The Széchenyi István University Research Scholarship aims to recognize research excellence and further enhance the institution’s global visibility. The latest call for applications was recently published. In the case of top-tier international publications, the support amount can reach up to 2.3 million HUF per publication.

In June, Széchenyi István University announced its Scientific Scholarship program for 2025/2026, effective September 1, in order to enable teaching and research colleagues to take into account the new, expanded criteria in the preparation of their ongoing research and and in preparing their publications in the coming months. An important change from the previous academic year is that, in addition to the institution's staff and professors emeritus, doctoral students with active student status are also eligible to apply under the same conditions.

The amount of support has also been revised and – as noted in a recent article on Telex about the development of Széchenyi István University – can reach up to 2.3 million or even 2 million HUF per publication. These amounts are available to applicants who write a summary article in an international research network and have at least one co-author from a university ranked in the top 100 in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) or Times Higher Education (THE) world rankings, and their publication appears in a Shanghai-listed journal classified in the most prestigious D1 or Q1 category. IIn addition, publications with Hungarian co-authorship or authored independently, ranked at least Q2, may also receive several hundred thousand forints in recognition—up to ten times per year.

Dr Eszter Lukács, Vice-President for International Affairs and Strategic Relations, emphasized that the university leadership does not set the scholarship criteria arbitrarily, but rather aligns them each year with international competition, taking into account global standards and expectations.

"Our institution aims to become an increasingly influential player in global scientific life. Accordingly, publications produced within international research networks and appearing in the most prestigious scientific journals registered in the Scopus database are of great importance in the evaluation process. The aim of the program is to promote the international visibility of our researchers, support scientific work that strives for excellence, and strengthen our institution's role in the global higher education community. The scholarship program provides significant professional and financial support to those who are committed to international-level research and publication," she stressed, and added that, in addition to individual recognition, the scholarship also contributes to the university's improving performance in international rankings. “The QS and THE world rankings are based on publications indexed in the Scopus database, which is why this form of support is particularly important,” she emphasized.

The scholarship program is part of a complex support system through which Széchenyi University covers publication fees of up to €3,500, provides language editing, finances subscriptions to scientific databases, and encourages conference participation and language training.

The call for applications is available here: https://universitas.sze.hu/aktualis-palyazatok-/tudomanyos-osztondij-2025-2026. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the university staff at the following email address: publikacio@sze.hu.

The Scientific Scholarship offered by Széchenyi István University encourages high-quality research and publication activities.