Hungarian Info Day
On Friday 10th December, COST held an Info Session aimed at Hungarian researchers. The event was held as a hybrid event and created in collaboration with the Academia Europaea, the Academia Europaea Budapest and Innovation Office Hungary (NKFIH).
The event was opened by Prof. Sierd Cloetingh, former President of the COST Association, Ronald de Bruin, Director of the COST Association, and Dr István Szabó, Vice President for Science and International Affairs, National Research, Development and Innovation Office Hungary (NKFIH).
Interim Vice President of the COST Association, Prof. John Bartzis acted as the moderator for the event, describing to the audience his own experiences of working alongside “excellent Hungarian scientists” before encouraging the excellent researchers in the room to participate. He continued
“COST has been running for 50 years and I have been involved for 25 of those years, half its life. I see that COST becomes stronger and stronger with each year and the secret of its success can be summed up in one word, ‘inclusiveness.’ COST has always been inclusive and whenever we see the word inclusiveness, we see other lights turn on, such as openness, excellence and interdisciplinarity.”
Attendees then heard from Christer Halen, Policy Administrator of the COST Association, who gave a comprehensive and practical overview of how to join a COST Action, submit a proposal, and the evaluation criteria required for success.
Personal stories from Hungarian researchers
Three participants from different COST Actions then took the floor to share their personal stories of involvement in the COST programme.
Dr Brigitta Tóth, Vice Chair of COST Action, Harmonization of UAS techniques for agricultural and natural ecosystems monitoring explained “COST gives a special possibility for young researchers to work with researchers who are in the forefront of the field, to build experience and see how others work and think about certain problems. COST offers a great possibility for international research.”
Dr Péter Ódor Vice Chair of COST Action, Biodiversity of Temperate Forest Taxa Orienting Management Sustainability by Unifying Perspectives said “I think the main advantages of COST are networking and synthesizing local knowledge.”
He then explained how important it was for his Action to involve young researchers, the importance of allowing younger researchers prominent positions within the Action and the opportunities that had been made possible through training schools, conference grants and enabling PhD students to enhance their research be collaborating in COST activities.
Dr Csaba Fehér, Science Communication Coordinator for COST Action, Non-conventional yeasts for the production of bioproducts said
“Our Actions is continuously growing, and I really enjoy taking part and working together with so many nationalities. This is the first COST Action that I have taken part in, so it was quite a new experience for me when I got the role of Science Communications coordinator but I got a lot of support from the COST Association, there were a lot of trainings and workshops, I took part in one on leadership, on social media, presenting with impact.
As a young scientist and a scientific communications manager, I get to be in touch with all of the members of the COST Actions. There are a lot of positive outcomes but the most important is to get to know so many scientists.”
He then offered his advice to other young researchers
“If you have the chance take part in a COST Action, be an active member of the Action, take advantage of STSMs, they are a great way to gain knowledge and experience, take part in training schools. Be active, take part!”
Hungarian participation in COST
Hungary joined COST in 1991. During Horizon 2020 (2014-2020), there were 519 COST Actions with Hungarian representation and of those Actions, 64 leadership positions were held, including 1 Action Chair.
Further information