places with modern infrastructureallowing scientists to be engaged in internationallycompetitive research. Reasons enough for Csaba Pál toreturn to his home country and for the Scot ChristopherHenstridge to set out for picturesque Budapest.

WE HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEFUTURE GENERATIONS OF SCIENTISTS INHUNGARY

The Hungarian Csaba Pál has been head of the Laboratoryof Evolutionary Systems Biology at the Biological Research Center (BRC) of the Hungarian Academy ofSciences in Szeged since 2008. He received his PhD from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest in 2002. Hewas a postdoc at the University of Bath, UK, at the EMBL in Heidelberg and Oxford University. In 2007,Csaba was awarded not only an EMBO Installation Grant but also a Starting Independent Researcher Grantby the European Research Council. His main research interests are systems biology and evolutionarygenomics.

Lab Times: What brought you back to Hungary?

My impression is that most Hungarian scientists of my generation aim to receive postdoctoral positions inhighly ranked labs outside the country, mostly in US, UK and Germany. These years are crucial to learn thestandards of top quality research. It includes new concepts, state-of-the-art lab techniques and writing stylishpapers. These years also help understanding that the age of lonely lab heroes have gone and collaboration isa key for development. In the long term, many of us felt that given these experiences and knowledge, wehave some sort of responsibility for future generations of biologists. Thus, they wish to repatriate andestablish their own lab in Hungary. From that point of view, I’m no exception. But it’s only one side of the coin.It was equally important to me that I already knew several talented young Hungarian biologists in myresearch field. So I was confident that finding and recruiting qualified members for my interdisciplinary labwould pose no problem.

Lab Times: How is your research group currently funded and do you actively pursue internationalcollaborations?

Thanks to the already mentioned international grants and awards I have recently received, we are amongthose very few labs in Hungary without substantial funding problems. International collaborations are plentybut collaborations with labs at the BRC are also crucial. I particularly enjoy the daily discussions and thepolite reactions of my colleagues, when I come up with some crazy ideas. The possibility of starting thesein-house collaborations was an important reason for me to choose BRC as host institute.

Lab Times: What are your career perspectives at the BRC?

I’m a group leader. I’m not really after positions, memberships or the like. I’m happy that I’m free of teachingduties and can fully concentrate on my research. I have four graduate students but this is a different issue. Alab should not only be a manuscript-producing machine but also a nurturing environment for young scientists.I’m happy to offer my students stimulating working conditions and it’s up to them, whether they can benefitfrom this opportunity.

Lab Times: Is internationalisation a priority at BRC?

Yes, it’s an important goal. The institute has a long tradition of educating international master and PhDstudents. They seem to enjoy their studies and the quality of life they are having. The institute also strives toemploy internationally acclaimed scientists but only with moderate success, so far. This is not surprising, fortwo reasons. Firstly, the country is still isolated internationally. Secondly, due to the shortage of domesticfunding and still high tax rates, Hungary is far from being an appealing research career option. Severaldecision makers fail to recognise that supporting young scientists is an excellent investment into science, astheir commitment is often later coupled to international grants, patents and thus establishment of newworkplaces.

Lab Times: Did you try to attract scientists from abroad?

Yes, thanks to our international reputation, we had good candidates, largely from third world countries. Let’sface it, we cannot compete with Oxford, Cambridge, Heidelberg and the like. It’s generally far easier toconvince Hungarian postdocs abroad to join my lab. So, although on a very small scale, we did startreversing the brain drain.

Lab Times: How do you judge the current funding situation in Hungary?

Hungary was and still is in an economic crisis, and spends a very low fraction of its GDP on research. I’m notsure how far our lab could get without international funding but the situation is changing: the most notableexample is the highly successful Momentum Programme installed by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.Winners of the programme receive substantial funds for establishing their own internationally competitiveresearch groups.

Lab Times: What needs to be done to make research in Hungary more competitive at the international level?

It’s not all about isolation or the funding situation in Hungary. I often observe a lack of motivation to addressthe most fundamental questions in biology and a waste of energies on less important issues. We need morecoffee breaks for intense brainstorming and collaborative efforts. This was one of the lessons I learned inOxford.

AFTER A COUPLE OF DRINKS AND MANY ENTICING STORIES ABOUTBUDAPEST I WAS SOLD ON THE IDEA OF GIVING HUNGARY A TRY

The Scot, Chris Henstridge is a postdoc in Budapest. He studied Pharmacology at the University ofGlasgow in Scotland and received his PhD for research performed in the lab of Andrew Irving at the Centrefor Neuroscience in Ninewells Hospital, part of the University of Dundee. In 2010, supported by an EMBOlong-term fellowship, he joined the lab of Istvan Katona at the Institute of Experimental Medicine (KOKI), aninstitute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Chris is interested in the endocannabinoid system within thecentral nervous system and its contribution to neuronal pathologies, such as the Fragile X Syndrome.

Lab Times: What sparked your interest in doing a postdoc at KOKI?

My PhD involved the study of a novel orphan G protein-coupled receptor known as GPR55, which wasinitially touted as a new component of the endocannabinoid system. Much of our early knowledge on thefunction of this system was described by researchers at KOKI, so I was always aware that neuroscience inHungary was of extremely high quality. Furthermore, my PhD supervisor was friends with Istvan Katona, so Imet him at a few conferences. Istvan gave a lecture in Dundee, which was followed by a round of golf, a fewdrinks and many stories about Budapest, Hungary and the science underway there, and I was soon sold onthe idea of moving to Budapest and working with Istvan…partly to see if his stories were true!

Lab Times: Had you ever been to Hungary before?

Unfortunately, my very first visit to Budapest was not a welcome one! While travelling around Europe by trainin 2005, I arrived in Budapest around midnight after a very long journey. I eventually found the touristinformation centre in the station but was told in no uncertain terms that there were no beds available in thewhole city and that I should leave on the next train! Thankfully, my next visit was much more accommodating.Via collaboration between Dundee and Budapest I was lucky enough to travel here and work for one month

in Istvan’s lab in 2008. During that month it became clear that the incident in the train station three yearsearlier was an unfortunate one-off, as everyone was very friendly and very helpful. The city itself is one of themost beautiful I have ever visited. There are stunning castles, palaces, monuments, view points, parks,bridges, bars and restaurants throughout the city and, of course, the Danube River that splits the city intoBuda and Pest. There are also many quaint little villages close to the city and the beautiful Danube bend withits Slovakian border share is within a 1.5 hr bus ride.

Lab Times: What about your start in Budapest?

There were no major difficulties settling into Budapest but I was very fortunate to get a lot of help from our labmanager Eszter Horvath. The Hungarian system requires forms for everything and I have been issued withtwo cards I must carry at all times, an address card and a registration card. There were a few tax andregistration details to complete but once you understand that in Hungary you must queue and wait forEVERYTHING, you soon learn to be patient and let the system do its work. Also, during my first two weeks inBudapest, I was unfortunate enough to have to rely on the health system. However, the treatment I receivedwas of a very good standard. Most of the staff spoke very good English and appeared to be dealing withpatients quickly and compassionately, despite limited resources.

Lab Times: How about your Hungarian?

Initially, my biggest worry about moving here was the difficult and unique language. However, virtuallyeveryone in the institute speaks near perfect English and I feel that some staff members appreciate theopportunity to converse daily with a native English speaker. Outside the institute things become a little moredifficult. The younger generations are all taught English at school and so speak the language very well,however, some of the older generations were taught Russian and so speak very little or basic, fragmentedEnglish. To try and plug the gap, I have been taking Hungarian lessons, which has helped me to understanda lot of Hungarian and to speak a little. Most locals really appreciate “foreigners” attempting to speak thelanguage and some people will try and help with pronunciation. I would certainly advise others not to dismissa position in Hungary because of language worries.

Lab Times: Are there many foreign scientists at the institute?

At the moment, I am the only non-Hungarian member of our group but applications by foreign scientists arealways welcome (www.katonalab.hu). There is one other British scientist in the institute and a number offoreign researchers come here for short-term projects and to learn new techniques, but currently all groupleaders are Hungarian. The vast majority of the 150 or so staff members are Hungarian.

Lab Times: What are major differences in comparison to your previous lab?

There are a number of differences between this lab and my PhD lab. Most striking is the difference in sizeand personnel. During part of my PhD, I worked alone and at any one time there were maybe one or twoother students but it was always a very small group. Istvan’s group currently contains fourteen members,ranging from a senior scientist to undergraduate students. Furthermore, one big difference is the level ofdepartmental collaboration and access to equipment. Throughout the KOKI, groups share ideas, advice,techniques and in many cases equipment. Most papers published from the KOKI contain authors from anumber of labs and use equipment that is available to all or most labs, such as the electron microscopes andthe new NIKON microscopes found in the NIKON Microscopy Centre. This centre contains some of the mostpowerful microscopes in Europe and is available to all groups in the KOKI. Sometimes orders for lab itemsand repairs are a problem. Some of the larger companies have depots in or near Hungary, so we can receivegoods quickly. However, many companies charge very high delivery costs and it can take weeks for certainthings to arrive! This teaches you to plan your time well and schedule experiments accordingly. I have foundthat in some cases it is easier and quicker to buy items on eBay and have those delivered directly! Also, wehave highly skilled technical staff in house that can repair and maintain most items of basic equipment,removing any need to send things away.

Lab Times: How is the spirit of younger Hungarian scientists?

Hungarian students are very impressive. The Hungarian university system gives them a very broad scientificeducation and encourages students to gain lab experience. Scientific salaries are low in Hungary, so theseyoung students are not looking for financial reward from their exploits and have a very strong interest andbelief in what they do. Furthermore, I like the way scientists are perceived in Hungarian society. They are wellrespected and many put in the effort to communicate their work with the public. To help achieve this, the

media provide column space and air time. For example, Istvan has been featured in magazine articles andhas chatted on radio shows about a variety of scientific topics. Also, one of our postdocs (Rita Nyilas)recently won a prestigious scientific award for her PhD and was interviewed by a popular woman’s magazineabout her career in science

Lab Times: What needs to be done to make Hungary more attractive for scientists from abroad?

Hungary has this reputation of being “too far away” from central Europe, yet is only a direct 3 hr flight fromEdinburgh, 2.5 hrs from London, 2 hrs from Paris and 1.5 hrs from Berlin. With the country’s incrediblyprestigious scientific history and current big hitters such as this year’s Brain Prize winners, I believe thecountry should be attracting bright young PIs and major foreign funding and investment. Hungary is a veryeconomical place to work and live, compared to other European countries. The cost of living is quite low andrental prices are very affordable. However, salaries are reflective of this and so, on a Hungarian salary, livinghere is not much cheaper than in the UK, for example. Therefore, one way to attract scientists from abroadmay be to offer higher salaries or to encourage scientists to attain their own European funding.

Lab Times: What about your plans after the EMBO fellowship?

My fellowship runs until next summer and during this time I would like to really push my projects and achievea publication or two. However, these things often do not run as smoothly as planned and so I may have tostay a little bit longer. Ultimately, I plan to obtain another postdoc position to build on my experiences hereand with my girlfriend currently in the process of applying to medical school, it seems likely that the nextdestination will be England.

Interviews: Ralf Schreck

Read more about career and funding opportunities in Hungary in the current issue of Lab Times.

Photos: Pál/Henstridge

Last Changes: 11.28.2011

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