Hungary 2026 Call for application

Hungary 2026 call for application

HUNGARIAN APPLICATION CALL 2026

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

L’ORÉAL-UNESCO For Women in Science Hungarian Scholarship – 2026

L’ORÉAL Hungary and the Hungarian National Commission for UNESCO are announcing their scholarship call for the 23rd time this year, in the spirit of the international L’ORÉAL-UNESCO FOR WOMEN IN SCIENCE program, for the year 2026.

The name of the program: L’ORÉAL–UNESCO Hungarian Scholarship for Women in Science

The purpose of the scholarship is to encourage young female scientists and researchers to achieve outstanding and practical scientific results, as well as to encourage and advance the status of Hungarian women in scientific and specifically research careers across a wide range of research fields. The program is open to PhD and postdoctoral candidates, as well as physicians engaged in research.

1. Eligibility Criteria for the L’ORÉAL-UNESCO Hungarian Fellowship

• Hungarian citizenship, or
• in the case of foreign citizenship, the applicant must have a proven track record of at least one year of participation in Hungarian research or of conducting research activities at an institution in Hungary
• Eligible to apply are individuals working at higher education institutions within the territory of the Republic of Hungary, their research institutes, or any institution within a research network, who are engaged in scientific research in one of the scientific fields listed below women are eligible to apply:

1/ Natural sciences, life sciences (see appendix)

2/ Materials science (see appendix)

3/ Formal sciences (see appendix)

The 2026 call for applications includes 3 freely usable scholarship grants in the three fields listed above.

Women under the age of 40 (or who will turn 40 in 2026) are eligible to apply for three, each gross 2,500,000 HUF scholarships. The recipient is responsible for paying any taxes due on the award.

For researchers raising minor children, the age limit for applications may be extended at the applicant’s request: by 2 years per child or by the duration of any leave taken for child-rearing purposes following the award of an academic degree (if such leave exceeds 2 years).

Female researchers who have previously received an award from any national or regional program of L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science are not eligible to apply for this award.

A panel of experts will decide on the awarding of the fellowships.  The chair of the jury is Prof. Dr. Veronika Ádám, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; members include: Prof. Dr. László Hunyady, Director of the HUN-REN TTK Institute of Molecular Life Sciences; Prof. Dr. András Perczel, university professor, ELTE Department of Organic Chemistry; Prof. Dr. Katalin Kamarás, research professor, HUN-REN Wigner Faculty of Physics, Institute of Solid State Physics and Optics, Prof. Dr. Péter Pálfy Pál, research professor, HUN-REN Alfréd Rényi Mathematical Research Institute.

If the expert jury does not find any applications of sufficient quality in a given field, it reserves the right not to award the prize in that field or to award it to an applicant in another field.

Applicants will be notified of the results of their application via email. The organizer of the competition may publish the names and identities of the scholarship recipients.

Applications must be submitted electronically, exclusively via the www.forwomeninscience.com platform.

2. Documents required for application

Applications must be submitted in English and must include the following:

1. a) a copy of the PhD degree certificate
2. b) an academic researcher’s curriculum vitae (CV)
3. c) two letters of recommendation introducing and supporting the applicant, from two scientifically recognized experts working in the same field as the applicant
4. d) a list of publications, including the journal title, article title, authors’ names, and year of publication, indicating the journal’s Scimago Journal & Country Rank (SJR) classification (D1 and Q1) in the year of publication; a list of independent citations received for the given articles (a citation is considered independent if the citing author and the cited article have no co-authors in common); as well as the total number of independent citations; highlighting the article the applicant considers most significant, in which the applicant is the first and/or last author.
5. e) a summary of the applicant’s research topic and a description of their research, limited to a maximum of 3 typed pages in Hungarian
6. f) a brief description of the application topic, not exceeding 1 page in English
7. g) if the applicant is a foreign national, a certificate from the employer confirming that the applicant is participating in Hungarian research
8. h) Each applicant must declare that, if the scientific project for which they are applying involves animal experiments, these will be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Animal Protection Act and the regulations of the relevant professional committees.
9. i) If the use of animal experiments is essential to the applicant’s research, the applicant must provide justification. The jury must make a decision based on this justification or request a more detailed justification for the animal experiments from the applicant.
10. Media Coverage

- The applicant agrees that, if awarded the prize, she will participate in the media training organized by L’Oréal Hungary.

• - The applicant further agrees that, if awarded the prize, they will participate in the official events of the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science 2026 program, attend organized interviews, and undertake pre-arranged media appearances.
• - The winners of the competition will treat the information regarding their selection as confidential and will not contact the media until the official announcement.
• - The winners of the competition agree to have photographs, videos, and interviews taken of them, which may subsequently be used for purposes related to the program: in publications and audiovisual media, including but not limited to print media, social media, television, the internet, outdoor exhibitions, and corporate publications.
• - Scholarship recipients agree to make themselves available to the media for two years following the award of the scholarship to discuss their academic work.

4. Payment of the Scholarship

The scholarship will be paid via bank transfer in October 2026.

5. Acceptance of the Rules

By responding to the call for applications for the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Hungarian competition, the applicant accepts these application terms and conditions and agrees to the media exposure detailed in point 3 above.

6. Deadlines

• Application portal opens on the forwomeninscience.com platform: May 8, 2026.
• Application deadline: June 1, 2026.
• Jury decision: September 2026
• Announcement of results: September 2026

7. Contact

For questions regarding the competition:

Tünde Sasvári

tel: +36 30 2125287

[email protected]

Budapest, May 8, 2026.