Four researchers at Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics have been awarded tenure positions. The researchers were all selected through an international call for applications.
“The competitiveness of Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics depends, among other things, on having a research group of internationally outstanding quality in every major field of mathematics. This also means that we continue to strengthen the areas that already contribute to our international reputation and define our character in the global mathematical research landscape, while reinforcing those areas that currently contribute less to this reputation,” András Stipsicz, Director General of the Institute, told renyi.hu on the occasion that four researchers at Rényi Institute have been granted permanent research positions.
Tenure (an indefinite-term position) is one of the most prestigious career milestones in academia. Obtaining it typically takes 5–7 years, follows a rigorous evaluation process, and primarily serves as an institutional guarantee of research independence and academic freedom. In research institutes, tenure ensures that researchers are not continuously dependent on short-term contracts and can pursue ambitious, long-term, even high-risk research projects. With a permanent appointment, a researcher may lead an independent research program, build their own research group, and enjoy greater freedom in choosing research topics, while still undergoing regular evaluations that no longer carry existential consequences. Rényi Institute’s traditionally modern scientific operation is shaped both by the significant number of researchers who have successfully applied from abroad and by the international prestige of Hungarian mathematics, but above all by the Institute’s research staff currently working in Hungary who earned their PhDs abroad and/or acquired substantial international experience as postdoctoral researchers or visiting professors. This includes Director General András Stipsicz, who has led the Institute since 2018, having first been a doctoral student at Rutgers University and later, after obtaining his PhD, a visiting professor at the University of California in the United States. |
Mathematics illustrates particularly well the importance of tenure. In mathematical research, it may take years before an important breakthrough is achieved. A permanent research position allows researchers to choose topics based on scientific significance rather than the next grant cycle or contract renewal.
“When we strengthen the Institute, we are guided by two principles that appear to contradict one another, but they are not” explains András Stipsicz. “On the one hand, we reinforce our exceptionally strong fields that define our international profile. On the other hand, we build up new areas or improve those that require strengthening. We must also continue nurturing the fields in which we are already excellent in order to preserve that distinctive character.”
One such strength of the Rényi Institute is the world-renowned Hungarian tradition of combinatorics and network theory. Two Abel Prize laureates of the Institute, Endre Szemerédi and László Lovász, work in these areas.
“What makes a good mathematician? Some people achieve small advances almost every week, progressing little by little, while others occasionally produce results that attract worldwide attention. At Rényi, we prefer the latter,” says András Stipsicz. “This is also one of the main criteria in our selection processes. I encourage everyone to develop their own mathematical character, meaning that when a topic is mentioned within the international mathematical community, their name should be among the first associated with that field,” he emphasizes. “This is what we call impactful performance.”
In evaluations leading to a permanent appointment, the main questions are whether the researcher has established an independent research direction, whether they are capable of leading a research group, what scientific impact they have achieved, how visible they have become internationally, and what role they play within the scientific community. Obtaining tenure is also difficult because the employing institution must be able to finance such positions over the long term. Consequently, tenure at many institutions signifies not only that someone is an excellent researcher but also that the institution’s leadership believes the researcher’s scientific program will remain strategically important over the next 10–20 years. This is why research-institute tenure is considered one of the key milestones of an academic career: it indicates that the researcher is no longer merely a promising talent but a scientist whose long-term research program is worthy of sustained institutional investment.
| In 2025, Rényi Institute announced a call for applications for tenure positions in mathematics. According to the call, a successful applicant would continue their career at the Institute as a permanent researcher at the level of Senior Research Fellow. The main evaluation criteria included research excellence, the quality of publications, international recognition, success in obtaining research funding, research group leadership skills, and scientific community engagement. “The ideal candidate is potentially capable of obtaining and successfully managing an ERC grant or an equivalent source of funding,” the call stated. |
The number of long-term institutional research positions at Rényi Institute is limited, as is elsewhere, and the Institute can appoint only those researchers with the strongest international profiles who already possess substantial international publication records. The emphasis is on scientific excellence and on the principle that research institutes recruit through open international competitions and recognize outstanding achievement through tenure positions.
Here are the four Rényi researchers who, from 1 September, will hold tenure positions as Senior Research Fellows:
Péter Csikvári, Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Graph Theory, continues the tradition established by Endre Szemerédi, Miklós Simonovits, and László Lovász. He leads the Momentum Research Group on “Counting in Sparse Graphs,” and his work lies at the intersection of graph theory, combinatorics, mathematical models of statistical physics, and algorithmic counting problems. He previously spent three years at the Department of Applied Mathematics of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition to his position at Rényi Institute, he is a habilitated associate professor at Eötvös Loránd University. His results often connect pure mathematics with statistical physics and theoretical computer science. He works at the forefront of modern combinatorics and graph theory while building his own research group and and has become the central figure in Hungary in this area of research.
András Gilyén, Research Fellow in the Department of Probability and Statistics, works on quantum algorithms and quantum computing. The Institute expects him to build a major research program in this area. One of Hungary’s leading mathematicians and computer scientists, his results are shaping the algorithmic toolkit of future quantum computers. In 2025, he received an ERC Starting Grant for his five-year project entitled Original Quantum Algorithms Inspired by Thermodynamics and Physics, within the framework of which he is building his own research group at the Institute. He had previously also received support through the Momentum Program. For a more detailed overview of András Gilyén’s research activities, click HERE.
Péter Pál Pach, Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Combinatorics and Applications, belongs to the next generation of the renowned Hungarian combinatorial school. He will start his tenure as a member of the Extremal Combinatorics Department in September. His best-known achievement is the development of a new mathematical method, the Croot–Lev–Pach (CLP) method, which fundamentally transformed the toolkit of additive combinatorics. Within days, the method contributed to solving the decades-old cap set problem and is now regarded as one of the major breakthroughs of modern combinatorics. For the 2017 paper describing the method, he and his co-authors received the Frontiers of Science Award. He received the Janos Bolyai Research Scholarship as well as the Momentum Grant twice, and was awarded with the European Prize in Combinatorics.
Dániel Virosztek, Research Fellow in the Department of Analysis, who has also received a János Bolyai Research Scholarship this year and may become the founding figure of a new school in optimal transport theory. His research lies at the intersection of optimal transport, quantum information theory, and geometric analysis. He currently leads the MTA–RI Momentum Optimal Transport and Quantum Information Geometry Research Group. He earned his PhD in 2016 and subsequently worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria. Between 2019 and 2021 he held a Marie Skłodowska–Curie Fellowship there, returning to Hungary in 2021 with support from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ Momentum Program.
Finally, one of the most important messages of tenure systems is that, alongside outstanding individual scientific achievement, the best researchers are supported by institutions capable of providing long-term perspectives, academic freedom, and stability. The careers of researchers at Rényi Institute demonstrate that reaching the international forefront requires not only exceptional individual results but also the development of scientific programs, the creation of research communities, and the trust of institutions willing to provide the time and space necessary for truly significant discoveries and creative thinking.
The successes of the Institute’s younger and mid-career researchers show that the scientific potential that has placed Rényi Institute among the world’s leading research sites remains very much alive. The granting of tenures to these four researchers is also a clear signal from the Institute: tenure is not a reward but an investment in the future of mathematical research in Hungary.