The Cabinet for International Affairs of the ELKH Secretariat held a successful information day at the ELKH Research Centre for Natural Sciences (TTK) on March 8, 2023, for researchers and research managers in the network. The purpose of the event was to introduce the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) program, which supports individual researcher careers and is implemented in the first, Excellent Science pillar of the Horizon Europe framework program, as well as the new international calls launched by the ELKH Secretariat created to facilitate international collaboration.
Dr. Viktória Eszter Zalányi, the Secretary-General of ELKH, emphasized in her welcome speech that the ELKH Secretariat is committed to providing both professional and financial support to research sites to increase their participation in and success with Horizon Europe program applications. As part of this effort, a training program series was launched in 2020, which enables ELKH researchers to become familiar with the application system. Through interactive and practice-oriented training, they receive actionable recommendations for successful preparation and implementation of research applications.
Representatives of the national contact point for MSCA at the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, Nóra Jeney, Head of Department and Beatrix Borza, specialist collaborated in designing the professional program of the current event. They introduced the full range of applications for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions program, a component of the Horizon Europe framework program, and provided insightful answers to researchers' questions. Following that Mónika Holik, Head of Department at the European Research Executive Agency in Brussels, responsible for coordinating the MSCA Staff Exchanges program, presented the application calls from the perspective of the European Commission, as well as the process of their evaluation and the selection of expert evaluators.
At the afternoon session, Béla Fiser, President of the Hungarian chapter of the MSCA Alumni Association, presented the networking and other opportunities offered by their volunteer-based network to researchers who have won MSCA grants. During the event MSCA grant winning ELKH researchers participated in a panel discussion and shared their personal experiences to encourage other researchers to take advantage of European Union research grant opportunities, especially those offered by the MSCA.
At the event, Dr. Adrienn Szendrey, Deputy Head of the Cabinet for International Affairs of the ELKH Secretariat, provided comprehensive information on the two new initiatives of the ELKH Secretariat, the ELKH Research Mobility Program, whose call for proposals was announced on March 1, as well as the ELKH Welcome Home and Foreign Researcher Recruitment Program, which will be announced in the second half of the month.